CAIRO (Ahram) – Egypt depends on the Nile River for 97 percent of its water needs and climate change will increase water shortages in the country, the minister said during the opening session of the Environment & Development Forum: The Road to Sharm El-Sheikh Climate Change COP27.
The event, which kicked off Sunday and is scheduled to run through Tuesday, is part of the country’s preparations for hosting the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in the Red Sea city of Sharm El-Sheik in November.
Several countries suffer from water shortages due to increases in population, unstable water shares (the percentage of water from shared sources, like the Nile, allotted to each country) and climate impacts, which has led to shortage of water used for drinking, agricultural and industrial purposes, said Suweilam according to Ahram Arabic gate.
The irrigation minister urged all countries to strengthen cooperation amid extreme climate phenomena, stressing the need to place the water sector, food and agriculture on the global climate agenda.
He said shedding light on these sectors will contribute to increasing the ability of countries to deal with water issues in a way that is consistent with the related sustainable development goals.
Egypt, one of the most water-scarce countries in the world, needs 114 billion cubic meters (bcm) annually, but it only receives an average of 60 bcm, mainly from the Nile River, according to official remarks.
Egypt overcomes water scarcity by importing 54 percent of its virtual water and reusing 42 percent of its renewable water.
Virtual water, which is the embedded water required to produce commodities and measured as a percentage of the already existing water resources, has been relied on for decades in the form of food imports and is increasingly recommended as a good policy for water-scarce areas.
Egypt’s annual share of water is 560 cubic meters per person, placing the country well below the international threshold for water scarcity, according to the cabinet’s figures.
According to the UN, a population faces water scarcity when annual water supplies drop below 1000 cubic meters per person and “absolute scarcity” when it drops below 500 cubic meters.