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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 April 2000 Issue No. 478 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 April 2000 Issue No. 478
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Heritage Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters
SOS Planet Earth
By Sherine Nasr'Save Energy Now' is the theme of the worldwide 30th anniversary of Earth Day that will be celebrated on Saturday. The concept of dedicating a day for the protection of Mother Nature originated in the United States some 40 years ago. Gaylord Nelson, a former Wisconsin governor and US senator, alarmed at the rapid and progressive environmental degradation both in the US and throughout the world, attempted to put the science of ecology into the spotlight. He eventually persuaded President John Kennedy to underline the importance of the issue by going on a national conservation tour in 1963. Kennedy made a five-day tour of 11 states but without any tangible outcomes.
In the spring of 1970 Nelson decided to organise a large grassroots protest against abuse of the environment. He invited the widest of constituencies with an electrifying response: around 20 million demonstrators and thousands of schools and local communities participated in what became the first Earth Day.
Such was the strength and significance of this founding event that other countries gradually followed suit and Earth Day ultimately became the most popular environmental celebration. In the United States alone, for example, children in about 1,200 schools decorate around 400,000 grocery bags which are made of environmentally-sound paper and pass them out, full of groceries, to shoppers. In European countries, students are encouraged to learn about nature and the hazards caused by human activities carried out regardless of their environmental consequences.
Other than by a few environment-friendly NGOs, Earth Day was not observed in Egypt until 1977, when the first ministry for environmental affairs was established and the occasion assumed significance.
However, some environmentalists primarily regard Earth Day as a media event, with an entertainment focus, that does not gain the respect of policy-makers. The question is asked: Are free groceries, academic lectures or even demonstrations the best ways to show our concern about the Earth?
"Of course, they are not," asserts Nadia Makram Ebeid, minister of state for environmental affairs. "We have adopted a more practical approach in addressing Egyptian environmental problems."
This year, a number of environment-friendly projects will be inaugurated in the governorates of Cairo, Giza and Qalyubiya, which is just north of the capital.
The greatest challenge, Ebeid maintained, is how to strike a happy balance between accelerating development and environmental conservation. "The rational use of energy, therefore, is one of our main concerns," she said.
Environmentalists believe that use of energy is the second most hazardous environmental threat, causing 80 per cent of air pollution and 88 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. The environment is also endangered by mining and refining activities and the transport and use of coal, oil and uranium. Concern about global warming has caused attention to be focused on fossil fuels.
Carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the burning of fossil fuels must be reduced in order to curtail global warming, many scientists have warned. It has been predicted that climatic change will erode the Nile Delta and coastal areas in Egypt, while, on the international level, the extinction of several species has been attributed to global warming,
One of the highest risks of producing and transporting oil are spills which contaminate water resources and have caused catastrophic environmental damage. Environmentalists are also worried about the acid runoffs from coal mines and nuclear safety has become a matter of increasing environmental concern. Yet to be resolved is the issue of how to dispose of the radioactive waste resulting from the uranium used to generate electricity.
Egypt is party to 60 international agreements on the protection of the environment, the most important of which is the climate change agreement. "Egypt is one of the few countries that have already submitted their communiqué (of ratification) to the secretariat of the climate change committee," said Ebeid. "Moreover, we are present at every international event dealing with the issue," she affirmed.
Egypt has also adopted a national energy efficiency plan and an energy efficiency council was established to carry out a clean development mechanism. "There are many tools for implementing this mechanism," said Ebeid, explaining that one is natural gas. "Fortunately, Egypt possesses a wealth of natural gas, which is the most typical environment-friendly form of energy," she added. Sections of big cities and some industries as well as a good number of public transport vehicles are now dependent on natural gas.
Greater attention is also being devoted to increasing the applications of new and renewable energy sources, including wind and solar energy. "Experimental wind farms have been established at Za'afarana and Hurghada along the Red Sea coast to assess the worthiness of this type of energy in practical use," she said. Moreover, serious attempts to produce hydrogen, with the aim of replacing fossil fuels, are under way "These strategies are carried out in close partnerships with the private sector as well as the international community," Ebeid stated.
