Nile Delta Becoming Poisoned by Salt Water Intrusion
Egypt’s fertile Nile Delta falls prey to climate change
Agence France-Presse, Jan. 28, 2010
The Nile
Delta, Egypt’s bread basket since antiquity, is being turned into a
salty wasteland by rising seawaters, forcing some farmers off their
lands and others to import sand in a desperate bid to turn back the
tide.
Experts
warn that global warming will have a major impact in the delta on
agriculture resources, tourism and human migration besides shaking the
region's fragile ecosystems.
Over the
last century, the Mediterranean Sea, which fronts the coast of the Nile
Delta, has risen by 20 centimetres (six inches) and saltwater intrusion
has created a major challenge, experts say.
A recent
government study on the coast of Alexandria, Egypt's second largest
city, expects the sea to continue to rise and flood large swathes of
land.
"A 30 centimetre rise in sea level is expected to occur by 2025, flooding approximately 200 square kilometres (77 square miles).
"As a result, over half a million inhabitants may be displaced and approximately 70,000 jobs could be lost," the study said.
Environmental
damage to the Nile Delta is not yet one of Egypt's priorities, but
experts say if the situation continues to deteriorate, it will trigger
massive food shortages which could turn seven million people into
“climate refugees" by the end of the century.
The
fertile Nile Delta provides around a third of the crops for Egypt's
population of 80 million and a large part of these crops are exported
providing the country with an important source of revenue.
Climatic
changes have forced some Delta farmers to abandon their land, while
others are trying to adapt by covering their land with beds of sand to
isolate it against seawater infiltrations, and grow crops.
"We buy
these sacks of sand which cost a lot of money and use them to make a
bed on which to grow crops so we can get by," said farmer El Sayed Saad.
"Life is
difficult," said Saad, who like other farmers must repeat the procedure
every 10 years in order to stay productive -- even if that in itself is
not a guarantee.
Meanwhile engineering firms specialising in underwater projects have been looking for more long-term solutions.
Mamduh
Hamza, of Hamza Associates, has floated a plan to build a waterproof
wall or barrier that would effectively separate the sea from the land
and raise the shore by two metres (six feet).
"The wall will prevent flooding as well as underground infiltration," Hamza told AFP.
The
project was submitted to the authorities in 2007 but has not yet been
given the go-ahead, amid fears that such a wall would undermine Egypt's
Mediterranean beach resorts which are popular tourist destinations.
Some say that Egypt, like many other developing countries, is suffering from the mistakes of the industrialised West.
"Egypt is
only responsible for 0.6 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions,"
said Mohammed al-Raey of the Regional Disaster Response Centre.
Raey and
other experts believe that rising sea levels will not only risk
inundating the fertile Nile Delta region but will also change the
quality of water, as saltwater seeps into the groundwater.
"There is no doubt that (climate change) poses a threat to food security and a threat to social systems," Raey said.
People in
affected areas will leave to find work elsewhere, this in turn will
cause unemployment in other areas to rise, which leads to crime and
threatens general security.
"So we
consider this a matter of national security," said Raey who believes
farming in the Delta needs to be restructured to confront the effects
of climate change.
"For
example, if there are areas that will be flooded, we should use them
for fish farms. If there are areas that must be protected, we should
protect them with walls," he said.
Egypt’s
Environmental Affairs Agency also believes that rising sea levels will
have an impact on agricultural productivity and fisheries "thus
influencing the country's food supply."
The
complex ecosystem of the Nile, which has nurtured civilisations for
millennia, has already been deeply affected in the last 60 years by the
construction of the High Dam in the southern city of Aswan.
The giant
project managed to regulate the often devastating effect of the Nile's
yearly floods, but it also deprived lands of crucial nutrients and
minerals.
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