Egypt, a country where pharaohs once commanded the Nile and cats enjoyed diplomatic immunity, is now wrestling with modern environmental challenges that no ancient scribe could have predicted. The nation faces a complex tangle of issues: rapid urbanization, shrinking green spaces, plastic waste that seems to multiply like desert mirages, and the slow but steady warming of the Mediterranean and Red Sea. Add to that the annual drama of the Nile — too much water, too little water, or water carrying things that nobody wants to swim with — and you have a country navigating a delicate ecological tightrope.
But Egypt isn’t just struggling; it’s also innovating. And some of its most creative solutions come not from ministries but from civil society. Nature Conservation Egypt is one of the country’s leading environmental NGOs, championing bird protection, wetland conservation, and the survival of migratory species that treat Egypt like an airport lounge on their way between continents. Their fieldwork in places like Lake Qarun and the Red Sea wetlands has quietly shaped policy for years.
Then there’s HEPCA — the Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association — a powerhouse NGO guarding the Red Sea’s coral reefs from overfishing, careless tourism, and the occasional boat captain who mistakes a reef for a parking spot. HEPCA’s mooring buoy system has become a regional model, proving that even popular tourist hubs can protect biodiversity when the rules are clear and the buoys are bright blue.
New sustainability movements are popping up too: youth-led recycling initiatives in Cairo, clean-energy startups in Alexandria, gardens and hydroponics farms on rooftops and Nile cleanup campaigns that feel half environmental crusade, half street festival. Egypt’s ambitious Benban Solar Park, one of the largest in the world, shows what national-scale renewable energy can look like when the sun cooperates — and in Egypt, it usually does. Almost every day is a beach day.
BenBan Solar Park from above. The Benban Solar Park has a total installed capacity of 1.65 gigawatts (GW). It’s one of the largest solar installations in the world and a major pillar of Egypt’s renewable-energy strategy.
Eco-challenges remain big, but the momentum is growing. In true Egyptian style, progress arrives with a mix of determination, improvisation, and just enough humor to survive the heat.
If you’ve ever braved the streets of Cairo, you know that every time you cross the street there as a pedestrian an adventure is in store. Cairo, unfortunately, is almost synonymous with traffic congestion, and all those drivers want to get where they’re going – fast. But if there were less cars on the road […]
Destertec and Masdar (above) are heating up solar energy opportunities in the Middle East. Tap into this new energy at the 2nd Annual MENASOL conference, this year in Egypt. Image via Masdar website. Green Prophet wants to remind you about MENASOL –– the major solar energy conference taking place in Cairo, Egypt this May. You can […]
Support the organic cotton business in Egypt by buying Under the Nile brand toys and baby clothes. While Israel’s Katanchic is making groovy cotton baby clothes, and Turkey is brandishing their organic cotton in the steamy markets of Istanbul, Egypt has long been lauded as the Middle East’s king of cotton. Under the Nile, founded […]
Cairo could flood over if climate change predictions come true. Image of smoggy Cairo via ninahale. The Egyptian Minister of Agriculture Amin Abaza confirmed last week that the ministry had prepared a strategy for sustainable agricultural development until 2030. (This comes after gloomy reports for the Cairo region by the year 2020) He said that […]
Hassan Fathy, an Egyptian architect saw the value of natural building long before it became a fad in the west. Green Prophet has railed against projects like Dubai Burj Tower. We have pounded our chests at the audacity of Masdar City’s “zero” footprint claim, and we have decried the potential consequences of unsustainable approaches to […]
An Israeli-Egyptian solar project in the Sinai Desert? Not on Egypt’s account. It was the sunniest news to come out of the Eilat Energy conference last week: that Israel and Egypt would be cooperating on solar energy projects in the Sinai Desert, now under Egyptian sovereignty. While Israel and Egypt, thanks to Sadat now have […]
Wind farm in Egyptian desert at Zafarana. (Image via windpowerworks.net) The Egyptian New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA) and Abu Dhabi’s green energy company, Masdar, signed a framework agreement on February 18th for a 200 megawatt wind power plant, slated for Egypt’s eastern coast near Suez. The project is the first collaborative venture between Egypt […]
Bats can eat their weight in mosquitos. Some, 1,200 mosquitos every night, making them man’s best night flying friend. Have you ever noticed those night flying creatures that seem to flitter endlessly among date palm trees in the Middle East at night while making distinctive clicking sounds? If you have, chances are these creatures are […]
Israeli Minister Ben-Eliezer addressing the Eilat energy conference this morning. (photo by Daniel Cherrin). Israel and Egypt are discussing a possible collaborative solar energy project in the Sinai desert, Israel’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor Binyamin Ben-Eliezer announced this morning at the third annual Eilat-Eilot Renewable Energy Conference. According to Ben-Eliezer, he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu […]
Want to accelerate your solar idea and move more developments into the Middle East? The MENASOL conference in Cairo’s gathering a critical mass of opinion leaders, experts and financing personnel this May. In a part of the world where it can take centuries for there to be something new under the sun, Cairo will be […]
If you enjoy sweet treats from Cairo, they are about to get sweeter: Cairo sugar co is now greening its emissions by switching to natural gas. Abu Dhabi’s Masdar energy and development company is helping to further make the Middle East more green by signing a 10 year CO2 Emissions Control Agreement with Egyptian Sugar […]
Concerts are a good way to bring environmentalism to the streets and the general public. Over the past few years, we’ve seen this tactic used to promote the green cause a few times in the Middle East, like the used-falafel-oil-powered Earth Day concerts in Tel Aviv and the “Don’t Panic, It’s Organic” concert. The practice […]
The current border wall between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. According to experts, a new underground wall will cause serious damage to Gaza’s Coastal Aquifer. The Coastal Aquifer, the main freshwater resource for Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, has been in danger for a long time. The environmental impacts of last year’s war between […]
To get the needle or not, that is the question some of us are asking. A researcher looking at bacteria model, says these ancient organisms wouldn’t mass immunize. The swine flu is taking its toll in the Middle East, not immune to the deadly virus that tends to attack younger, healthier people, and those who […]
A study conducted by the Center for Remote Sensing at Boston University, commissioned by the Arab Forum for Environment and Development, warned that Egypt would be one of the Arab countries most affected by climate change. The study analyzed a variety of scenarios of climate change impact, particularly on coastal areas, based on satellite images […]