The road to increasing nature reserves

Egypt wants to expand its nature reserves: Egypt is working to increase the area covered by nature reserves to 22% of the country’s total land area from 15% as part of a wider plan to preserve biodiversity and strengthen climate resilience, according to an Environment Ministry statement, citing minister Yasmine Fouad said

What’s on the agenda? The government is currently considering declaring Egypt’s Red Sea coast and its coral reefs a protected area. Efforts are already underway to rehabilitate northern lakes, suspend fishing in parts of the Red Sea to help marine ecosystems recover, and promote sustainable practices in coastal regions.

REMEMBER- The 400 sq km of coral reefs on our Red Sea coast are threatened by climate change, coastal development, tourist activity, and overfishing. Hard coral reef cover declined by 13.6% on average between 2005 and 2019 at the ten most-affected sites off Egypt’s coasts.

A blue economy strategy is in the works: Egypt is working to finalize its national strategy for the blue economy before November of this year. The strategy will fully integrate social and environmental considerations, ensuring that conservation efforts support both ecological sustainability and local livelihoods.

Blue economy strategy? The blue economy is increasingly coming into frame as a key pillar of the green transition. At home, the blue economy has significant potential by virtue of Egypt’s strategic location — and the country has made some successful strides in areas like fish farming. Check out our deep dive into the country’s blue economy here.

Where things stand: There are currently 30 nature reserves in Egypt across different ecosystems. These include famous sites such as Ras Mohamed, St. Catherine, Wadi El Rayan, Abu Galum, Wadi Degla, Taba, and the White Desert.

A push to draw investments: The government is also looking to expand economic activity within existing reserves, particularly biodiversity-focused businesses and ecotourism, a senior source at the Environment Ministry told EnterpriseAM. The aim is to contribute to GDP growth by introducing economic management models for reserves and expanding environmentally responsible tourism and business activity. The goal is to attract up to USD 10 bn in investments.

Attracting green investments has been a challenge: The second phase of Egypt’s national climate change mitigation roadmap is currently underway, but a key challenge is attracting private investment. “We want to bring more private capital into the reserves and biodiversity sector, particularly in protected areas in Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada,” the source said.

This also plays into our climate goals: The plan could help reduce emissions by as much as 80 mn tons of CO2 equivalent by 2030, the source said.

New revenue streams could be on the horizon: The government is also considering new tools like carbon pricing and a possible environmental tax to further support the sector. The ministry is also looking to upgrade the management of six reserves with plans to offer 24 new investment prospects, the source added. Several investment proposals are already under review.

The gov’t has been working on this for a while: The government’s recent efforts aim to preserve ecosystems, develop protected area infrastructure, conserve biodiversity, support local communities, protect endangered species, and enforce environmental regulations. The ministry completed zoning plans for six reserves — Wadi Degla, the Petrified Forest, Wadi El Rayan, Lake Qarun, Northern Islands, and Wadi El Gemal. It also approved management plans for Wadi El Gemal, Nabq, Siwa, and El Omayed, according to a ministry statement.

What infrastructure upgrades have been made so far? Egypt has made various infrastructure upgrades across nature reserves to boost eco-tourism. These include new docks at the Blue Hole and Tiger Reef in Abu Galum, as well as a redevelopment plan for the Blue Hole, which is now ready for investment. Visitor facilities were also upgraded in Ras Mohamed, the Northern Islands, Nabq, and Wadi El Gemal. Wadi El Rayan got two new eco-camps through private sector investment. The Qarun Reserve and Debabia Reserve also got major upgrades supported by grants from the Global Environment Facility.

Why does this matter? Upgrading our nature reserves could attract big investments, which was shown by a 40% y-o-y increase in reserve revenues in 2024.