Engaging Egypt’s Landscape Architects to Combat Climate Change

Egypt is characterized by diverse geological features and landforms, ranging from extensive arid deserts, mountainous ranges, and coastal areas to the fertile Nile Valley and Nile Delta. The valley and delta, which represent around 4 percent of the country’s total area, are home to more than 90 percent of Egypt’s total population.¹ As one of the most climate-vulnerable nations globally, this heavy reliance on a limited and fragile geographical region amplifies the nation’s vulnerability to climate change impacts, including heatwaves, rising sea levels, flooding, and biodiversity loss. The climate disruptions place enormous strain on Egypt’s natural resources, infrastructure, and vulnerable communities.² They threaten the environmental, economic, and social stability of the country across national, regional, and local levels. This instability in turn further affects critical sectors such as agriculture, industry, and tourism. Egypt’s persistent climate challenges urgently require a holistic, knowledge-based approach to design and planning on various scales.

As part of this approach, landscape architecture—often marginalized and confined to questions of aesthetics—should be leveraged to address the complexities of environmental and social challenges in Egypt. Landscape architects focus on the interactions between natural and cultural ecosystems as well as the built environment.³ Given the field’s multidisciplinary nature, they can integrate aesthetics with scientific reasoning while designing and planning landscapes at various scales to enhance environmental quality and public health.⁴ Further, the ability of landscape architects to lead and collaborate with various actors makes them well-positioned to tackle climate change adaptation and socioeconomic development and thereby contribute toward long-term socially and economically resilient communities.

This paper examines climate risks across the national, regional, and local levels, with a particular focus on the vulnerabilities Egypt is currently facing without the integrated engagement of landscape architects. It discusses the current state of the landscape architecture profession in Egypt, as well as the existing gaps and missed opportunities of recognizing landscape architects as critical actors in climate change adaptation and sustainable development efforts. Landscape architecture lies at the nexus of planning, policymaking, and implementation; thus, it can have a transformative impact in building climate-resilient communities and sustainable landscapes across Egypt.

Climate Risks in Egypt Across Levels

While the climate crisis is a singular reality, the risks it poses are not all the same at the national, regional, and local levels, requiring targeted interventions, policies, and stakeholder engagements tailored to each level. The following discussion unpacks these multiscalar risks, highlighting their interconnected yet distinct challenges.

National Level

Nationally, Egypt grapples with major climate change risks to its water and energy supply systems and labor force, which have significant implications for food security. Water shortages reduce both agricultural production and access to clean drinking water. And increasing temperatures strain public health systems and energy infrastructure. Addressing these risks at the national scale is crucial, as they are directly connected to the economic stability and welfare of Egypt’s rapidly growing population.

National Water Supply: Water Scarcity

Water scarcity is considered Egypt’s most critical climate-related challenge, affecting agricultural production and public health. Egypt’s water supply is strained due to the continuous population growth, which accounts for around 2 percent per year.⁵This growing population intensifies the demand on the country’s restricted water resources and increases its food security risk.⁶ As the primary freshwater resource, the Nile River supplies approximately 55.5 billion cubic meters (BCM) annually, as per international agreements. Other supplementary water sources include nonrenewable groundwater aquifers, precipitation, and desalination operations, bringing the total annual water availability to 59.25 BCM. Nevertheless, the annual national water needs amount to about 114 BCM, which indicates a huge annual deficit of more than 54 BCM.⁷ This deficit simply exacerbates competition for water and reveals weak points in the national governance of water systems, infrastructure planning, and resource distribution practices.

Agricultural activities use about 80–85 percent of Egypt’s fresh water; therefore, the scarcity of water seriously affects the overall agricultural production and supply chains for food,⁸ which leads to conflicts with other sectors, such as the food industry and tourism. These threats also affect the nation’s public health, as waterborne diseases become more prevalent due to the restrained access to clean water and proper sanitation facilities, particularly among marginalized communities.⁹ Many small villages in the cities of Minya and Sohag, located on the west bank of the Nile River, do not have adequate access to potable water. Approximately 10 percent of the families living in these villages illegally connect their homes to the water grid, resulting in leaks and significant water waste. While the water company is responsible for supplying water through the main infrastructure, households are expected to cover the cost of connecting pipes from their homes to the main, which they cannot afford. Thus, families sometimes send their children to neighboring villages to get water or let them extract untreated water directly from the ground, exposing themselves to substantial health risks.¹⁰

