Egypt is modernizing its massive irrigation network—lining canals, expanding drip and sprinkler systems across approximately 3.7 million feddans, about 6,000 square miles, and deploying smart irrigation technologies—not just for efficiency, but as preparation for potential reductions in Nile water. Sources highlight that Egypt’s modernization targets could slash irrigation waste by up to one-third, potentially saving billions of cubic meters annually. 

The urgency is fueled by growing water scarcity—Egypt now faces an annual deficit of around 7 billion m³, exacerbated by population growth, climate change, and upstream projects like the GERD a new dam built by Ethiopis. While Egypt remains deeply reliant on the Nile, fears of reduced flows—especially during drought years or due to unilateral actions—have reinforced the strategic urgency for domestic resilience.

Egypt’s irrigation overhaul isn’t just about modern farming—it’s a proactive strategy to stretch its diminishing Nile share and future-proof agriculture in a volatile water landscape. Its expansive irrigation modernization initiative aims to enhance agricultural efficiency and protect its water supply. The plan includes upgrading field-level irrigation systems, lining canals, and introducing smart water management—all aimed at transforming inefficient flood irrigation and securing the Nile’s vital flows.

The Ministry of Planning in Egypt has budgeted nearly EGP 144.8 billion (~$3 billion USD) for agriculture and irrigation in FY 2025–26, including public and private funding, targeting improved irrigation systems and increased yield per feddan. And it is also targeting modernization across 3.7 million feddans, switching from traditional flood methods to semi-modern techniques like drip and pivot irrigation over the next few years. These changes could reduce water usage by up to 30% while boosting productivity by 30–40%.

Egypt’s top farm exports to global markets are led by citrus fruits (about 4.2 billion lb shipped in mid-2025, ≈1.9 MMT) with orchards covering roughly 152,000 ha (~375,600 acres); followed by potatoes (~2.9 billion lb exports; national harvested area ~213,000 ha or ~526,300 acres); fresh onions (~511 million lb exports; ~64,000 ha or ~158,100 acres under cultivation); table grapes (~351 million lb exports; harvested area ~73,000 ha or ~180,400 acres); and sweet potatoes (~273 million lb exports; 2023 area ~12,427 ha or ~30,700 acres).

Collectively, these crops drive roughly $4 billion in annual farm export earnings, underscoring Egypt’s pivotal role in regional food supply chains.

Cotton is still very much a thing in Egypt, though its role has shifted. Egypt is famous for its long-staple and extra-long-staple cotton, often branded internationally as Egyptian Cotton. It has a reputation for high-quality, fine fibers used in luxury textiles and bedding. Production peaked in the mid-20th century, but land competition with food crops, water constraints, and global price fluctuations have reduced its cultivated area.

Yes—cotton remains a notable Egyptian crop. In calendar year 2024, Egypt’s raw cotton exports were valued at about $475 million, driven by the country’s famed long- and extra-long-staple fibers (“Egyptian cotton”). For context, USDA projects MY 2024/25 raw cotton exports at roughly 184,000 bales (480-lb bales).

If implemented well, the overhaul could save billions of cubic meters annually, relieve pressure on groundwater, and strengthen Egypt’s position in Nile water discussions. However, key challenges include financing costs, farmer acceptance, and ensuring “saved” water doesn’t simply expand water-intensive agriculture. Companies like Netafim, the regional and global pioneer of drip irrigation systems, could help Egypt achieve its goals.

Egypt’s irrigation system has roots in millennia-old techniques, from Aswan Dam regulation to historic canal networks. The current program builds on this heritage, blending tradition with pressure-based systems and digital monitoring. Watch developments on the GERD dam opening this year from Ethiopia as water volume from the Nile that goes to Egypt may drop dramatically.

Further reading on Green Prophet:

• • Saudi Arabia’s $650M bet on desalination
  • The Al Baydha Project: How regenerative agriculture revived green life in a Saudi Arabian desert

The post Egypt overhauls its irrigation system in anticipation of losing the Nile appeared first on Green Prophet.

Ethiopia has built a dam on the Nile to meet 60% of its power needs. Downstream countries Sudan and Egypt are furious as this threatens their water supply. They are asking for UN intervention –– or war?

The Nile River as we know it is the large river that floods wide areas of Egypt, allowing for the farming of wheat, beans, cotton and fruit –– and tourism. But the Nile is one of the longest rivers in the world, and one of the two major sources of the mighty Nile starts in Ethiopia at what is known as the Blue Nile at Lake Tana. The Blue Nile is the source of 85% of the Nile water. The second source starts lower down in Uganda and passes through Sudan.

