The Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs (MSEA) and the Participatory Development Programme in Urban Areas (PDP) have agreed to jointly work to address Egypt’s environmental challenges in informal urban areas.
On Monday 13 May 2013, the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs and the Participatory Development Programme in Urban Areas (PDP) signed a cooperation agreement. The new partnership will address some of the most pressing environmental challenges facing the country, namely solid waste management and climate change.
The PDP is an Egyptian-German development programme, working to upgrade informal settlements in Greater Cairo Region, in ways that involve the residents of those areas. The overall aim is to enhance the living conditions of the citizens and alleviate urban poverty through improving local services and environmental conditions.
In this context the PDP focuses on establishing an integrated community-based solid waste management system in two selected areas in Khanka and Khosoos cities in Qalyubeya Governorate. In addition to this, the programme works on increasing informal area populations’ ability to cope with the effects of climate change, focusing on four areas in Greater Cairo (Masaken Geziret El-Dahab and Markaz El-Abhath / Warraq in Giza Governorate, and Ain Shams and Ezbet El-Nasr in Cairo Governorate).
PDP Programme Coordinator Dr. Günther Wehenpohl said: “Our overall goal is to improve living conditions in selected informal areas. This can only be done by also addressing the environmental problems of these areas and in partnership with the Egyptian side.”
The MSEA together with the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) will ensure the activities are in line with national strategies, link with relevant national partners and support awareness raising campaigns on environmental issues.
Approximately 60% of people in Greater Cairo live in unplanned, densely populated areas that lack basic services and social infrastructure, and are suffering from environmental pollution.
The focus of the cooperation agreement is in accordance with the national priorities of the government of Egypt and the latest negotiations between the governments of Egypt and Germany.