In pics: Egypt’s rooftops going green

CAIRO - 25 June 2018: Three governmental buildings decided to join the state’s project of going green, and used their rooftops for agriculture. Fawzi el-Hadary, head of the Directorate of Agriculture in the Red Sea governorate, affirmed in statements to Egypt Today on Monday that the new three green buildings are located in Hurghada city.

The cost of the greenhouses established on the building’s rooftops is estimated at LE 60,000 each. Different kinds of vegetables were planted on the building’s roofs, including Lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes.



Some new crops being started, protected by shade cloth barriers to the west. Note the new construction in the background. This area used to be all public housing. Photo by Linda from Chicago, USA/ wikimedia commons


These three buildings, however, are not the first to announce joining the state’s initiative that was first launched in 2015 and financed by the Scientific Research Academy. It was announced then that the strategy has been implemented on top of the Education and Scientific Research Ministry's building as an experimental trial encouraging all governmental utilities and houses to follow suit. The green project aimed to utilize roofs of buildings as training centers for university graduates and unemployed youth.

This project is considered to be one of many steps Egypt has been taking lately as part of its strategy for going green, preserving the environment, encouraging people to depend more on solar energy and establishing new monitoring systems to watch climate change impacts on the environment.

As part of the Nile Delta protection project, currently implemented by Egypt in cooperation with the Green Climate Fund (GCF), an affiliate of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), a new detection system to monitor the impact of climate change along the Mediterranean shores was established earlier in June.



Green roof at Mountain Equipment Coop, Toronto, Canada. The store was built in 1998. Photo by sookie/ wikimedia commons


Mohamed Abdel Ati, minister of irrigation and water resources, assured in statements to media outlets that the new on-going project aims to reduce the impact of climate change on Egypt’s shores, especially after it became extremely noticeable in the past period.

Head of the Shores Protection Authority Mahmoud el-Saadi also said in another statement on June 18 that the GCF's fund for the project is the biggest grant Egypt has obtained to help adapt to climate change. Egypt's Irrigation Ministry will contribute LE 140 million to the project.

Recently, several concerned voices have been raised demanding the government to take several serious steps regarding climate change's impact on Egypt’s environment.

In statements to Egypt Today last May, parliamentarians argued that the government needs to provide alternative agricultural crops which consume little water to decrease the lands' damage. They also demanded developing different irrigation systems for fields and providing the needed instructions for farmers to protect their lands.

MPs demands plan to face climate change effects on agricultural lands

CAIRO - 25 May 2018: The latest and rapid changes of the Egypt's weather affected crop production and likely increased agricultural land pests according to several parliamentarians' testimonies on Friday, demanding a new strategy to deal with the ongoing climate change.

Parliamentarian Shereen Farag told Egypt Today that the Ministry of Environment needs to announce its plan regarding climate change effects on the agricultural lands, along with setting a proactive plan to deal with it in the near future.

“The government needs to take into its consideration climate change causes and study how it will affect our agriculture lands and accordingly our crop production,” Farag said, adding that the same demands have been issued earlier to the government; however nothing happened.


Rockefeller center building rooftops, most people very seldom get to see this rooftop. Photo by Jwilly77/ wikimedia commons


Egypt’s weather has been witnessing severe changes during the past period and varied between extreme cold and rain to sandstorms and high temperatures. Last April, thunderous clouds and heavy rains were witnessed on the northern coast of Egypt, the Delta and Cairo, and showers were witnessed over the Red Sea mountain range, Sinai and some areas in the south.

Rainfall throughout the capital caused some buildings, houses and bridges to collapse; some governorates such as Suez, Ain Sokhna and Ismailia were also affected.




FILE-Egypt’s rooftops going green