Over the years Ethiopia has been building a dam called the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) about 10 miles east of Sudan to supply its energy needs. Ethiopia has been building Africa’s largest hydro-electric dam since 2011. The landlocked country, which I visited this year, has one of the lowest rates of access to modern energy services, with its energy supply primarily based on biomass, followed by oil (5.7%) and hydropower (1.6%).

The main purpose of the GERD in Ethiopia is power generation, and its 13 turbines are expected to produce about 16,000 GWh of electricity annually which will double Ethiopia’s previous output of electricity and provide power to 60% of the country’s population. If you have ever visited Ethiopia you will understand how meaningful this is.

In 2023, Ethiopia filled the GERD reservoir to completion and Egypt, opposed to the GERD project, announced this was a violation of international law.

In the image below via the US Government site USGS you will see the area of GERD before the dam was built, and then a second photo of the water it required to fill the dam area near completion.

Related: this mystery discovery could explain how the pyramids were built

The GERD reservoir is in a deep gorge, so its surface area is relatively small compared to its volume. This means less water will be lost to evaporation than in desert reservoirs. The lake’s capacity is about twice the volume of Lake Mead formed by the Hoover Dam in the United States.

Including the Aswan High Dam in Egypt, which forms Lake Nasser and has the capacity of four times the volume of Lake Mead, two of the world’s largest dams are now on the Nile River system, in two different countries.

But Egypt is not happy about the Ethiopian dam, despite it building its own dam on the Nile: “We are ready to exercise our right to defend and protect the rights and interests of the Egyptian people, in accordance with the UN Charter,” said a warning letter issued to the Ethiopian government, addressed to the President of the UN Security Council and signed by the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Badr Abdelatty this month.

Egypt calls for the intervention of the UN in regards to filling of the GERD. Egypt says that Ethiopia is violating previous international agreements: “Egypt is almost entirely dependent on the Nile River for its renewable water resources, that are indispensable for the vital human needs and fundamental rights of Egyptians,” the letter states.

“Even though the Nile River has witnessed consecutive above-average flood seasons in recent years, which has relatively protected Egypt from major harm, the continuation of Ethiopian policies, as announced by the Ethiopian Prime Minister on 26 August 2024, could result in an existential threat to Egypt as well as the rights and interests of the 150 million citizens of both downstream countries, and would consequently jeopardize regional and international peace and security.”

For this reason, Egypt declares that after “having exhausted all amicable means, including those repeatedly resorting to the Security Council, in hopes of persuading Ethiopia to desist from its unlawful unilateral policies and accept any of the existing compromise solutions that balance the interests and rights of all parties, the Government of Egypt, therefore stands ready to exercise its rights to defend and protect the rights and interests of the Egyptian people, in accordance with the United Nations Charter.

“Egypt urges the Security Council to assume its responsibilities under Article 24 of the UN Charter, by taking appropriate measures to ensure that Ethiopia cease its unlawful unilateral practices in the Nile Basin,” the letter concludes.

Egypt recently signed a military agreement with the Somali governments to deploy Egyptian troops in the Horn of Africa which borders Ethiopia.

“Such policies are at odds with the aspiration of most regional countries to enhance cooperation and integration among themselves, instead of sowing seeds of strife and differences between peoples bound by ties of brotherhood and common destiny,” Abdelatty said addressing the UNSC president.

Related: This Turkish dam The Tuzluca Dam threatens biodiversity

Abdelatty said the dam will have “serious negative effects on the two downstream countries” which are Egypt and Sudan.

Is Egypt the pot calling the kettle black? Egypt built the Aswan Dam or the Aswan High Dam, as one of the world’s largest embankment dams, built across the Nile in Aswan, Egypt, between 1960 and 1970. It is about 600 miles from the Sudan border.

Like many other dams in the world, the Aswan dam had negative effects leading to water-borne disease, a rising water table that damaged urban sewer systems, damaging ancient monuments, and it deteriorated agricultural fields. The lack of rich sediment in the water drove high artificial fertilizer use and wiped out fish populations.

Egypt is not an angel in other ecological ways: It disregards the effects of the Suez Canal which is destroying ecosystems in the Mediterranean Sea despite the man-made canal bringing in an estimated $9.4 billion USD (2023) in revenue. Egypt was not abiding by UN law when it allowed for billions of dollars of terror money to siphon into its borders through to Gaza over the last 15 years. And it easily allowed Hamas terrorists to cross into Egypt and fly out of its sovereign borders to countries like Turkey and Qatar.

Egypt’s human rights violations against its people and lower class societies are well-documented.

The post Egypt threatens Ethiopia over the source of the Nile appeared first on Green Prophet.

