Environment Ministry to hold ‘Iftar’ gathering in Wadi Degla June 1

CAIRO – 30 May 2018: The Egyptian Ministry of Environment issued Wednesday a public invitation for an iftar gathering (the meal Muslims eat to break their fast) on June 1 in Wadi Degla protectorate.

The ministry announced in a statement on their Facebook page that it will hold a celebration at 4 p.m., in cooperation with Sahara Survival School, for the fifth year in a row in Ramadan in Wadi Degla protectorate, south east of Maadi district, Cairo.


The Ministry of Environment holds an iftar gathering in Ramadan – Press photo/Environment Ministry

The celebration will incorporate a fair for sports activities and photography, in addition to seminars about required skills to live in the desert. A fair for Bedouin handmade products will also be held, according to the statement.

Additional reporting by Jehad Al-Sayed


The Ministry of Environment holds an iftar gathering in Ramadan – Press photo/Environment Ministry

The celebration comes on the sidelines of the International Day for Biological Diversity and World Environment Day (WED) celebrations, the statement read. Head of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency Shehab Abdel Wahab and a number of researchers in the ministry will attend the celebration.

Nations celebrate the World Environment Day on June 5 every year. The theme of this year’s WED is “Beat Plastic Pollution”, which is one of the biggest environmental challenges. According to statistics of the WED, 13 million tons of plastic leak into the oceans, and threaten marine life.

In line with the global move to reduce the consumption of plastic bags, Egyptian Minister of Environment Khaled Fahmy extended the activities of his ministry’s new national initiative called “Enough Plastic Bags”.

Earlier in May, Fahmy participated in the initiative by distributing 4,500 non-woven bags as alternatives to traditional non-recycled plastic bags. About 4,500 eco-friendly biodegradable plastic bags – bags that decompose through living organisms – have been circulated since the launch of the initiative.

The Ministry of Environment launched the EU-funded initiative on June 5, 2017, targeting Egypt’s strong dependency on plastic bags and aiming to reduce their use due to the negative effects they have on the environment and the economy.

The head of the Environmental Affairs Agency declared that Egyptians use about 12 billion plastic bags each year. The use of non-biodegradable plastic bags causes severe problems to the Nile River and the seas; hence, it negatively affects environmental tourism and diving.