National Energy and Labor Supply: Heatwaves

Heatwaves in Egypt are increasing in frequency and ferocity, causing significant threats to energy infrastructure, public health, and the economy. Nearly 90 percent of Egyptian-generated electricity comes from fossil fuels (oil and natural gas), which contribute significantly to climate change.¹¹ Fossil fuels release large amounts of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, trapping heat in the atmosphere, causing increased temperatures in Egypt’s major cities.¹² Extreme temperatures lead to a higher demand for electricity to operate air conditioning systems and other cooling systems.¹³ Such strain on energy infrastructure eventually culminates in power cuts and a shortage of energy supply to the population, which, in turn, disrupts important healthcare facility services and water pumping systems.

Exposure to prolonged heat can cause heat-related illnesses, including heat strokes and dehydration, and can aggravate existing breathing and heart problems. Children, the elderly, and low-income populations are more susceptible to such risks.¹⁴ High temperatures also worsen air pollution by increasing levels of ground-level ozone, which damages air quality and exacerbates health problems.¹⁵ They also have adverse impacts on agriculture, such as reduced crop yields, increased evaporation of water from irrigated lands, and higher mortality among livestock.¹⁶

Additionally, due to the danger posed by exposure, heatwaves in Egypt ultimately lead to lower labor productivity and income. In 2022, an estimated 2.8 billion potential labor hours were lost due to extreme heat, which led to a loss of approximately $3.4 billion in income. Specifically, agricultural workers lost 50.7 percent of their income that year.¹⁷

Regional Level

Mapping regional climate challenges is key to understanding the nature and manifestation of risks across diverse landscapes. Egypt’s main regional challenges—including sea-level rise, flooding, and water scarcity and soil salinity—vary across coastal zones, mountain ranges, and agricultural areas. Coastal zones in the Nile Delta and the Mediterranean experience the effects of sea-level rise, saline intrusion, and coastal erosion, leading to land loss and habitat destruction. The Red Sea Mountain range grapples with periodic flooding, damaging the infrastructure of local communities. And agricultural areas in the Nile Valley and Nile Delta deal with erratic rainfall, water scarcity, and soil salinity, jeopardizing agricultural productivity and food security.

Coastal Zones: Sea-Level Rise

All coastal cities are currently experiencing sea-level rise in the Mediterranean. As a result, they face significant challenges, such as loss of property, displacement of people, loss of lake areas and biodiversity, direct inundation in terms of the salinization of groundwater through saltwater intrusion, rising water tables, and reduction in soil drainage and soil quality. Sea-level rise across the Mediterranean could displace 6 million citizens in the northern part of the Nile Delta by 2030 due to the expected loss of agricultural lands,¹⁸ as illustrated in Figure 1. The Nile Delta is currently suffering from a land subsidence (the settling of the Earth’s surface) at a rate of 3–9 millimeters per year, varying across different areas. By 2100, it is expected that 2,660 kilometers (13.3 percent of the total delta area) in the northern Nile Delta will be submerged.¹⁹

Among all Egyptian coastal zones, the coastal zone from Alexandria to Port Said is considered the most vulnerable coast.²⁰ According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 2024 assessment report on sea-level projections, the sea level in Alexandria is expected to rise by about 0.12 meters by 2030, 0.26 meters by 2050, and 0.74 meters by 2100. The city could lose 30 percent of its landmass, leading to a displacement of 1.5 million inhabitants by 2050.²¹

The Nile Delta’s cities are particularly prone to soil salinization and waterlogging, endangering agricultural productivity and soil fertility.²² By 2100, the delta could lose 1,800 square kilometers (695 square miles) of area, 3.5 million residents could be displaced, and 39 percent of jobs linked to agriculture could be lost.²³ Agricultural production is projected to decrease by 47 percent, and livestock numbers are projected to drop by 40 percent by 2060 due to saltwater intrusion into groundwater.²⁴

As illustrated in Figure 2, along the northwestern coast of Egypt, coastal erosion in the port town of Marsa Matruh has also been observed, at about 3.5 meters per year between 2005 and 2015, because of hydrodynamic forces and urban expansion.²⁵ On the northeastern coast, spanning from the city of Port Said to the city of Rafah, an analysis of the shoreline changes along the Sinai coast demonstrated erosion and accretion patterns. More than 63 percent of the area is subject to erosion, while less than 10 percent is stable.²⁶ Egypt’s North Coast is particularly vulnerable to flooding due to intense rainstorms and its topography. Parts of the coastal plain are bordered to the south by the mountain range, with altitude reaching approximately 600 meters above sea level. During heavy rainfall, water flows northward from these elevations through wadis (dry channels or valleys except during rainy seasons), directing water toward lower-lying coastal areas.

