The Hawamdiya Sugar Company has been referred to the attorney general’s office by the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs for an investigation into environmental violations, it was revealed during the Sixth Annual Environmental Awareness week organized by Cairo University.
The move follows Minister of State for Environmental Affairs Maged George’s announcement that the government will put a stop to the 450 million cubic meters of waste that the ministry says are dumped in the Nile.
George pointed to the ministry’s success at dealing with the polluters as proof of effective cooperation between different authorities when it comes to environmental protection. The assistant minister also suggested that the government may form specialized environmental courts and an environmental police.
At the same event, Mounir Thabet, regional director for the United Nations Development Program in Cairo, warned against the dangers of neglecting climate change, which he said will cause floods and storms.
Thabet said that it is the poor who pay the price of climate change, even though they play just a small role in causing it.
Heba Nassar, vice dean of Cairo University for society and environmental affairs, said that university students will carry out a campaign to decorate the campus and paint the external walls, sidewalks and buildings of the university to show their participation in the environmental awareness week.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
