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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 Saved, or lost forever
By Rushdi Said *
Earth Day offers an appropriate occasion for Egyptians to remember that the earth -- literally, the very soil beneath their feet -- needs their attention and care. For many years, this earth has been undergoing an unprecedented process of degradation. Egypt's urban, agricultural, coastal and desert lands are witnessing changes that may ultimately, if unattended, ruin the environment irreversibly.
Among the most notable such changes are those taking place on Egypt's agricultural land. The accelerated and intensive use of this land has resulted in moderate to extreme degradation. Problems of topsoil erosion, salination and a rising water table are causing their fertility to decline. In addition, air pollution is contributing to this decline at rates that have yet to be determined. The degradation could have led to the total collapse of agriculture had it not been for the introduction of new strains of plants. These strains, especially of wheat and rice, came with the green revolution of the 1950s, and later with the genetic engineering revolution of the 1990s. The introduction of these genetically vulnerable strains saved Egyptian agriculture, but came with a price tag attached. They are often dependent on abundant water and fertiliser. Egypt's use of both has increased dramatically in the past 50 years.
In addition to the problems that intensive agriculture has brought to agricultural land, there is the stress that comes with the demands of the mass of population that lives on that land and that certainly exceeds its carrying capacity. The limited land area of the Nile Valley and Delta can barely meet housing needs. No wonder that during the past two decades alone, urban sprawl consumed more than 30 per cent of that land. The once fertile land of Egypt is being devastated by the spread of brick, stone and concrete. Legislation preventing the use of agricultural land for housing and purposes other than agriculture has failed to stop this trend. Attempts to alleviate population pressure by expanding the frontiers of agricultural land into the desert areas along the fringes of the valley have also failed; the new lands have hardly compensated for the fertile lands lost to urban expansion. In addition, many question the feasibility of agriculture in these new areas.
Despite the admirable efforts that the Egyptian authorities are exerting to tackle the degradation of agricultural land, the process continues unabated. The reason is that these efforts do not address the basic cause: a population that is not in balance with the present pattern of the use of resources and the environment. The process of industrialisation, which took place in the valley on a massive scale during the 1960s, added an enormous strain. The process helped absorb a labour force that could not have been accommodated by agriculture alone. The establishment of many industrial complexes near population centres gave employment to many and helped raise their standard of living. It also exacerbated the pollution problem the country had already begun to feel when it introduced fertilisers and insecticides on a large scale. Many of the factories are still pumping smoke into the air and dumping effluents in the Nile.
Long-term solutions that would conserve Egypt's viable lands and the Nile, its sole water source, must deal with the imbalance between the population, on one hand, and resources and the environment, on the other. Under today's pattern of land and water use, it is difficult to conceive of a way in which 65 million people can live on seven and half million acres of land without causing serious damage to the resource base and the environment. A crowded piece of real estate can also cause serious damage to the cultural heritage of the people living on it and to their social relationships. In the case of Egypt, these relationships have traditionally held its people together.
The ultimate solution that would save the land and improve the quality of life on it lies in the elaboration of a model where population would be broadly balanced with available resources and the environment. Such a solution would entail the alleviation of population pressure on the land by creating job opportunities and new habitation centres outside the valley to help disperse part of the population. Past human experience tells us that if we fail to carry out this dispersal consciously, it will happen naturally and will be accompanied by great pain and disruption. The new frontier I am proposing to use as the site of this dispersal is the great desert expanse of Egypt. Fortunately, the desert has not yet been ruined completely, despite the active efforts of developers and contractors who are squandering its limited water resources on marginal agricultural activities and its coasts on playgrounds for the rich. There is still plenty of desert that can be saved for better use. Ideally, the fertile agricultural land of Egypt should be reserved for agriculture and sustained only by those who are necessary to work it. Every other person should be able to find a place outside this land.
There is no doubt that a reduction of the rates of population growth would help in realising the plan to redistribute the centres of habitation. While these rates have decreased lately, they are still higher than the prevailing economic climate of the country should permit. Past experience shows that rapid rates of population growth are always related to improved economic conditions that increase production and demand for labour. The industrial revolution presented the technological breakthrough that was responsible for the rates of growth in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. In Egypt, it was the introduction and expansion of the perennial irrigation system that spurred the growth rate. The present rates of growth in Egypt defy this past experience; the economic climate is such that the supply of labour exceeds demand. It is important to understand the reasons underlying this aberrant situation if we are to find the appropriate, effective solution for the problem of population control.
Before closing, I should remind the reader that the concerns Earth Day raises ought to relate to every natural habitat in Egypt. In this article I have dealt with only one of these, agricultural land; but every other habitat is under onslaught. We should be concerned about the health and future of our coasts, wetlands, seas and deserts. They are all under stress. If they are lost, they will be lost forever.
* The writer is former head of the Egyptian Geological and Survey Authority.
