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.
350.org proves that Egypt has an enormous reservoir of young and engaged people. Scientists have determined that to keep the climate stable the average concentration of CO2 in the sky should be limited to 350 ppm, compared to the 400 ppm that was reached in 2012. And while the science of climate change is solid, […]
It’s hard to ignore the lack of infrastructure and safety for cyclists in the Middle East. In Egypt you might get sexually harassed if you are a woman riding a bike in Cairo. With the raised sidewalks, when they exist in Amman, Jordan; and the deathly traffic and smog, riding in Amman isn’t such a […]
Azza Abdel Hamid Faiad was the winner of the 2011 European Union Contest for Young Scientists for finding a new way of turning plastic into biofuel. A sixteen-year-old Egyptian student, Azza Abdel Hamid Faiad from the Zahran Language School in Alexandria has identified a new low-cost catalyst which can generate biofuel by breaking down plastic waste. The idea of breaking down […]
You can visit travel websites for all-inclusive holidays where you can find week-long or two-week sun holidays in Sharm, Sinai; You can also find loads of ways to hang out in Agadir, Morocco at exclusive resorts; but not every all-inclusive option can give you the right eco spirit you are aiming for.
Green Prophet’s reports on happenings in the Gulf region have increasingly been using the acronym GCC, which stands for Gulf Cooperation Council. Perhaps a bit of an explanation is in order. GCC is a political and economic alliance between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Saudi Arabia (KSA). It was formed in 1981 following […]
Who was Hassan Fathy, the earth based architect who inspired the Middle East? Exactly forty years ago, Hassan Fathy published his groundbreaking book on community-inspired mud architecture in Egypt. To mark his book’s 40th anniversary and commemorate his green legacy, we spoke to Salma Samar Damluji who worked with Fathy in Cairo in 1975 and […]
Venus crossed the sun this morning in the Middle East, giving heaven-gazers a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the hot planet. Venus’ next transit accross the sun will be in the year 2117. Earth’s twin made an appearance as a black dot traversing the sun this morning in the Middle East and Egyptians […]
Jordan’s hosting of forced migrants is overburdening already stressed water resources. Humanitarianism has an unanticipated knock-on to fresh water supplies, as Jordan is starting to realize. Syrian refugees harbored in kingdom are draining the desert nation’s scarce water resources, reports Lebanon’s Daily Star. This presents a new setback for Jordan, one of the world’s most […]
When we first learned about the 120,000 square meter artificial lagoon in Sharm el Sheikh designed to be the largest of its kind in the world, we wondered whether it would lift off or crumble in failure as so many of Egypt’s grand projects have done. We need wonder no more since World Architecture News […]
She might travel on a budget, but this backpacker can spend double the amount of money of the average non-budget traveller, and she’ll probably have more fun. It’s easy to look down on the lowly backpackers when you are a country looking to earn lots of income from tourism. Many Middle Eastern countries rely seriously […]
This wood waste may not look like fuel for a solar power plant, but it soon could be.
Visit Autopooling.com to car pool in Lebanon. It is often true that through hardship people naturally become more resourceful. Carpooling first became prominent in the United States as a rationing tactic during World War II. It returned in the mid 1970s due to the 1973 oil crisis and the 1979 energy crisis and it has […]
Manufactured landscapes and Toskha, a planned city to create a second Nile Valley in Egypt The Middle East is no stranger to construction failures. This page on Arabia Business gives an almanac of such failures. What is interesting about this list is the presence of some substantially big names. Failure of mega construction projects in […]
You see all kinds of weird transportation in the Middle East: but the worst is drifting where young Arab males purposefully “drift” their cars into crowds of people. I don’t understand the lust for cars. I’m unresponsive to the siren call of Formula 1, NASCAR, and Top Gear. I think commuter trains and subways are […]
Israel works to create a buffer zone around Egypt and Gaza fearing rare strain of foot and mouth disease will spread. With vaccines in short supply the Food and Agriculture Association of the United Nations warn that animals should not be moved around Gaza to stop the spread of a new strain of foot and […]