The Nile is one of the most important and well known rivers of the world. Researchers have just found something very exciting: the remains of an ancient branch of the Nile River has been found near the Giza pyramid complex in Egypt — hinting at why so many pyramids were built there.

Satellite images and geological data now confirm that a tributary of the river — which researchers have named the Ahramat Branch — used to run nearby several thousand years ago. The waterway would have provided a convenient way to transport materials to the sites.

The pyramids there are now many miles away from the Nile but thousands of years ago the ancient Nile branch probably carried people, supplies and wealth right to the pyramids.

In Egyptian pyramid complexes, the valley temples at the end of causeways acted as river harbors, write the researchers.

“These harbors served as an entry point for the river borne visitors and ceremonial roads to the pyramid. Countless valley temples in Egypt have not yet been found and, therefore, might still be buried beneath the agricultural fields and desert sands along the riverbank of the Ahramat Branch,” they explain.

Five of these valley temples, however, partially survived and still exist in the study area. These temples include the valley temples of the Bent Pyramid, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Menkaure from Dynasty 4; the valley temple of the Pyramid of Sahure from Dynasty 5, and the valley temple of the Pyramid of Pepi II from Dynasty 6. All the aforementioned temples are dated to the Old Kingdom.

“These five surviving temples were found to be positioned adjacent to the riverbank of the Ahramat Branch, which strongly implies that this river branch was contemporaneously functioning during the Old Kingdom, at the time of pyramid construction,” they write.

Revealing this extinct Nile branch can provide a more refined idea of where ancient settlements were possibly located in relation to it and prevent them from being lost to rapid urbanization, the researchers said. This could improve the protection measures of Egyptian cultural heritage. “It is the hope that our findings can improve conservation measures and raise awareness of these sites for modern development planning,” they conclude.

Tourism to areas like Sinai and Dahab and Cairo is scant now due to the Palestinian and Israeli war, with tourists afraid of Hamas terror in Egypt, but there is no doubt that Egypt will always be one of the must-see countries of the world.

Related: Egypt asks Saudi Arabia to help them with the Nile

The Nile of course is not without its own major political problems. Ethiopia is home to the Blue Nile, one of the tributaries of the Nile River and Ethiopia has created a hydro-electric dam, known as GERD to harvest energy from the river. If it traps enough water long enough it may destroy up to half of Egypt’s agriculture. This does not make Egyptians happy as it threatens them downstream with loss of tourism, and water for agriculture.

Related: Nile cruise ship spills diesel into lake

The Blue Nile is a river originating at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. It travels for approximately 1,450 km through Ethiopia and Sudan. Along with the White Nile, it is one of the two major tributaries of the Nile and supplies about 85.6% of the water to the Nile during the rainy season. The Blue Nile and White Nile meet in Sudan to make The Nile River where it travels to Ethiopia.

The Nile is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest river in the world, though this has been contested by research suggesting that the Amazon River is slightly longer. It is different from the Suez Canal which is a man-made channel that connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea to make shipping routes from the Indian Ocean closer to Europe. It was built by Egypt yet currently Egypt has no control over stopping the terrorists targeting ships as they head to the Suez Canal.

The Suez Canal also has brought invasive species to the Mediterranean Sea such as jellyfish. Houthis, a terror group from Yemen are currently firing missiles at ships heading to the Suez Canal in the Red Sea. Many of these ships are oil tankers and they downed one already which is seeping poison into the Red Sea, with no condemnation from Greenpeace.

The post A long and hidden branch of the Nile River found close to pyramids appeared first on Green Prophet.

Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia has a lot to see and do in terms of local culture, markets, and nightlife – if you can handle urban pollution from cars and trucks. We arrived Friday morning, and by afternoon, I was choking on the smoke from cars and trucks without catalytic converters.

The capital city of Africa hosts the Mercato, the largest open-air market in Africa, and it will make your head spin. Thousands of people and cars, carrying mattresses, carpets, clothes, hats, electronics, water bottles for recycling, dresses, and food, weave in and out in every direction, risking their lives between the cars. We took an hour or two to visit a fraction of it by car, jumping out if we wanted to buy something along the way. While I hadn’t read much about the security situation in Ethiopia, my senses said it was better to stay in the car with the kids.

If you find yourself in Addis Ababa for a few days, first of all, find a guide and driver (you can message me, and I will connect you to mine); it’s recommended to go out of the city on day trips. There are a number of volcanic lakes to explore, and on two day trips we visited, there were no other foreign tourists on the lakes we explored. Our guide spoke English and was able to determine what roads were safe. He negotiated things we wanted to buy in the local currency and overall made our stay more than pleasant. Amanuel felt like family.

