Sisi 'president most keen on confronting climate change' in the world: vice president of Regional Center for Space Science

CAIRO – 15 October 2021: President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is “the president most keen on confronting climate change in the world,” said Alaa al-Nahry, vice president of the Regional Center for Space Science and Technology Education, an affiliate of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA).

Climate change is the most important challenge facing the world today, Nahry told Extra News channel on Thursday.

He said Egypt pays a great deal of attention to biodiversity and is one of the countries that are most keen on protecting the environment through expanding the use of renewable energy.

The world’s biggest countries have caused global warming and are now responsible for countering the phenomenon that they cause, he added.

Egypt headed the UN Biodiversity Conference in 2018 and has since worked on a global framework for biodiversity after 2020, setting attainable goals through clear mechanism, Sisi said on Oct. 12 as he handed the conference over to China.

Egypt’s presidency of the conference lasted for three years, the longest period in the history of the agreement. Minister of Environment Yassmine Fouad said on Oct. 11 that during that time, Egypt was able to put Africa’s issues among the world’s priorities.

Egypt has inaugurated several solar parks and wind farms in the past few years, including Benban Solar Park, currently the fourth largest solar power plant in the world and is set to be the largest, in an effort to use more clean energy.

Egypt launched a Sharm El-Sheik to Kunming Action Agenda for Nature and People, in coordination with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to catalyze and collect actions taken in support of biodiversity conservation, Fouad said.

Fouad added that Egypt has joined the Metz Charter, believing in the need to preserve biodiversity, which is an essential element for achieving sustainable development, besides the launch of the Egyptian initiative to enhance synergy and harmony between the three "Rio" conventions concerned with climate change, desertification and biodiversity. This initiative and announcement were stated by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi during the 14th Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of the Parties (COP 14) in Sharm el-Sheikh in November 2018.

The Metz Charter on Biodiversity was signed by the G7 Environment Ministers (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States), five other countries and the EU commissioner for environment. The signing was witnessed by Egyptian Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad on May 9, 2019, in France’s Metz.

On the African level, Fouad said that Egypt worked on the development of the Pan-African Action Agenda on Ecosystem Restoration, which aims to preserve African lands and ecosystems, reduce, or mitigate the effects of land and ecosystem degradation.  It also approved the playoff the 17th Ordinary Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN).