Egypt’s other green revolution

After the Arab Spring, Egypt tries to balance the growing risks to wildlife and the environment.

By EUGENIA UGRINOVICH
Egypt’s other green revolution (photo credit: AMR ABDALLAH DALSH / REUTERS)
Egypt’s other green revolution
(photo credit: AMR ABDALLAH DALSH / REUTERS)
Azure blue vistas, remote sandy beaches, and some of the world’s most colorful underwater life have for decades attracted vacationers to various resorts along Egypt’s southern Sinai coast. But since last year’s upheaval that led to the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, the area’s delicate environment is under threat as ecology has fallen to the bottom of the priority list of a country in crisis.
“With Mubarak gone and the mess that followed, nobody’s left to take care of Egypt’s nature,” says Muhammad Mousa, a diver with one of the underwater sports centers in Sharm el-Sheikh. “I see it on a daily basis: fewer fish, fewer dolphins and fewer turtles,” he complains. Other divers report seeing no sharks whatsoever, with some tourists saying the coral has lost its variegated colors and luminescence.
Not everyone agrees. Ayman Taher, an environmentalist at the Marine Biology College in Hurghada, the administrative capital of the Red Sea Governorate, and a founder of the Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association (HEPCA), says he has not noticed any radical changes underwater.
However, Taher says he is concerned about the overall state of Egypt’s environment.
“Before or after Mubarak, the country’s nature is in equally bad condition,” Taher tells The Jerusalem Report.
“The ouster of the former regime reduced the negative impact of tourists on sea life,” he says, referring to the sharp drop in tourism since the revolution began in January 2011. Foreign visitors, too scared to visit a country in the midst of such a massive upheaval, slowed to a trickle.
Ironically, their absence helped to save some of Egypt’s fragile coastal environment, which was left unguarded by the authorities who had other urgent priorities.
According to a recent Italian study, an average diver was caught touching coral sanguine about the benefits. “The lawlessness that ensued outweighed any positive outcomes of the revolution,” he says.
Indeed, with 750 miles of coastline under Egyptian protection, the authorities do not seem to have enough human resources to safeguard the territory.
Huge area
“We only have 92 people to monitor this huge area,” says Taher, who has been involved in protection, conservation and diving for the past 30 years. “Many of them are now leaving Egypt for the UAE and other countries, attracted by higher salaries and better conditions.”
And while the number of employees dwindles, the problems Egypt faces are increasing.
One of the most acute issues is the overfishing of sharks. In 2004, the governor of the Red Sea Province approved a law banning shark fishing in the sea. The Agriculture Ministry followed suit the next year, also prohibiting the commercial sale of shark meat. According to the law, fishermen caught with sharks on board are subject to heavy penalties and the revocation of their fishing licenses for three years.
But in the post-revolution chaos, with few people to patrol the coasts, it is not surprising that the number of sharks in the area has decreased by 80 percent. Fishermen consider shark a good catch because it is a delicacy that is imbued with mystical, sexual properties.
“Egypt has law but lacks law enforcement,” explains Taher.
“With the country’s tough economic situation, it is difficult for the authorities to explain to local fishermen why they cannot kill sharks to provide food for their families.” As the interim government dithers, shark meat finds its way onto the plates of diners across the nation.
The meat is sold for to six to eight Egyptian pounds per kilo – or up to $1.30, which is very cheap compared to other fish and meat on the local market, its appeal boosted by merchants’ tales about the killer fish boosting men’s sexual prowess.
To distract the more knowledgeable customers – who are aware that heavy metals found in shark meat make it a risky food choice – some poachers try to pass it off as grouper, selling it for 20 pounds ($3.30) per kilo. By comparison, a kilo of white fish in a local street market or bazaar sells for 25 pounds, a kilo of lamb is 65 pounds and a kilo of beef is 75 pounds. Prices are higher in supermarkets.
The most sought-after part of the shark, the fin, is either shipped abroad to Asian markets or sold to high-end eateries across the country. One of Cairo’s leading hypermarkets, Carrefour, was spotted selling shark meat until recently, and the upscale Four Seasons resorts in Cairo has been offering shark fin soup for as much as 1200 Egyptian pounds, or $198, per portion. In Hurghada, the situation is far more alarming: tourists and locals have reported seeing endangered sea species such as manta rays and parrot fish offered on buffet tables, as chefs stood by to cut and grill them to order.
Meanwhile, Taher says Egypt is losing about $250,000 per year on every mediumto- large shark observed in the waters of the Red Sea. “We came up with this number after calculating the amount each visitor pays for trips to shark observatories like the one in the Brother Island,” he says, referring to the Red Sea island midway between the coast of Egypt and Saudi Arabia. “We then divided it by the amount of sharks sighted in the area.”
The situation, however, was not much better under Mubarak. HEPCA began operations in 1990 and the Ministry of Environment was only established in 1994. It took the authorities another 10 years to launch their first major projects.
Concerns
Even then, the government wasn’t investing much to keep them afloat. Most money came from donations, especially from USAI D, which focused on Red Sea programs, and the EU , which turned its attention to southern Sinai. Egyptian officials took action only when foreigners raised concerns over the worrying state of the country’s environment.
In 2010, when the first shark attacks took place in the waters of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing one and injuring five, the government handled the issue by indiscriminately slaughtering as many of the species as they could find.
“Action was taken without looking into the real reasons behind the problem, without consulting experts or scientists and without gathering enough data to objectively assess the situation and propose well-grounded means to handle it,” says Hala Barakat, a reporter who has covered the issue for Egypt Independent, a news website.
But apart from the problem of endangered species, Sinai faces a spectrum of other challenges.
A Ministry of Environment report estimates that by 2017 there will be 248 percent more hotel rooms in southern Sinai than there were in 2003. The Chamber of Diving and Water Sports received funding to tackle the situation, but despite their numerous efforts and vigorous campaigns, nothing has been achieved. Moreover, the Environment Ministry funding evaporated following the revolution, leaving only the Ministry of Tourism in charge of ensuring that tourism operated sustainably in Sinai.
The consequences are already palpable.
Cement waste is being improperly discarded, restaurants are being extended over the water and sewage plants are spilling refuse into the Red Sea. Boats continue to drop anchors on the delicate coral reefs, damaging their fragile structure. Hotel construction continues to spread, occupying more and more of the scenic coastline.
Determined to boost the economy, the Ministry of Environment even turned a blind eye to the carrying capacity of the corals. “Currently, there are about 3,000 boats registered in the Red Sea with only four out of 22 islands suitable for tourists,” says Taher. “We have to limit the number of these boats to decrease the negative impact. I’ve repeatedly called on the government to do so but my pleas fell on deaf ears.”
Nevertheless, officials say they are doing their best to improve the situation. “We’re trying hard to save and protect the country’s national parks,” insists Mohammed Ibrahim, director of the Coral and National Parks Department in the Ministry of Environment. Dr. Ibrahim is proud of the fact that he has just opened the country’s thirtieth national park, Naisk Gabl, on the Egypt-Sudan border and promises that many more are on the way. But even he admits that the future is uncertain.
“The armed forces and the police help us in our efforts, but it’s quite difficult considering the prevailing lawlessness. It will all depend on the new government,” he says.
Bridge
Despite these new initiatives, Egypt’s existing environmental assets are clearly in danger.
The Egyptian authorities recently announced the revival of plans for a bridge that would connect the country’s Gulf of Aqaba with the Tabuk region of Saudi Arabia. The King Abdullah Bridge, as it will be called, was initiated in the 1980s, designed to put an end to accidents involving Egyptian ferries in the waters of the Red Sea. The project, which will cost an estimated $3 billion, is also aimed at boosting trade between the two countries and increasing Saudi tourism in Egypt. According to the Ministry of Transportation, the bridge will stretch 50 kilometers across the Red Sea and could be ready by the middle of next year.
But environmentalists are concerned about the plan, insisting that the impact of such a project could be devastating. Stalled under Mubarak for political reasons, the bridge is now expected to move full speed ahead, as the prevailing Islamist majority of the parliament is eager to bolster ties with Saudi Arabia. In February, the newly elected members declared they would encourage the initiative in a bid to improve the tourism industry.
With officials struggling for ways to cope with the economic crisis, however, environmental issues are not a top priority for many.
President Mohammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood politician who took office on June 30, has vowed to get Egypt off its knees and restore its past glory. But he failed to mention the country’s environment in his 1,536- word campaign platform.
“I went through the manifestos of all the presidential candidates. None talked about the acute problems we face in Sinai,” says Taher.
But there are some signs of improvement.
According to the World Environmental Performance Index for 2012, published by the universities of Yale and Columbia, Egypt topped the list of the most environmental countries in the Middle East and Africa. Israel came in second. With such little effort coming from the government, it is clear that NGOs are largely to thank for whatever standing Egypt maintains on environmental issues.
“I believe that in order to solve the problem we have to raise awareness,” says Taher. “We managed to convince Carrefour to take shark meat off its shelves. We also sweet-talked various restaurants to give up on the fin soup. More than that, a lot of educational work is currently being carried out throughout Sinai. We promote eco-tourism to the nation’s various national parks in an attempt to take the load off Sharm el-Sheikh.”
Meanwhile, beneath the waters of the Red Sea, Mousa hopes there will still be something worth diving for in a few years’ time.
“Foreigners who come here don’t seem to care about the country’s environment – after all, they are guests. Egyptians, on the other hand, are not educated enough to understand the importance of going green. Egypt needs an overhaul, a clear-cut policy that will educate people but that will also punish those who are breaking the law by ruining what nature has given us,” he says.