I FEEL I SHOULD START OFF with a confession: I had some misgivings when I was given the assignment of reviewing the past 25 years from an environmental perspective. How on earth could I avoid being overwhelmingly negative? After all, the population is exploding; pollution is rampant; tourist development is destroying our coastlines; illegal hunting is annihilating our wildlife; and the Nile, our green lifeline, is choking.

Then I looked over what has happened in Egypt over the past quarter century on the environmental front and, yes, there is plenty that is wrong and much that needs addressing but what has been achieved over the past 25 years has been, within context, extraordinary.

For anyone who has stood on Moqattam and looked down over the yellow-gray smog that hangs over Cairo, for anyone who battles daily with the gridlock traffic and teeming streets, this claim may in itself seem extraordinary. For anyone who has witnessed the environmental carnage that is Hurghada or the developers’ rape of the North Coast, let alone the tourist explosion in Sinai, it may seem that I have lost my marbles. Recent stories in this very magazine on the slaughter of endangered gazelles in the Western Desert and the president’s eleventh-hour intervention to save Giftun Island from the bulldozers may seem to confirm this.

But bear with me.

Let us go back to 1979. Egypt’s official population was just over 38 million and Cairo’s was 5,084,500. Compare that with just over 70 million and anywhere up to 16 million, respectively, today. What on earth is so laudable about that? Well, in 1979 the fertility rate (the average number of births per woman) was 5.3. By 1992, just 13 years later, this rate was down to 3.9; currently it hovers around 3.5. This is especially astonishing when life expectancy over the same time period has leapt from 52.7 years (according to pblished figures for 1976) to its current 68. Egyptians are living longer and having fewer children than they were 25 years ago.

In 1994, the year of the much lauded Cairo World Population Conference, it was predicted that at the rate of growth at the time, Egypt would have a population of 92 million by 2013 and 171 million by 2038. It now looks as though those estimates can be substantially lowered.

Dana Smillie/Egypt Today Dr. Nadia Makram Ebeid during her short-lived stint as minister of state for environmental affairs

But there is far more to evaluating a population than measuring the quantity of life and playing with numbers. There is quality of life. Pollution is rampant in large urban centers. In the October 1992 issue Egypt Today (then called Cairo Today), it was reported that “Cairo’s air is thick with poisonous lead particles whose numbers are at twice maximum safety levels.” In Cairo, the number of cars has risen from around 600,000 in 1979 to an estimated 3 million today, with an attendant rise in emissions. In recent years, the blackish smog over the city blamed on the burning of rice chaff­ has been a fact of life for Cairenes each fall.

But here, too, there have been notable successes, among them the opening of the Metro in 1987 and its subsequent expansion. The opening of the first line alone took an estimated 45,000 passengers an hour out of their cars and relieved pressure on the grossly overcrowded bus network. Unleaded petrol and natural gas have been introduced. A key event in the regulation of pollution was the introduction of Law Number 4 of 1994 that controls, among other things, factory emissions into the air and water. But laws are just bits of paper if they are not enforced, and the enforcement of Law 4/1994 owed a great deal to the appointment in July 1997 of Dr. Nadia Makram Ebeid as minister of state for environmental affairs.

It was the first time Egypt had a minister whose sole responsibility was the environment, and Makram Ebeid quickly gained a reputation for firm and fair application of the new environment law. In an interview with Egypt Today in February 1999, the minister was asked about her leadership style: “I don’t normally like confrontations unless it is a necessity,” she said, “then my claws which I have lots of appear. I believe in the scientific, reasonable and convincing approach in handling conflicts. This is more suitable than just having confrontations and fights.”

Makram Ebeid subsequently lost her portfolio, the rumor being that she was simply too good at her job.