Sea-level rise and coastal erosion are significantly impacting Egypt’s fish populations and the livelihoods of fishermen. They have affected fish habitats, leading to a decline in fish populations and, consequently, a reduction in fish catches. For example, the fish stock in Bardawil Lake decreased from 5,392 tons in 2008 to 2,330 tons in 2018. And during this same period, there was a decrease in the number of fishermen by 9.2 percent.²⁷

Red Sea Mountain Range: Flash Floods

Flash floods are among the most critical climate hazards in Egypt, especially in the Red Sea Mountain range (extending across the southern Red Sea and Sinai Peninsula) and the wadi floors in the Eastern Desert. These areas are home to many local tribes such as the Ababda, Bisharin, Beja, and Ma’aza.²⁸Flash floods in these vulnerable desert environments may occur only once every decade or two in each wadi. But when they do occur, the geographical characteristics of the wadis—which have narrow valleys, poor natural drainage, little vegetation cover, and permeable soil—enhance the rapid flow of water, which causes severe damage to roads, small settlements, and structures (homes, wells, and tribal trails).²⁹High surface runoff increases the speed and magnitude of the flash floods.³⁰ Around 17 percent of the Sinai Peninsula is classified as extremely vulnerable to flooding. The range along the Sinai Peninsula is the most susceptible to severe flooding. Other regions of high flood sensitivity are located along the external peripheries of these mountains, within certain sub-basins of Wadi al-Arish.³¹

Flash floods often disrupt the lives of small communities and isolated settlements that are located on or near wadi floors. Flood-prone areas with rapid population growth often undergo urbanization in the time between floods. During this time, local tribes make use of the flat land of wadi floors, consisting of sandy sediments, and construct settlements to live in, which expose them to flood risks.³² The impacts include the loss of lives, destruction of homes, and the relocation of local tribes to areas less occupied by urbanized municipal towns. Flood risks also extend to residents of municipal cities and villages along the shoreline. While flash floods represent a threat to developers of mega projects, local tribes sometimes regard them as blessings due to their urgent water needs.

The flooding events provide temporary water sources, replenishing underground water aquifers and natural reservoirs. This encourages the growth of seasonal vegetation required for grazing among livestock. Thus, flash floods become the principal source of water supply for such communities, sustaining life in areas that otherwise have scarce water resources. The wadis sometimes become fertile spots following a flood, leading communities around them to perform small-scale agricultural activity and creating the potential for local food production.³³However, these benefits of flash floods are often short-lived and unequally distributed. Some wadi floors retain water for long periods, thereby supporting agricultural and pastoral activities; others quickly drain, offering short-term benefits.

Agricultural Areas: Erratic Rainfall, Water Scarcity, and Soil Salinity

Agriculture is the cornerstone of Egypt’s economy and food security, contributing 11.3 percent of the country’s GDP.³⁴ However, farming in the fertile Nile Valley and Nile Delta is becoming increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Climate issues such as rising sea levels, the salinity of groundwater, heatwaves, and flooding are all playing a collective role in reducing crop yields and spreading plant diseases and pests.³⁵ Projections indicate that climate impacts could significantly reduce crop production for key staples such as wheat, rice, barley, corn, rice, and soybeans.³⁶ As a result of temperature increases, rice and soybean production could decrease by 11 percent and 28 percent, respectively, by 2050. The manifested risk is a projected reduction in per capita food consumption (kilocalories per capita per day) by around 1.7 percent (in 2030) and -3.8 percent (in 2050).³⁷

Climate change is already compelling farmers to alter traditional cropping patterns in response to shifting environmental conditions. For example, farmers have replaced tomato farming with rice cultivation because tomatoes are not growing well due to salinization of the soil, while rice plants can take on more salinity. Lastly, farmers are also resorting to using more chemicals to control pests and diseases, risking a failure to meet the food safety standards of EU and other international markets.

Local Level

Local, site-specific climate challenges directly impact communities, infrastructure, and ecosystems. Rapid urbanization, poor governance, and resource-intensive design and construction practices are among the main factors increasing climate risks locally. Urban centers face urban heat island effects (where populated urban cities suffer from high temperatures relative to their surroundings), inefficient water management systems, and a loss of biodiversity. These impacts in turn pose significant risks to public health, as well as social and economic systems. The expansive plans of mega-urban development contribute to the aggravation of such risks, as such development strains local ecosystems by disregarding the integration of green infrastructure and ecologically sensitive planning approaches.

