Large areas of Egypt’s Northern coastline are being eaten away at an alarming pace and impacted developers and homeowners are starting to hit the panic button. A particularly brutal season of winter storms washed away large swathes of sand this year which has resulted in an unusually rocky and narrowing coastline in several compounds across Sahel.

Developers eager to take action are trying to engineer their way out of the problem, but there’s reason to be cautious because opting for intensive piecemeal solutions to a much wider issue may not deliver the intended results.

We’re not alone. Coastal areas worldwide are investing vast amounts of money to replace sand that has been washed away by storms and rising sea levels and it’s not just a one-time payment. Manmade intervention usually requires annual maintenance which is not cheap. In hurricane zones like Pinellas County, Florida for example, it took USD 26 mn to replenish sand and build up the dunes after a hurricane hit in 2024.

Our coastline is rapidly changing. According to a study by Esraa El Masry, a researcher at the Department of Oceanography at Alexandria University, the area between El Dabaa and Ras El Hekma saw an average loss of some 0.55 m of coastline per year between 1990 and 2020. That’s especially high when considering that the entirety of our Mediterranean coastline lost about 0.1 m per year between 1984 and 2016, according to a World Bank report on coastal erosion in the Middle East and North Africa.

Why is this happening? Coastal erosion is the process through which seas and oceans slowly strip sand and soil from the coast. The process is generally a long-term and naturally driven phenomenon thanks to waves, currents and storms that gradually reshape our coastal areas. But that process has been accelerated in recent years by various forms of human activity.

Infrastructure and development have contributed to erosion on the North Coast. One of the primary culprits that caused this process to go into overdrive dates back to the construction of the Aswan High Dam, according to a 2021 study published by Egypt’s National Water Research Center. The dam effectively placed a cap on the natural flow of sediment to the Delta and North Coast, drastically choking out a much needed source of sand replenishment along the coast.

And of course our changing climate has been a contributing force: Global sea level rise due to climate change has contributed to the accelerated encroachment on our coastal zones. More intense storms, worsened by a changing climate, contribute to severe short term changes to our shorelines as well.

Less sand = lower property values: Private developers and homeowners in Sahel are understandably concerned about this predicament. Many fear that a disappearing (and less sandy) coast could threaten property values and make vacationing less enjoyable over the long term.

Tourism could be negatively impacted as well. One of Sahel’s main draws is its incredible beaches. Sahel tourism, which has been on the upswing in the past few years, is increasingly becoming a pillar of Egypt’s larger tourism ambitions. While difficult to accurately quantify, the loss of Sahel’s most precious asset could present a challenge to those plans.

And with a mega-project like Ras El Hekma in the works, we need to proceed with extra caution: At the core of Ras El Hekma’s USD 35 bn coastal project is a big bet on tourism. Specifics on what’s being built inside Ras El Hekma remain scarce, but the looming threat of an eroding coastline (and how developers intend to mitigate that threat) will remain a very serious concern for the mega-project’s developers as well as other smaller developments close by.

Hard engineered solutions have been deployed over the years to help keep the threat at bay. Solutions like seawalls, groins and breakwaters are hard structures meant to slow the pace of sand erosion from targeted stretches of coastline by reducing the impact of currents, storms and larger than average swell.

But they don’t always pan out as intended: In one of the most wide-ranging studies on shoreline dynamics, researchers observed that breakwaters constructed in Marina El Alamein in the late 1980s disrupted natural sediment transport along the coast and ultimately caused sand to accumulate on the updrift side of the structures while accelerating erosion downdrift.

The shortcomings might be a question of improper planning: “These problems are not specific to Egypt. We see the same thing in many countries. It’s a global phenomenon where you want to fix a problem and you make a decision that will work for your specific location, but you forget about how it will change nature and impact other developments along the coast,” said Jesper Dorge, Project Director at DHI, a Denmark-based global expert in water environments tasked with researching and developing coastal solutions for several Egyptian developers including M Squared, the developers of Masyaf Ras El Hekma and Diplo 3.

There’s still hope for a better path forward: A sustainable coastal defense will likely have to balance between protection and environmental sustainability. Porous submerged breakwaters are one solution that could be used to reduce wave energy while allowing natural sediment flow to continue, helping maintain shoreline stability without the disruptions of traditional barriers, according to a study published in the Ocean Engineering Journal on porous breakwaters. Dune restoration and consistent sand nourishment and replenishment, as well as natural sand buffers might also help keep things stable.

There will likely have to be quite a bit more planning — and facing hard realities: “If you want to have cities and ports, then you also have to accept that there will be some changes. You’ll have to decide what kind of changes you can accept and where you want to make sure that you have nice white sandy beaches that are natural,” says Dorge.

An Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) plan will be key: Dorge explains that decisions about the use and nature of our coastline should be factored into a wider integrated plan that takes into account the views of various stakeholders. “Once you have the plan, further development has to be checked so that it will not be in conflict with the overall blueprint for the area.”

A mad-dash towards sea barrier construction will not achieve the desired outcome without coordination: “The Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation is in the process of finalizing a concrete ICZM for the entire stretch of the Mediterranean Sea,” said Dorge. That plan has to be taken into account. Developers left to combat the issue on an individual, case by case basis, without a comprehensive strategy, may present serious challenges for the nature of neighboring stretches of coastline, marine habitats and beach goer safety.

SO WHAT’S THE GOVERNMENT’S PLAN?

The government is currently rolling out intensive efforts to protect Egypt’s Mediterranean shorelines against the impact of climate change, a senior Water Resources and Irrigation Ministry source told EnterpriseAM.

Public + private sector responsibility: The state is investing in protecting public beaches, while requiring developers in other areas to draw up and implement erosion-mitigation plans that are periodically reviewed, our source said. Investors are being instructed to avoid activities that could damage coastlines and to factor in climate change risks by building breakwaters and other protective infrastructure. Companies that violate these requirements could face fines or even the withdrawal of their licenses, the source added.

The measures include artificial breakwaters, seawalls, and nature-based ecosystem solutions being implemented under the Enhancing Climate Change Adaptation in the North Coast and Nile Delta project. The USD 31.4 mn project — funded by the Green Climate Fund through a UNDP grant — uses low-cost, locally sourced materials to create longitudinal sand barriers, designed and built in collaboration with local communities, ensuring long-term sustainability. The program stretches from Alexandria to Matrouh in multiple phases to counter rising sea levels and intensifying wave activity.

Protecting investments: The North Coast has become one of Egypt’s most important investment hubs, making coastal protection a top government priority, the source said. The state is coordinating with multiple agencies to establish monitoring units and conduct ongoing studies to address imbalances and prevent erosion, safeguarding billions of pounds’ worth of real estate and tourism investment.

Tags: