Egypt

Egypt is one of the most water-scarce countries in the world. The Nile River, the country’s primary source of water, supports the livelihoods of over 90% of the population, but it is facing increasing pressure due to growing demand, climate variability, and upstream developments.

Agriculture accounts for around 65% of Egypt’s total water usage, making it a vital sector for food security and economic stability. However, the country’s agricultural systems are increasingly stressed due to unsustainable water management practices, land degradation, and the impacts of climate change. As the nation navigates these challenges, there is a growing need for integrated approaches to water management, climate resilience, and sustainable agricultural practices.

IWMI in Egypt

IWMI’s work in Egypt focuses on addressing the critical water-agriculture nexus, with a particular emphasis on enhancing water security, agricultural productivity, and climate resilience in the Nile River Basin. One of the key projects, Al Murunah, seeks to increase water security across Egypt and neighboring countries by integrating nature-based solutions for water management and agricultural practices, aiming to build resilience to climate extremes.

IWMI is improving water management through high-resolution climate modeling, specifically targeting small basins in the Middle East and North Africa, which guides better decision-making for water allocation and agriculture in Egypt. Various projects explore the historical and future dynamics of Nile water and agriculture, analyzing farming systems and productivity to develop sustainable water usage strategies. Additionally, IWMI support policy coherence through initiatives like the integrated agrifood advisory and extension system, which helps improve climate-adaptive water productivity, ensuring that both policy and practice align with the pressing water and food security needs of Egypt. Through these efforts, IWMI strives to foster a more sustainable, climate-resilient agricultural future for Egypt, ensuring the effective management of its vital water resources.

Country representative

Youssef Brouziyne

Country Representative – Egypt & Regional Representative – MENA

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Latest Egypt publications

Displaying 4 publications

Framing policy coherence toward improving climate-adaptive water productivity in Egypt
2024
More... | Fulltext (6.23 MB)

The interconnectedness between food, land, and water resources is evident where the use of one resource could generate externalities for others. The uncertainties around global markets challenge economies in the global south and climate change further exacerbates the urgent need for integrated management of natural resources and optimized investments and interventions. Moreover, the interconnections of natural resources and the biophysical environment influence the livelihoods and income of land and water users. Therefore, the partial or complete absence of coherence between sectoral public policies and inter-institutional linkages hampers the ability to address key interdependencies between food, land, and water resources and the three pillars of sustainable development: environment, economy, and society. The study offers an analysis of coherent water productivity policies between the different relevant strategies in Egypt towards a potential coordinated and integrated policy environment contributing to water and food security and sustainable development. Accordingly, it presents the synergies and trade-offs between policy objectives and instruments and the existing stakeholdersapos; cross-coordination mechanisms, which are significant for enhancing policy coherence.

Social network analysis / Institutions / Water supply / Water demand / Water policies / Water systems / Land resources / Agrifood systems / Climate change adaptation / Water productivity / Policy coherence
Record No:H053346

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Supporting water-food-land nexus policy coherence through integrated agrifood advisory and extension system in Egypt
BIO Web of Conferences, 2024
More... [DOI] | Fulltext (749 KB)

Building policy coherence is significant in governing natural resources, especially in a changing climate and growing population. Designing and implementing coherent climate-adaptive water productivity policies through holistic and integrated knowledge could manage the growing demand for food and water, and sustain small-scale farmersapos; livelihoods and economies, which is the aim of this research. This study focuses on the analysis of power dynamics and the social network that evolves around the control of information and technical assistance that shape policy narratives. Results showed that donors and financial institutions are the primary powers to control and organize knowledge and technical assistance linked to soil-water conservation especially when it’s combined with mobilizing relevant funds. Many smallholder farmers still adopt traditional patterns of cultivation due to the siloed knowledge gaps in the extension services of governmental entities, the unreachability of extension services, the lack of trust in their guidance, and the absence of innovations’ scalability. Building integrated extension services between ministries, by providing equal and suitable financial packages. This would be feasible by managing the coordination with financial institutions, monetary and nonmonetary incentives, and building on existing farmers’ collective organizations and farmers’ pioneers to enable a sociological transition to water productivity.

Farmers / Smallholders / Innovation / Financial institutions / Government / Extension systems / Policy coherence / Nexus approaches / Land / Agrifood systems / Water productivity
Record No:H052920

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Cost-centric innovations to address water-agriculture nexus challenges in Egypt: research status analysis
BIO Web of Conferences, 2024
More... [DOI] | Fulltext (392 KB)

High costs associated with technology adoption can be a barrier against the improvement of water use in agriculture. Therefore, interventions must be not only technically feasible but also financially affordable and accessible to farmers. To understand the current situation of research in low-cost (and cost-effective) water solutions for effective management of agricultural water challenges in Egypt. A total of 19 peer-reviewed papers were obtained from systematic research on various databases, the employed keywords are: quot;Egyptquot; AND quot;irrigationquot; AND quot;low costquot; OR quot;low-costquot; OR quot;cost-effectivequot; OR quot;cost-effectivequot;. Based on the analysis of the selected studies, many low-cost technologies and techniques are applied in the Egyptian Delta on-farm levels, such as using low-cost soil moisture sensors attached to a smart monitoring unit operated by Solar Photo Voltaic Cells (SPVC), wireless sensor network in cultivating the potato crop, flexible on-field irrigation, cut-off irrigation, and Pressurized Irrigation Systems. The proposed solutions can help improve water use efficiency, increase crop yields, reduce the cost of irrigation, improve the quality of irrigation water, and promote sustainable agricultural practices. The economic analyses and feasibility studies presented in these papers provide valuable insights for policymakers and stakeholders in making informed decisions about water use and agricultural practices.

Farmers / Costs / Technology / Irrigation water / Irrigation systems / Innovation / Water-use efficiency / Nexus approaches / Agricultural water management
Record No:H052919

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High-resolution climate change projections and their adaptation planning implications for small basins in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Report prepared by the Building Climate Resilience through Enhanced Water Security in MENA (Al Murunah) project
2024
More... [DOI] | Fulltext (6.61 MB)

This report collates and synthesizes the findings from comprehensive climate baseline assessments and bias-corrected and statistically downscaled climate projections for four distinct areas: Ras Baalbeck in Lebanon, Abu Al-Matamir in Egypt, Wadi Al-Seer in Jordan, and Wadi Al-Faria’a in the West Bank of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). This study developed models to assess future projected climatological patterns, extreme events, and climate scenarios for these locations. Model outputs have a daily timestep and high spatial resolution (10x10 km). We developed the models using data from the Global Climate Monitoring Products and employing advanced techniques such as Bias Correction and Statistical Disaggregation (BCSD) of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) General Circulation Models (GCMs). Model outputs are available here: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/SCNQWS The study focused on principal temperature and precipitation indicators of most immediate relevance for water and food security. The Al Murunah project is using the study’s outputs to inform implementation planning of resilient nature-based water solutions (RNBWS) in each area, as well as considerations for their application more widely.

Flooding / Rainfall / Drought / Temperature / Extreme weather events / Climate models / Basins / Planning / Climate change adaptation / Climate change impacts / Projections / Climate prediction
Record No:H053686

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