Urban Heat Islands: Heat Stress

Rapid urbanization, the utilization of heat-absorbing surfaces such as asphalt and concrete, reduced green spaces, and inadequate vegetation cover can all exacerbate the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon.³⁸ In addition, increased cooling demand for buildings releases heat to the external environment, leading to both increased heat and increased perception of heat in urban areas.³⁹ Urban areas, such as Alexandria, Aswan, and Cairo, show a higher vulnerability to UHI effects. For example, Greater Cairo’s mean land surface temperature has significantly increased over time, from 31.3 degrees Celsius in 1986 to 36.0 degrees Celsius in 2017. It is expected to be 37.9 degrees Celsius in 2030.⁴⁰ By the year 2100, the temperature is expected to rise by approximately 1.5°C to 6.5°C, depending on the emission scenario, as shown in Figure 3.⁴¹ Between 1990 and 2016, the rapid urban sprawl, along with the massive infrastructural constructions in Greater Cairo, has caused the loss of 7.7 percent of vegetation cover and has converted 8.7 percent of the bare sand area to developed land.⁴² The scarcity of public green spaces and green urban corridors contributes to heat stress, where urban dwellers face heat-related health risks. According to the Ministry of Environment, the average per capita share of green space in Egypt was recorded to be only 1.2 square meters (12.9 square feet) in 2023, which is lower than the recommended share of 9 square meters (96.8 square feet) by the World Health Organization.⁴³

Urban Water Distribution: Water Scarcity

The unequal distribution of water resources is affecting water security in Egypt. In urban settings, there is a discrepancy in the supply of water within high-end urban communities as opposed to underprivileged areas. These high-end communities feature fountains, golf courses, and swimming pools, which consume substantial amounts of water, placing additional strain on the country’s already limited water resources. By 2027, the water demand for eight of the new urban communities located around the Greater Cairo region is expected to be 1.2 million cubic meters per day. This number represents 20 percent of the Greater Cairo region’s domestic water consumption.⁴⁴ Egypt has over twenty golf courses, spanning across major cities such as Cairo, Hurghada, and Sharm el-Sheikh. One of the largest is the Madinat Makadi Golf Resort in Hurghada, which spreads over 1.4 million square meters (0.54 square miles). A golf course that extends around 400,000 square meters (0.15 square miles) can consume around 1 million cubic meters of water annually, which is the same amount as the annual water consumption of a city of 12,000 residents.⁴⁵

In contrast, marginalized areas, in rural regions and urban slums, frequently suffer from inadequate access to clean drinking water and water systems, which causes conflicts over access to water. Some key data points include the following:

• About 7.3 million people lack access to safe water, of which 5.8 million reside in rural areas and 1.5 million in urban areas.
• Approximately 4 percent of all urban residents lack access to water supply, especially in urban slums and poor informal settlements.
• Only 77 percent of the urban slum households have piped water coming into their homes, which is not necessarily done legally.⁴⁶

Urban Development: Loss of Local Biodiversity

Egypt’s rapid urbanization and climate change are resulting in the loss and fragmentation of habitats. An example of habitat loss is the decline of natural pollinator populations across agricultural lands. Natural pollination of crops is essential in maintaining ecosystems and food security. This disruption of bees’ habitats reduces agricultural production and affects the Egyptian honey industry because of the shifts in harvesting seasons and decline in honey production.⁴⁷Studies conducted in South Sinai have shown the negative impact of introducing nonnative honeybees, which, in turn, had led to a further decline in the native bee species.⁴⁸ The loss of biodiversity is also happening in marine habitats because of climate change, overfishing, and habitat degradation. Currently, the Red Sea is experiencing coral reef degradation, which threatens the marine life that depends on these ecosystems.⁴⁹ In the Mediterranean Sea, overfishing has led to a decline in fish populations, disrupting the ecological balance and affecting species diversity.

Egypt’s Current Policy Endeavors

Governments, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and local communities have been trying, through various initiatives and strategies, to reduce climate risks. These joint efforts are significant steps toward addressing national, regional, and local vulnerabilities. This section reports on the ongoing efforts of key actors and presents their contributions to climate change adaptation and sustainable development.

