The study on the threat to the Egyptian coastline published by Al-Masry Al-Youm in a series on climate change has provoked a wide variety of responses from scientists and experts.
Farouk al-Baz, former NASA scientist and Director of the Center for Remote Sensing at Boston University, said that he agrees with the study in that a raise in the sea level of even half a meter would lead to numerous threats and intense damage to northern coastal areas. He explained that the best thing Egypt can do is to cultivate the desert area immediately next to the Nile delta region, because trying to change the location of the sea would be extremely expensive and could have unpredictable results. It could potentially have no effect at all, or it could reduce the amount of arable land in Egypt. Al-Baz explained that all these are only possible scenarios, continuing: "We don't know exactly what would happen, or when and where, but we have to be fully prepared."
Mohamed al-Raia, Environment Professor at Alexandria University, disagrees with the study's conclusions that the rising levels of the ocean would put 30 percent of the Delta under water, saying that the loss of land is not expected to exceed 15 percent. He emphasized that discussion of rising water levels must be taken seriously, especially since there are beaches and cities that would certainly be damaged, such as Alexandria and Gamsa. He believes the solution is to supply the beaches with more sand.
Al-Raia believes that the ideal area to take sand from is to the west of Alexandria, and he called for the state to establish fish farms in the at-risk areas, rather than attempting to fill in the sea. He added: "We have to use the principle of precaution in dealing with different environmental phenomena," explaining that there are a number of pro-active options such as building dams in the areas that are expected to flood, and using experts from the Institute for the Protection of Beaches, and from the universities.
Samer al-Mufti, former Secretary General of the Desert Research Center, said that the rise in the sea level could be from 90cm to as much as 1.9m, and that studies have shown that the delta is sinking by 1.5mm every year. By the end of this century, he said that it will have sunk between 30 and 40cm, which could lead to its complete submersion, as the published study stated.
Al-Mufti called for preparing a regional vision to solve the problem, by building a dam on Gabl Tareq to prevent the entry of ocean water, and another dam at Bab al-Mundib.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
