Egypt is a transcontinental country spanning both Africa and Asia, with a land area of 1.001 million square kilometers, making it one of the larger countries in both Africa and the world.
Its eastern border touches the Red Sea, and its northern border meets the Mediterranean Sea.
Egypt stretches approximately 1,024 kilometers from north to south and about 1,240 kilometers from east to west.
However, Egypt has a very notable characteristic: most of its land is covered by the Sahara Desert.
The Sahara Desert is the largest desert in the world, covering northern Egypt and causing desert regions to make up 94% of Egypt's territory, making it one of the most desertified countries globally.
Egypt's water resources are heavily reliant on the Nile River, which provides about 97% of its water supply.
The overall climate in Egypt is classified as a hot desert climate, with dry conditions and low rainfall, with most areas receiving less than 100 millimeters of annual precipitation.
In Cairo, the capital, despite its large population, the annual rainfall is only 18 millimeters.
Only the Mediterranean coastal areas, such as Alexandria, receive slightly more rainfall, about 200 millimeters annually, but they are still considered arid regions.
The Nile River runs 1,530 kilometers within Egypt, and although its annual flow is only 84 billion cubic meters, it provides 97% of Egypt's freshwater.
Egypt's population is mainly concentrated in the Nile Delta, which occupies 2.2% of the country's area but houses 95% of its population.
The Nile Delta is shaped like a triangle, stretching from Cairo westward to Alexandria and eastward to Port Said, covering about 22,000 square kilometers.
Due to its abundant water supply, the Nile Delta is a major population center in Egypt.
Over the past few decades, Egypt's population has grown rapidly.
Despite desertification and water scarcity, the population has increased from 35 million in 1981 to 110 million in 2021.
However, the arable land area has not significantly increased, mainly because most of the country is desert.
In the 1970s, the construction of the Aswan High Dam opened some new valleys and oases, increasing the arable land area from 38.46 million mu to 51 million mu, but the per capita arable land area decreased from over 1 mu to 0.5 mu.
Food production cannot meet demand, and Egypt needs to import large quantities of food annually to fill the gap.
Facing these challenges, Egypt has implemented a series of projects to combat desertification and increase arable land area:
New Lands Project
In the 1950s, Egypt proposed the New Lands Project, aiming to convert the desert west of the Nile Delta into arable land through irrigation techniques.
The Western Desert, covering 37% of Egypt's area, about 376,000 square kilometers, has potential for development.
The project was divided into two phases.
The first phase ended in the 1970s, and the second phase started in 1978, targeting the reclamation of 242,000 hectares of desert, but only about 80,000 hectares were actually reclaimed.
Despite not meeting expectations, this project still created some new arable land in the desert.
Aswan High Dam
The Aswan High Dam, completed in the 1960s, is a large water control project located about 800 kilometers south of Cairo on the Nile River.
The dam is 111 meters high, with a top length of 3,830 meters and a width of 40 meters, forming a massive dam body of 175 million cubic meters, equivalent to 17 times the volume of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
The dam created the Lake Nasser, which is 550 kilometers long and has a variable storage capacity of 31 to 168.9 billion cubic meters.
The Aswan High Dam is crucial for providing irrigation water and electricity to Egypt.
The dam's power station has a total installed capacity of 2.1 million kilowatts and a designed annual generation capacity of 10 billion kilowatt-hours, accounting for 15% of Egypt's national electricity demand.
The dam annually supplies 55.5 billion cubic meters of freshwater from the Nile, 80% of which is used for agricultural irrigation.
New Valley Project
Following the New Lands Project, Egypt launched another major project in the 1990s called the New Valley Project, aimed at developing the Western Desert.
Lake Nasser, formed by the Aswan High Dam, provides abundant water resources, which are channeled into the Western Desert through a network of canals.
The project has a total investment of $86.5 billion and aims to reclaim 260,000 square kilometers of land, adding 18.9 million mu of arable land.
However, the project has progressed slowly, achieving only 3% of its target by 2012, and is currently on hold.
New Capital Project
To alleviate the population pressure and environmental issues in Cairo, Egypt announced the construction of a new capital about 45 kilometers east of Cairo in the desert in 2015.
The new capital is expected to have an investment of $45 billion, covering an area of over 700 square kilometers and planned to accommodate 7 million people.
The New Capital Project is progressing smoothly, with infrastructure construction and institutional relocations already underway.
In the face of desertification and population growth pressures, Egypt has implemented a series of large-scale projects.
Although some have not progressed as planned, they demonstrate the Egyptian government's firm commitment to improving the domestic environment and enhancing development potential.
Notably, the New Capital Project, under the context of international cooperation, is expected to be a significant breakthrough in Egypt's fight against desertification.
Comments