It isn’t just in Cairo that things are looking up. The Governor of Alexandria, Mohamed Abd El-Salam El-Mahgoub, has been widely praised for cleaning up the city and restoring to it some semblance of its former glory. In Qena, Governor Adel Labib has been responsible for the prizewinning environmental regeneration of the city. In Cairo, things have been relatively less auspicious, and the Nile is a major source of concern, to say nothing about the mysterious appearance of new man-made islands in the Nile for which everyone denies any and all responsibility. Again, it was an issue Egypt Today tackled as its cover story (September 2002). Perhaps concerns about the development of the Nile were best expressed by a 70-year Nile boatman called Saeedo who was interviewed for the piece:

Dana Smilie/Egypt Today Foul smoke in Cairo.

“See what they did to our Nile, my girl? If they want to build five-star chalets or resorts, why don’t they go to Sharm El-Sheikh or Marina? These are places they have already claimed. And if they want to build residential complexes or villas, they have a spacious desert out there. Why the Nile? Perhaps because it’s God’s gift to the poor and they think it is too much for us.”

But the ‘gentrification’ of the Nile is just one aspect of a major environmental concern that affects everyone water. With the expanding population and the development of increasingly grandiose agricultural schemes from the New Valley to the El-Salam Canal across north Sinai, including the much vaunted and publicized (later much unvaunted and unpublicized) Toshka megaproject, water is an increasingly scarce and precious resource.

In recent years, there has been much discussion over the renegotiation of water rights between the various countries in the Nile Basin. As they too grow and develop, they will make more and more use of their quotas of the Nile’s water. This was brought into sharp focus last year when it seemed possible that southern Sudan would split away from the north and claim its own portion.

It is a relatively minor issue that perhaps brings the most attention to bear on water: golf. In 1979, there was one 18-hole golf course in Egypt at the Mena House Oberoi in Giza. Today, they seem to be sprouting up all over the place: in Sharm, along the Red Sea coast, Qatameya Heights and so on. The courses, built on desert sand, are enourmously expensive in terms of water. One must ask why Egypt is developing such an incredibly thirsty sport. The answer, of course, lies in the tourist dollar.

Back in 1979, Egypt had no national parks or protected areas indeed, it didn’t even have Sinai, which was still occupied by Israel. There was no government agency specifically devoted to environmental issues and, as we have seen, no minister with a purely environmental portfolio.

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Here, too, things have changed dramatically. In 1982, the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) was established, and the following year saw the creation of Egypt’s first national park at Ras Mohamed. This helped ensure that some of the richest, most diverse coral reefs on the planet at last received the structured protection of a recognized organization. Since then, 21 other protected areas have been declared and Egypt is well on its way to achieving its stated goal of preserving the 15 percent of its total area with this designation.

Clearly, there are still many problems to be addressed, and the balance between environmental protection and tourism development is one of the great challenges that Egypt currently faces. The Ministry of Tourism has publicly stated that it aims to attract 16 million tourists annually by 2017, with 300,000 hotel rooms along the Red Sea coast alone.

What happens when tourist development is not regulated can be seen on the North Coast west of Alexandria, where the narrow coastal desert is disappearing beneath tourist cities, as well as along the Red Sea coast from Hurghada south. Sinai, too, is unrecognizable from 25 years ago from even 16 years ago.

When I first visited Sinai in 1988 (I won’t count back-packing across North Sinai as a student in 1983) Na’ama Bay consisted of the Marina Sharm, the Ghazala, the Hilton, and a series of campsites. I stayed in a reed hut at the Sanafir. I would spend my days walking round the bay and snorkeling at the Near and Far Gardens, often with the beach to myself. It was idyllic.

How things have changed. The coast where I walked and snorkeled is now completely built up, and Sharm itself has become a glitzy, slightly kitsch metropolis certainly no longer a retreat from the noise and bustle of the city.

Mohsen Allam/Egypt Today Former Minister of Environmental Affairs Mamdouh Riyadh was in office during the slaughter of the gazelles and the scandal of the proposed sale of Giftun island.