We chose Wenchi Lake, a nature reserve that includes a volcanic lake, Lake Wenchi, about 3,450 meters (11,320 ft) above sea level. We drove about 4 hours to get there. Could this be the actual spot that is known as the cradle of humanity? It looked like heaven.

The inactive volcano lake has islands and an ancient church from the 14th century, a popular tourist destination. We arrived during a downpour and were reluctant to get out, but the clouds cleared over. It was a bit of heaven, its scale enough to hold in your mind.

The hours we drove to get there passed through endless villages and dusty savannah, but Wenchi was its own heaven, home to about 90,000 people, all Christian. A local warden took us to an office, and we registered for the park.

Noticeable from a lookout point overseeing the lake was a new so-called eco-resort, not yet operating, but built by Ethiopian Airlines. With so little developed for local people in Ethiopia, we wonder how the opening of this resort will affect local dynamics and its fragile ecosystem.

Warqee (also known as ensete) is by far the most important staple crop in the area, and our guide pointed out the “banana” like trees, of which they eat the seed, he explains.

We drove down to the almost-open eco-resort being worked on by dozens of people, and where we were supposed to meet our horses to take us to the lake, but only one was available. We returned to the car for a new meeting point close to the lake.

I was reluctant to take the horses as the newly paved road and the horses’ hooves would mean it would be dangerous for the horse and its rider. The kids jumped on, and then my “guide”, a five-year-old kid, suggested I jump on his horse, and he gently escorted me and my horse down the lake.

Some locals were swimming in the lake, and luckily for us, we weren’t tempted. Schistosomiasis, also known as bilharzia, is a disease caused by parasitic worms and is common in Ethiopia. But I’d only read about that later when we returned home.

But we weren’t thinking about these things as we were rowed to the quiet island where we met a monk who has been there for 14 years, guarding the church and a small temple that is supposed to symbolize Bethlehem.

The boat we took was paddled to the island by 4 local men from the village of Wenchi.

Our guide Amanuel told us of the first Ethiopian horror movie he saw as a young man featuring the white building on the island. I wanted to go over and peek in.

Wenchi in this 2006 Amharic horror film:

He told us about the priests who planted trees on the island hundreds of years ago and how locals come for school trips and festivals and enjoy the island. I collected some large seeds from a type of eucalyptus tree I haven’t seen before.

We walked quietly around the island, feeling the nature of the place. Our boatmen then took us around the island, and we returned to a mud house serving as a cafe and community center. A party had started with young people listening to music, drinking beer, the Muslim friends sipping on Fanta. Two-thirds of Ethiopia is Christian, the other third Muslim.

While we noticed no tensions between the two groups during our time there, if you read the news, flare-ups are not uncommon. Our guide checked the news regularly to make sure our roads were safe.

Wenchi is a great idea for a family day trip in Ethiopia. The locals all smiled at us as we drove and walked around, although there was some fighting over who was going to take us back up the mountain on the horses.

There is no consensus on who gets to work with locals when they arrive, and the local young men seem troubled that others got work and they didn’t.

I expressed to our guide that once the resort is open, the fighting over tourism might become worse. He said that he spoke with them about creating a system for each guide and that the elders already decided against motorized boats on the lake. We spoke about plastics, noise, and what happens when too many people are on the lake. What’s great about this “heaven” is that there aren’t many people.

Read Related: Ethiopian dam on the Nile to destroy Egypt’s agriculture

Going to visit Ethiopia for a few days was humbling and exciting. We’d arrived from Japan, one of the richest countries on earth, to Ethiopia –– one of the poorest. When it comes to happiness, I can’t say for sure, but the Ethiopians smiled a lot more,

Ethiopia, the only African country to have escaped European colonialism, has retained much of its authentic, ancient cultural identity and is considered by many to be the cradle of humanity: Lucy was one of the first hominin fossils found in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is also considered one of the earliest sites of the emergence of anatomically modern humans, Homo sapiens.

If we acknowledge this, the world should do a better job of supporting Ethiopia in developing itself in industry, agriculture and tourism. China is an obvious partner in Ethiopia for its own reasons. We’d like to see more involvement from democratic nations helping the good people of Ethiopia, a landlocked country, develop its future.

Consider the intricate interdependence between Egypt and Ethiopia, where Egypt’s economic stability hinges significantly on developments in Ethiopia. Ethiopia serves as the primary source of water and sediment for the Nile, contributing 90% of the water flow and 96% of transported sediment, notably through the Blue Nile and other tributaries like the Tekezé and Atbarah. Ethiopia’s ambitious plan to intermittently dam the Nile for power generation purposes adds a layer of complexity to the situation.

