On Tuesday, November 24, the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) in cooperation with the Climate Change Component of the Participatory Development Programme in Urban Areas (PDP) organized the 4th Advisory Board for Climate Change in Cities (AB-CCC) in order to discuss the potentials and limitations of developing an Early Warning System for extreme weather events. The half-day event was held in Cairo House and brought together representatives of different institutions.
In the opening remarks, Ms. Amira Fahim, on behalf of the Informal Settlement Development Fund (ISDF), the political partner of PDP, and Mr. Mohamed Ismail, on behalf of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA), the technical partner of PDP, have stressed the importance of developing an Early Warning System. Such a system is necessary to adapt to climate change impacts and extreme weather events like heat waves which have resulted in loss of lives and assets during 2015 summer in the greater Cairo region (GCR). This is particularly important for informal settlements, as their higher population density, lack of adequate infrastructure and weak awareness increase their residents’ vulnerability to climate change impacts.
The event included presentations by Dr. Mohamed Ismail giving an overview on different, pressing climate change impacts and Saber Osman explaining PDP’s conceptual approach and current projects in climate change adaptation in urban informal areas in the GCR. It was followed by presentations by Dr. Samir El-Shura and Dr. Osman El Sheikh on the technical requirements for establishing an early warning system and on a project running in Southern Egypt which uses forecasting to develop agricultural resilience, respectively.
The attendees then engaged in a fruitful discussion moderated by Dr. Mohamed Ismail where ideas on the necessity of cooperation and the development of synergies between different actors were put forth.