Government-Led Initiatives

The Government of Egypt started incorporating climate change into its policies in 1994, demonstrating a commitment (on some level) to combatting climate change and participating in relevant international efforts. And this commitment clearly continues today; in November 2024, Egypt hosted the Twelfth Session of the World Urban Forum (WUF12), which focused on localizing sustainable development goals to address myriad challenges such as climate change.

Examples of current government initiatives include projects focused on protecting the North Coast; combating flash floods; managing water desalination; making water management sustainable; fighting poverty (such as Haya Karima initiative);⁵⁰and investing in and greening urban, infrastructure, and rural development projects. The government is also attempting to diversify its energy profiler, and it has made noticeable progress in growing wind and solar energy, reaching 5 percent of the country’s electricity in 2023.⁵¹

Over time, through these initiatives, the government slowly started to move from primarily observing and discussing the climate change issue to engaging and acting on it. And due mainly to external forces, the government started to participate in international climate initiatives.⁵²

1994: Joined the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Egypt ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in its third assessment report, identified Egypt’s Mediterranean coast and the Nile Delta as vulnerable regions to rising sea levels.

2007: Formed the National Climate Change Committee

The Egyptian prime minister issued decree No 272 that reformed the National Climate Change Committee (NCCC) that was established in 1997.⁵³The minister of state for environmental affairs chaired the NCCC, which included members representing a wide range of governmental and nongovernmental representatives.

2010: Declared vulnerable sectors to the UNFCCC

Egypt submitted its Second National Communication report to the UNFCCC.⁵⁴ According to its Initial National Communication and Second National Communication, Egypt’s coastal, water, and agricultural sectors are most vulnerable to climate change.

2015: Established two ministerial committees

Egypt established two ministerial climate change committees within the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation and the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources.

2015: Established the National Council for Climate Change

To facilitate cooperation among ministries, the prime minister established a new National Council for Climate Change under Decree No. 1912.⁵⁵ The council, chaired by the minister of environment, is composed of diverse representatives from government, including the Ministries of Defense, Interior, Planning, Finance, Agriculture, Industry, Water Resources, and Foreign Affairs and a representative of the General Union of Associations of civil society. The council aims to bring together all relevant authorities to update the national strategy for climate change and sustainable development.

2018: Egypt hosted the UN Biodiversity Conference

The conference addressed the mainstreaming of biodiversity issues in crucial economic sectors, such as energy and mining, infrastructure, manufacturing, and processing, as well as health.⁵⁶Delegates recharged their ambition to scale and accelerate efforts to make progress on the twenty global Aichi Biodiversity Targets by 2020. Participants also set the path to develop the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

2019: Restructuring of National Council for Climate Change

The NCCC was restructured to be under the leadership of the prime minister, with members representing various sector ministries, national experts (scientists, practitioners, and researchers), civil society (including NGOs and union representatives), and the private sector. This restructuring aimed to centralize climate change policymaking, ensuring coordinated efforts in developing and reviewing the national climate strategy.⁵⁷

2022: Egypt hosted the UN Climate Change Conference

The 2022 UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) agreed on an overarching cover decision, the Sharm el-Sheikh Implementation Plan.⁵⁸It reaffirmed the urgency of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and emphasized the need to phase down fossil fuel use, building on commitments established in the Glasgow Climate Pact agreed to during the previous year’s conference. Egypt discussed food security risks, climate tipping points, and the need for financial system reform. The main COP27 deliverable was the loss and damage fund which aims to respond to losses and damages in vulnerable, developing countries impacted by the adverse effects of climate change.⁵⁹ A transitional committee was set up to develop recommendations at the 2023 conference for operationalizing the loss and damage fund, with an emphasis on finding new and innovative funding arrangements. COP27 also finalized a climate mitigation work program focused on pooling ideas to accelerate mitigation action through the planning of global dialogues and investment-focused events.

2024: Established the Environmental and Climate Policy Committee and hosted the WUF12

Egypt formed the Environmental and Climate Policy Committee under the leadership of the Ministry of Environment. It became an interministerial committee across the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Planning and Economic Development, International Cooperation, Finance, Local Development, Investment, Electricity and Energy, Petroleum, and Industry. It aims to develop a unified strategy for sustainability and to monitor reform strategies in the political, economic, and social realms.

Egypt hosted the WUF12 in Cairo. The event, organized by UN-Habitat and the Egyptian government, is a significant milestone to Egypt since it is the first African country to host the event in over two decades. The forum underlined the fact that cities are significant contributors to, as well as mitigators of, climate change and require inclusive, community-led strategies that integrate urban realities into national and global climate policies.