The longstanding dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile has spanned twelve years, creating a volatile situation. Any decision by Ethiopia to disrupt the Nile’s flow to Egypt could quickly escalate tensions. Positioned just 19 miles (30 km) from Sudan’s border, GERD stands as Africa’s most extensive hydroelectric dam endeavor, stretching over a mile in length and reaching a height of 145 meters.

Ethiopia’s motivation behind GERD lies in its aspiration to provide electricity to the 60% of its population currently devoid of access. The project aims to potentially double Ethiopia’s electricity production, offering a reliable power supply to businesses and fostering developmental growth. Yet, the project’s implications extend far beyond Ethiopia’s borders, impacting neighboring countries like Egypt and Sudan and sparking concerns about water security and regional stability.

The post Ethiopia and Wenchi Lake nature reserve appeared first on Green Prophet.

The film Gifts of the Nile takes us to Qursaya Island in Cairo, Egypt along the Nile River. This film takes us on a journey alongside River Hero Alban De Ménonville and his team at VeryNile as they work to remove plastics from the Nile River, while also educating the community and raising awareness around the importance of conservation in our waterways.

After noticing that the communities’ traditional ways of fishing were becoming more challenging due to the amount of plastic that entered the river, VeryNile quickly took action launching the “Reviving Cairo Fishermen” project. This project utilizes local fishermen and women and their knowledge of the river to assist in cleaning out any plastic, and in turn, pays them an above-average wage for putting in the work. This allows the river to be cleaned on a grassroots level by those who grew up on the riverbank and provides additional sources of income for the local community.

The film also follows artisan worker Loza Mahmoud and her fisherman husband, Hamed Aly Hamed, as they show their day-to-day lifestyle raising three children on Qursaya Island and depending on the Nile River to make a living for their family. As Hamed heads out to the fishery each morning with his young son, they focus on net fishing before switching their focus to plastic removal along the river.

After realizing that the fish tend to come and go, but the plastic is always there, Hamed makes it a priority to pull bags of plastic out of the river and bring them to a sorting facility. These sorting facilities are employed by locals from the VeryNile organization and are able to compact, package and store the plastic until its ready to be upcycled.

Read Also: Go to Mass in a cave church in Cairo

We are then introduced to Salma Ellakany, a VeryNile educator, who focuses on teaching the next generation the importance of conservation. Raising awareness amongst the youth in the area will give these declining ecosystems a chance as the next generation learns to use their passion to help their local community.

To come full circle, these bags of plastic that are stored after being removed from the river are then broken down and processed into colorful textiles, purses, hats and other home goods, allowing locals to sell these products as artists and creators. This has brought community locals together, working in unison with one topic of focus – sustainability.

“We have 40 full-time people (artisans, plastic operators) and we are working with around 100 fishermen; so that’s a total of 140 local families benefiting directly from this project,“ said Alban De Ménonville. “We translate a problem into opportunities that positively affect our communities and the health of the Nile River.”

Learn more about cleaning the Nile, and join the efforts of VeryNile if you are traveling to Egypt.

The post Cleaning plastics from the Nile, transforming it into business appeared first on Green Prophet.

Electronic visa systems have been growing in popularity for a number of years now, as governments around the world seek to find a way to facilitate the process of streamlining application processes to encourage foreign travelers to visit their country. 

This trend has only intensified in the last year or so, as authorities have seen the introduction of an e-Visa as a way to reduce in-person embassy visits and therefore reduce the risk of COVID-19 inherent with large concentrations of people in an indoor space.  

An Egypt e visa has been available since December 2017, but the Egyptian government has now expanded the list of nationalities eligible for the online visa program. Egypt now allows passport holders from up to 75 different countries to obtain their visa through the electronic system. 

Ghada Shalaby,  the Egyptian Deputy Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, noted that the expansion of the program comes almost exactly a year since Egypt began allowing tourist arrivals to enter the country following the relaxation of coronavirus travel restrictions. She also expressed her hope that the move will help to significantly boost tourist arrivals from the newly eligible countries and help the recovery of the Egyptian tourism economy. 

Passport Holders Now Eligible for the Egypt e-Visa

While over 40 nationalities have been able to obtain a visa for Egypt online since 2017, including all citizens of the European Union, the expansion of eligible countries means that nationals of several new territories can now submit an electronic application online. These include passport holders of several GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) counties such as the United Arab Emirates, as well as nationals of India. 