It is very tempting for environmentalists to look at the rampant development of Sharm, and to a lesser extent Dahab, Nuweiba and Taba, and shake their heads and tut-tut like premature geriatrics mumbling on about how it is not like it used to be. But that is to misunderstand the management strategies of South Sinai. The aim was to protect certain areas at Ras Mohamed, Nabq, Abu Gallum, Taba and St. Catherine’s to ensure the preservation of key habitats such as the coral reefs, the mangroves and arak stands at Nabq, and key species such as the Dorcas gazelle, the Nubian ibex, the striped hyena and, who knows, perhaps even the leopard.

Development was then confined to the stretches between these protected areas. The focused development of Sharm El-Sheikh and the subsequent crowding occurred in order that the protected areas might remain relatively undisturbed. After the 1993 International Conference Towards the Development of a Sustainable Wildlife Conservation Strategy, I remember going to visit Ras Mohamed with the then park manager, Michael Pearson. After showing me the new visitor’s center and taking me to various parts of the park to which the public had access, he took me off the beaten track to a beautiful, pristine bay that he used to go to whenever he needed some time to himself. It was absolutely untouched and only remained that way because it was off limits to the public. In 2004, such places do still exist.

The effective maintenance of this difficult balance is apparent in the continued health of the coral reefs at such renowned sites as Ras Mohamed. Despite intense exploitation by a mushrooming number of divers attracted by the reputation of the Red Sea’s reefs, it is widely accepted that the coral is holding up well. Monitoring of dive boats by park rangers, provision of fixed moorings and application of simple but effective rules such as no gloves (which prevents divers from clutching the coral) have worked and are contuing to work.

That is not to claim that everything is perfect. One disastrous, and hopefully abandoned, idea would have seen a cable-car run built to the top of Mount Sinai. Another was the campaign to prevent the annual bird netting each fall in the Zaranik Protected Area in North Sinai. Here the conflict is not between conservation and tourism but between conservation and local people asserting their claims to what they see as their land. This fight is ongoing, and it will be interesting to see what happens this coming autumn. A recent dispute, only resolved by the last minute intervention of President Mubarak, was the issue of developing Giftun Island off Hurghada as if Hurghada needs any more environmental destruction. Again, it seems that the environmental campaigners have come out on top.

Sadly, there are exceptions. Giza Zoo bucked the trend by resisting all attempts to clean up its act and provide proper care for its animals. A campaign spearheaded by the British actress and environmentalist Virginia McKenna of the Born Free Foundation failed in its efforts to provide such innovations as things for the primates to climb on and water available all day for the big cats. Meanwhile, the grottoes were made to look beautiful and money was poured into upgrading the cafeterias. The result: The zoo has now been expelled from the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

Hotel development crowds the Red Sea and Sinai coasts and stretches ever closer to the mountains.

In Fayoum, there is an ongoing war between environmentalists and hunters, especially hunters coming from over the Mediterranean in the past the Maltese and the Italians have been the main culprits to shoot endangered species inside the protected area. Fayoum is also under pressure from tourist development, with the latest battle being waged over the construction of a road to service tourist sites on the so far unspoiled northern shore of Lake Qarun, a protected area since 1989.

Which brings us to another development over the past 25 years: In 1979, the environment was simply not considered a pressing national issue. Today it is. More and more people are recognizing the importance of green issues, and while environmentalists used to be written off as a bunch of do-gooder tree huggers, now they have a real voice. While it might be argued that it is still seen as the rather elitist concern of foreigners and four-wheel drive owners, its appeal is broadening.

A number of environmental NGOs have been formed in recent years. From the Maadi Treelovers to the Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association (HEPCA), they campaign actively and vociferously. Environmental issues are now regularly and prominently covered in both the Arabic- and English-language press; I am pleased to say that Egypt Today has been at the forefront of this.

In March, Egypt Today’s cover story exposed the slaughter of the highly endangered slender-horned gazelle in the Western Desert. True, the killings were a huge setback for conservation, but the scandal was successfully exposed and even kicked an interview with Omar Sharif off the cover. Then, in May, the threat posed to Giftun Island by Italian developers was the cover story. The environment matters. It has a profile and importance that simply were not there in 1979.

