The Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Mr. El-Koseir, affirmed that all parties within the Egyptian state have taken a set of measures and procedures out of their belief that the issue of climate change is the most important issue at the present time and concerns all countries and international institutions, as the global effects of climate change are wide-ranging and unprecedented in terms of size. And the losses, and perhaps the whole world has watched with great interest the large number of fires, floods, torrential rains and droughts that afflicted separate regions of the world that had never been exposed to such phenomena before.
This came during his speech before the current session of the House of Representatives, headed by Chancellor Dr. Hanafi Jabali, Speaker of the House
In implementation of the directives of the political leadership, the Egyptian state has launched an institutional framework that regulates efforts related to climate change, including the establishment of the National Council for Climate Change, the launch of the National Strategy for Climate Change 2050, and the issuance of the first green bonds in the Middle East to encourage the private sector to enter strongly into this type of investment. . The state is also implementing giant projects in the process of adaptation or mitigating climate change, and the Ministry of Agriculture is implementing measures based on basic axes, namely the development of early-ripening varieties that have little water need and are tolerant of climatic stresses, improving the efficiency of irrigation water use, expanding climate-smart agriculture, digital agriculture, innovation and technology. Modern and early warning systems are being strengthened, and many projects funded by development partners are being implemented to adapt to climate change in marginal and climatically fragile areas, including the Sustainable Agricultural Investments (SAIL) project implemented in the villages of the desert hinterland, and the project to enhance the ability to adapt to desert environments (PRIDE) in Northwest coast areas and other projects and axes aimed at reducing the impact of climate change on these areas.
You may also have followed the activities of the huge global event represented by the convening of the 27th session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27), which was held in Sharm El-Sheikh during the month of November, and the great success of the Egyptian state in hosting and presiding over this conference in terms of the number of presidents and leaders And the participating leaders or in terms of the number of attendees from different countries. For the first time, it was agreed to approve the issue of losses and damages in the history of climate conferences, and then the success of the summit in adopting an unprecedented decision, according to which a fund for losses and damages would be established to meet climate challenges, especially in developing countries.
Also, for the first time in the history of climate conferences, a full day of thematic days on adaptation and agriculture was allocated, which was held on November 12, 2022, which was organized and managed through the Ministry of Agriculture and in coordination with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Environment and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The days witnessed a large number of participants, including ministers, leaders and many international organizations. We were honored by the presence of some of the representatives. This day also included a number of important sessions related to supporting agriculture and food security and discussing all ways to confront the repercussions of climate change. On this day, the Food and Agriculture Initiative for Sustainable Transformation – FAST was launched, and this initiative received the support and adoption of many countries and international organizations. And its development partners, as the ambitious goal of the initiative is to implement concrete measures to increase the contributions of climate finance to finance agricultural and food systems in support of adaptation programs, agricultural innovation, and the application of modern technology in the agricultural sector and related activities to reduce the effects of climate change.
The Minister of Agriculture said that on the sidelines of the conference, the national platform for green projects launched the “Novi-NWFE” program, which includes (9) national projects in the fields of food, water and energy. The Ministry of Agriculture participated in this platform with (5) projects in the fields of crop adaptation to climate changes, development and modernization of field irrigation, early warning, agricultural insurance, and promotion of marginal and climatically fragile areas.