The full list of territories for which the Egyptian e-Visa is now available is as follows: 

• Albania
• Argentina
• Armenia
• Australia
• Austria
• Azerbaijan
• Bahrain
• Belarus
• Belgium
• Bolivia
•  Brazil
•  Bulgaria
• Canada
• Chile
• China
• Colombia
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Ecuador
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Georgia
• Germany
• Greece
• Hong Kong
• Hungary
• Iceland
• Ireland
• Italy
• India
• Japan
• South Korea
• Kuwait
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malaysia
• Malta
• Mexico
• Moldova
• Monaco
• Montenegro
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• North Macedonia
• Norway
• Oman
• Paraguay
• Peru
• Poland
• Portugal
• Qatar
• Romania
• Russia
• San Marino
• Saudi Arabia
• Serbia
• Singapore
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Taiwan
• Ukraine
• United Arab Emirates
• United Kingdom
• United States
• Uruguay
• Vatican City
• Venezuela
  

An approved e-Visa for Egypt may be issued as either a single entry or multiple entry visa and is valid for a total of 90 days from the date of approval. It allows a stay of 30 days with each entry to Egypt and is valid for purposes of tourism and leisure. 

If a traveler from any of these countries wishes to visit Egypt for longer consecutive stays, or for purposes other than tourism, they will not be able to use the electronic system to obtain a visa. Instead, they will need to apply for a visa through the traditional method, by visiting the nearest Egyptian embassy or consulate in person. 

Benefits of the e-Visa for Egypt

The electronic visa for Egypt has several benefits for both the Egyptian government and travelers, as well as the environment, including:

• Promotes sustainability as removes the need to print out and present supporting documents in paper form as part of the visa application process.
• Reduces carbon emissions as eliminates the need for eligible citizens to travel to an Egyptian diplomatic mission to submit their application in person.  
• Allows expedited entry to the country at border entry checkpoints, as removes the need to wait in long immigration lines to submit a visa on arrival application
• Reduces and streamlines the workload of embassy officials assigned to visa processing duties. 

Additionally, as an approved e-Visa for Egypt is electronically linked to the same passport used to complete an online application, it is not mandatory to print out a paper copy to show on arrival. Nevertheless, it is still advisable to carry a hard copy of the visa on a mobile device to present to immigration officials, in the rare case of any problems with the digital system. 

A Visa for Egypt is Not Always Necessary 

The electronic visa program is ideal for visa-required travelers wishing to visit the majority of Egypt. However, in some cases, certain nationalities do not need to have an approved visa in advance to visit certain tourist-orientated resorts in the Red Sea region, specifically those on the Sinai Peninsula.  

A large majority of nationalities, including all EU nationals and citizens of the United States, are able to obtain a Sinai visa on arrival if they are only traveling to Dahab, Nuweiba,  Sharm el-Sheikh, or Taba resorts. This free permission stamp is valid for a single entry-stay of up to 15 days.

Additionally, visa-required nationalities do not need a visa to enter and transit through any part of Egypt if they do not spend more than 48 hours in the country before transiting to an onward destination. This is dependent on the traveler having a confirmed ticket for onward travel and does not apply to passport holders from Afghanistan, Lebanon, Palestine, or the Philippines. 

Updated Sept, 2023.

The post Over 75 Nationalities Can Now Apply for an Egypt Visa Online appeared first on Green Prophet.

Leaking water pipes, evaporation and a rapidly growing population may be significant concerns for those trying to manage and plan water supplies in Egypt, but compounding such problems – and forcing Egyptians to rethink how they use water – is the threat posed by downstream countries which also want to take more water from the Nile, say observers. “Egyptians have to adapt to less water every day,” said Rida Al Damak, a water expert from Cairo University.

Egypt has a population of about 85 million, and receives an annual Nile water share of 55.5 billion cubic metres, according to experts. Around 85 percent of that water is used in agriculture, but a lot simply leaks away.

According to a 2007 research paper by Fathi Farag, an independent water expert, Egypt loses two billion cubic metres of water to evaporation, and three billion cubic metres to grass growing on the banks of the Nile and on river islands.

Around 40 percent of the remaining water – used domestically and in industry (2.3 billion cubic metres) – is lost to leaking pipes and drains, while 2.5 billion cubic metres are used to generate electricity, the paper says.

“If you calculate all this amount of lost water, you will discover that Egyptians are left with a fraction of what their country receives every year from the Nile,” Farag told IRIN. “This can also show why we should start to worry.”

For farmers like Hamdy Abuleinin, who was able to irrigate his 2.1 hectares of rice only after an argument over water with neighbours in Sharqia near Cairo, this year has proved difficult. “Finding water for irrigation is becoming a daily worry for farmers here,” he told IRIN.

International threat

A 1959 water-sharing agreement between Egypt and Sudan gives Egypt 55.5 billion cubic metres of Nile water, but according to Maghawri Shehata, an adviser to the irrigation and water resources minister, population pressure means the country is already facing a shortfall of 10-15 billion cubic metres annually, and “plans by upstream countries to redistribute the water will be very harmful to Egypt”.