With the exception of slender-horned gazelles, how has Egypt’s wildlife fared over the past quarter of a century? The first thing to note is that we know an awful lot more than we did in 1979. Since then, a number of surveys and expeditions have been carried out, especially in the early 1990s, when a huge amount of work was done on documenting the country’s biodiversity after the signing of the 1992 Rio Biodiversity Convention. The EEAA produced a series of volumes cataloguing Egypt’s flora and fauna and a number of important books have been published. Thanks to the progress made over recent years that we know more now about our natural history than ever before.

Al-Ahram Archives Newly-appointed Minister of State for Environmental Affairs Maged George, formerly of the ministry of state for military production, will not inherit a clean slate.

While headlines tend to focus on discouraging news of environmental setbacks, there have been a surprising number of additions to Egypt’s fauna since 1979. In 1977, a small fox was collected in southern Sinai and identified by Tel Aviv University as Ruppell’s sand fox. The story might have ended there, but re-examination of the fox and the collection of further specimens in the early 1980s showed that it was in fact Blanford’s fox, a fox of rocky terrain whose fabulously rich coat and exceptionally bushy, black-tipped tail have earned it the name “Royal Fox.” It has since been captured on film in one of the camera traps set up at St. Catherine’s to find the Sinai leopard.

In 1998, the first record of the marbled polecat in Egypt was published from specimens found in northeastern Sinai. Chocolate brown (almost black) below and orange-ochre marbled with brown above, and with striking facial markings, this relative of the weasel is a striking addition to Egypt’s fauna. In the Nile Delta, one of the most densely populated areas of the planet, a new species of toad was discovered kraaking away amongst the paddies.

Birds have also been added to Egypt’s catalogue of species. Since 1979, the Syrian woodpecker, the serin and the Palestine sunbird have all been added to the list of Egyptian breeding birds, along with the spectacular white-breasted or Smyrna kingfisher.

Another kingfisher, the pied kingfisher, provides an interesting environmental aside. It has extended its range quite dramatically over the past three decades, and scientists have put forward the theory that it is finding it easier to fish. With the construction of the High Dam at Aswan, much of the silt previously carried by the Nile is now retained in Lake Nasser (an environmental concern in itself). With less silt clouding the Nile water, kingfishers can now see fish more clearly. It’s an interesting theory and possibly a little far-fetched, but I have yet to hear a better one.

Of course it is not all good news for regional fauna. While there have been no censuses carried out with which we can compare animal populations in 1979 and 2004, anecdotal evidence indicates that many of the larger species the gazelles, Nubian ibex, and Barbary sheep, for example have declined and retreated further and further into the vast desert. The four-wheel-drives that have made the desert more accessible to so many of us have also made it vulnerable to hunters, both local and foreign.

Silvia Dogliani/Egypt Today Lost city of Atlantis, or someone’s private playground? Manmade mystery islands crop up in the Nile.

There is hope in the protected areas, but for some it is probably too late. The cheetah may well have disappeared from its last Egyptian stronghold in the Qattarra Depression. Along the North Coast, the Barbary partridge and Dupont’s lark have probably disappeared, and the High Dam dealt the death knell in Egypt to the fulvous babbler.

So 25 years on, where does that leave the Egyptian environment? In far better shape than we could have expected back in 1979. Yes, the population has increased, but huge inroads have been made into population control. Pollution is a major problem. There are still great challenges ahead, but they are being addressed. From virtually zero environmental protection Egypt now has legislation in force and a well-developed network of national parks and protected areas providing sanctuary to what is left of Egypt’s fauna and flora. The battle continues between developers, especially those in the tourism field, and the environmental lobby, but at least there is a battle now the developers are not having it all their own way.

There are still many obstacles to overcome, but the environment is now firmly on the national agenda. Egypt has come a long way.  et