Future of Water in Egypt
Thursday, 11. October 2007 | 10:20 Uhr
Speaker
Organisation
Reporting
Sara El-Sayed and Sarah Youssef present their approaches to solve Egypt’s water problems. They start with a sketch that shows how young innovative spirit bounces off bureaucratic self-conception. The common Egyptian attitude is based on the Nile myth, according to which the Nile will always provide water. The majority of Egyptians live close to the Nile, but they tend to forget that they share the headwaters with nine other countries. 86% of water withdrawn from the Nile is used for irrigation in low-yield farming, 8% goes to the growing textile industry and 6% is used in households. A planned “second” Nile might not solve existing problems. Salination, inefficient irrigation and water-intensive crops are still obstacles. In addition to socio-cultural and religious factors, there are corruption and gender issues. Both speakers count on the youth: water problems should be integrated in the school curriculum and the youth should be organized. National awareness campaigns are to be launched and private-public partnerships need to be initiated.