According to the Nile Basin Initiative countries that share the Nile River basin have demanded the revision of colonial-era agreements that allot the bulk of the river’s water to Egypt and Sudan and allow Cairo to veto upstream projects.

Egypt does not recognize a recent agreement signed by Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, that seeks to allow irrigation and hydroelectric projects to go ahead without Cairo’s consent. Ethiopia, for instance, is planning a series of dams along the Nile to generate electricity.

In March, Ethiopia announced the construction of the Renaissance Dam, which aims to be the largest hydroelectric plant in Africa. Experts like Mehari Beyene, writing for the International Rivers network, however, say the dam, which is being constructed near the Sudanese border, has raised concerns about its environmental and human impacts.

Haytham Awad, an irrigation engineering professor from Alexandria University, said Ethiopia’s plan to construct dams along the Nile would reduce Egypt’s current share by five billion cubic metres annually, but he thought this might be manageable if Egypt could cooperate with Ethiopia and buy some of the electricity generated.

Protests over water shortages in Egypt are nothing new especially in July and August, the hottest summer months. On 11 October a 16-year-old farmer was killed in a dispute over water in the southern governorate of Aswan.

Farmers like Abuleinin worry about the future for his seven children. “Fights over water sometimes become physical as water becomes scarcer and these fights might entail loss of life. But the alternative for us is to starve.”

The post Egypt Losing its Mighty Nile Drop by Drop appeared first on Green Prophet.

Waterfalls on the Blue Nile. Ethiopia has plans to grab hold of a bigger share of the river despite Egypt’s long held monopoly.

Defiant of Egypt’s historic monopoly over its flow, Ethiopia is pushing ahead with a controversial plan to build a massive dam on the Nile river. Egypt and Sudan have maintained control of the Nile through a series of laws originally brokered by colonial powers in 1929.

But last May, six upstream countries signed a legally binding document that dispossessed Egypt of its right to veto decisions regarding the Nile’s distribution. Buoyed by President Hosni Mubarak’s recent ouster, and undaunted by criticism, Ethiopia insists that it will proceed with its plan even without international support.

At a recent news conference, Ethiopia’s Water and Energy Minister Alemayehu Tegenu explained that construction of the dam near the Ethiopian and Sudanese border is expected to start soon, Reuters reports.

This despite widespread opposition to the project, which Minister Tegenu suspects is a direct result of Egypt’s campaign to prevent the dam’s construction.

But Mr. Tegunu is adamant that Ethiopia will proceed with the $4.78 billion dollar project even without donor support. In order to finance the project, they will sell off government bonds.

At present, Ethiopia uses 1% of its annual 86% contribution of Nile water, while Egypt has access to 55 out of the river’s 84 billion cubic meter annual flow. Last year, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Burundi signed an agreement to re-apportion the Nile, an agreement Egypt refuses to acknowledge.

The Nile Dam is expected to generate 5,250MW of hydroelectricity after its completion in approximately 44 months, contributing more than a third to the country’s $12 billion plan to generate 15,000 MW within the next 25 years.

Apart from a non-renewable aquifer, Egypt relies almost exclusively on the Nile to provide for its 85 million and counting residents and is eager to maintain its control. So eager, some mutter, that this dispute could lead to war.

The Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told Reuters that Egypt is sending rebel groups into its country, but that any effort to declare war on the upstream riparian nations would result in failure.

It behooves Egypt to take diplomatic action, cede its unbalanced influence without sacrificing a reasonable percentage, and start working overtime to improve management of those water resources it does have.

:: Reuters

More on the Nile River:

American Elections Are Bad for the Nile Delta

In The Face of Nilelessness, Egyptians Protest Water Shortages

Nile Water Kills 17,000 Children Each Year

Top image via wikicommons

The post Defiant Ethiopia To Proceed With Massive Dam On The Nile River appeared first on Green Prophet.

If temperatures continue to increase and icecaps melt, scientists say a one meter rise in sea level will swallow the Nile Delta.

In order to protect the good life: big cars, up to three or four or more in one family, massive homes, fancy food, and five star trips to the Bahamas, (all unavailable to those on the losing end of this racket), Americans recently elected some of the most dangerous people in the world. Dangerous because they deliberately suppress climate science, blatantly prioritizing corporate interests over everyone else.

This is bad news for the Middle East too. Unregulated, America’s cars and factories send greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These then trap heat. Which melts glaciers and in general plays havoc with our weather patterns. As ice melts, sea levels rise and will eventually consume certain shorelines. Egyptian scientists recently announced the Nile Delta will be one of them, but their government wasn’t listening.

