17 Nile islands removed from nature reserve lists

CAIRO – 15 June 2017: Prime Minister Sherif Ismail issued a decision on Thursday excluding 17 Nile islands from Egypt’s nature reserve lists for not meeting the terms and conditions, which does not contradict the 1969/1998 law on establishing natural reserves.

The islands are Wardan El Kobra, Wardan El Soghra, El Kerateyeen, Abou Ghaleb, Abou Awad, Om Dinar, El Dahab, Korsaya, Waraq, Kafr Barakat, El Riqqa, Helwan El Balad, El Shobak El Bahareya, El Ayyat, Kafr El Refai, El Desame and El korayemat.

The decision said the islands will be subject to environmental control by the Ministry of Environment, which will cooperate with other state institutions to create environmental regulations for any activities on the islands.

Head of the Nature Protection Sector in the Ministry of Agriculture Ahmed Salama said the sector is currently studying the geological and biological structure of the 144 islands located in the Nile in Egypt to identify those suitable to be nature reserves, according to Akhbarak.net.

Salama added that the excluded islands contained seasonal agriculture and concrete buildings which are not features of natural reserves, which must contain “rare components” needing preservation.

He added that the decision of classifying them as nature reserves was made by the prime minister in 1998 to push away squatters but the step did not prevent slums from forming on them.