Assiut University held a press conference on Wednesday in order to share the results of a study conducted by the Egyptian Geologist Khaled Abdel Kader Aud, according to Al Masry Alyoum.

The University’s Vice President, Ahmed Gaeiss, told the paper that the Geologist’s study – which demonstrates the link between climate change and the northern Egyptian coast – is “very important.”

“Egypt is among the countries that will be significantly affected by climate change, since the Nile Delta lies beneath sea level,” Mr. Aud said. “Should the sea level rise by only one meter, the delta will be inundated.”

He also bemoaned lack of government attention directed at scientific research, which he added desperately needs funding.

While other countries are preparing to mitigate the upcoming effects of climate change, Egypt is notoriously silent on the issue, the paper reported. So silent, in fact, that neither the Minister of Environment, nor the Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources were present. However, the latter sent a representative on his behalf.

Not only is the Egyptian government failing to prepare for inevitable change, but they continue apace with development projects aimed at attracting more tourists to the Mediterranean Sea. All along the shoreline half-built eyesores lie uninhabited in areas that lack waste or water treatment facilities. Or even fresh water.

“But our government hasn’t yet taken any steps to protect our north coast,” Mr. Aud told the paper.

Like the politicians who have taken back the American Congress, the Egyptian government has tucked their collective head under an ostrich wing. But hiding will not make the changing clime disappear.

:: Al Masry Alyoum

More environmental news from Egypt:

12 Million Egyptians to be Affected by Climate Change

MIT Student Kindles Solar Manufacturing In Egypt

Egypt To Grab Sudanese Land To Meet Its Wheat Needs

The post American Elections Are Bad For The Nile Delta appeared first on Green Prophet.

It takes a special kind of person to stop, take stock, to imagine how our actions today will translate tomorrow, the next day, and even 100 years from now. In Egypt, with its bulging population of at least 80 million, climate change could drastically impede the quality of life. And already, Egyptians can’t trust their tap water. But 2 friends aim to change all of that by kayaking from Aswan to Alexandria in 27 days.

Plying the Nile

It’s not every day that Egyptians will see a kayak plying the Nile’s waters, competing with cruise ships, faloukas, and other larger vessels. And it is even more unlikely that said explorers would be paddling for an environmental awareness campaign.

This, at least, is what Aly Morad and Salah El Din Helmry are hoping for, they explained to Heba El-Sherif with the Daily News Egypt.

“I’m hoping to turn heads,” said Morad, who studies petroleum and energy engineering at the American University in Cairo. He will be joined by fellow rower and kayaking extraordinaire Salah El Din Helmry, a marketing student.

Preparation for the journey

The pair have set a rigorous, measured schedule for their trip, which will commence on 1 January, 2011. They will kayak 50km each day in 6 hours, breaking in between, and spending the rest of their days on land in either tents or hostels. In addition, they expect to blog about their event.

To prepare for their trip, “the duo are undergoing nine training sessions a week, split up between the morning and afternoon, with each lasting about three hours. Sessions include running, biking, weight lifting as well as kayaking short distances,” writes El-Sherif.

“I am very scared that the distance turns up to be too big. I am worried of fatigue,” said Morad.

The cause

So why would 2 youngsters put themselves through so much trouble, when they could cool off in a hipster, air-conditioned lounge in Cairo? For Morad, it’s simple. He loves the river, while El Din Helmry hopes that people will stop throwing their waste into it.

The Nile River is the source of almost all of Egypt’s water for agriculture, tourism, and industry, according to American University’s Inventory of Conflict and Environment (ICE), but it is beset with problems.

“Industrial establishments do not comply with the law and dump their wastewater untreated into surface water bodies or inject into groundwater,” according to a 2007 ICE report. Furthermore, given low levels of sanitation service in rural areas, “7% at most,” locals dump their sewage into streams, canals, and drains, leaving behind a veritable cesspool.

Although they are only 2, there is hope that more people will become interested in the country’s environmental concerns, with a particular emphasis on the Nile.

“Besides the personal achievement, I wish that what I am doing will make a difference, that it would change how people think, even if it’s a small difference … and that step by step they [Egyptians] feel for more issues,” explained Morad.

:: lower image and story via The Daily News Egypt

More News From Egypt:

Energy Giant BP Signs Gas Deal With Egyptian Government

PetroGulf Misr Denies Responsibility For Red Sea Oil Spill

Egypt to Build Two 100 MW Solar Energy Plants

The post Nile Awareness Mission: Aswan To Alexandria In a Kayak appeared first on Green Prophet.