 International Initiatives

The World Bank is currently implementing projects focus on addressing air quality and climate change in Cairo ($200 million); using organic pollutants ($8.1 million) (just completed); supporting local development efforts in Upper Egypt; and supporting the government in conducting research and collecting data related to climate change to inform decisionmaking processes.⁶⁰

In addition, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in collaboration with Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, is leading the implementation of “Enhancing Climate Change Adaptation in the North Coast and Nile Delta in Egypt” project. The project aims to protect densely populated, low-lying lands of the Nile Delta from the impacts of climate change including sea-level rise and extreme weather events. It is supported by a $31.4 million grant from the Green Climate Fund (GCF), and spans seven years from 2019 to 2026.⁶¹

Also relevant is the UN World Food Programme’s (WFP) grant of $431 million to support the country’s food security.⁶² In 2024, with support from the Central Bank of Egypt, the WFP has launched the second phase of the Transforming the Livelihoods of Smallholder Farmers project, which aims to support the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in fifty villages across Upper Egypt.⁶³

Lastly, the United Nations Children’s Fund has been actively addressing water scarcity in Egypt by implementing a revolving fund mechanism that provides interest-free loans to vulnerable families. This effort enables families to gain access to drinkable water and to connect their homes to the water infrastructure. The initiative has successfully supplied safe water to approximately 90,000 people in rural areas of governorates such as Assiut, Sohag, Fayoum, Minya, and Qena.⁶⁴

NGO and Start-Up Initiatives

 The following are some examples of the organized initiatives with clear ethos and objectives:

• VeryNile: An initiative that works to collect plastic from the Nile River and then recycle it to make household bags and other products. It also focuses on providing job opportunities and training for the women of Al-Qursaya Island.
• Banan Art: An initiative in Upper Egypt that focuses on recycling banana waste to make bags and office accessories. It also offers training and empowerment programs to the women of Sohag.
• ReNile: A start-up that offers a wide range of environmental services such as establishing and providing support for hydroponics and aquaponics. It also helps provide fish farming management and monitoring tools to local farmers.
• Mozare3: A start-up that allows farmers to invest in new technologies and innovations to directly contribute to a more efficient and sustainable agriculture industry.
• Cotton Town: A start-up that acts as a platform for trading cotton from farm to fashion. By using market connections, best practices, and branding strategies, it aims to improve the value chain of cotton.
• NoorNation: A renewable energy start-up that provides decentralized infrastructure solutions for less-served areas in Egypt and sub-Saharan Africa.
• Banlastic: A social enterprise located in Alexandria that tackles the plastic pollution problem. It aims to ban single-use plastic in Egypt by offering alternative products, as well as spreads awareness among customers through delivering workshops, training, beach cleanups, and various environmental events.
• Rabbit Mobility: A micro-mobility sharing platform that offers short-distance transportation using environmentally friendly vehicles. Their fleet includes standing electric scooters and electric bikes. They offer two models: the Unlock and Go model and the Day Rentals model, where users can request a vehicle to rent for a minimum of two days.

Grassroots Community Practices

Different grassroots community practices have emerged organically in response to climate change impacts, without formal leadership or institutional backing. These locally driven initiatives remain under-recognized, though they prove to be effective, reflecting community-based knowledge.

In terms of farming practices, most farmers in the Nile Delta are shifting to planting crops that have a high tolerance to salinity, such as cotton, beet, and rice. For instance, some farmers have shifted from growing tomatoes—which is a rewarding crop but does not grow well in high salinity conditions—to cultivating rice, confirming that this is the best they can do given salinity levels. However, farmers cannot cultivate rice on all available land because there are designated specific areas for rice farming. Farmers planting outside of the allocated zones face penalties, including fines or imprisonment.⁶⁵ In addition to changing crops, farmers are starting to use new approaches to agriculture and irrigation, such as intercropping (the growth of two or more crop species simultaneously in the same field) to optimize existing environmental resources, including space, light, and nutrients, while enhancing both the yield and quality of crops.⁶⁶

Regarding household practices, initiatives like the Green Pan Initiative have been established to promote the recycling of used cooking oil.⁶⁷This initiative offers citizens the opportunity to exchange their used cooking oil for products such as soaps and detergents, thereby encouraging proper disposal and recycling practices. Households, in urban and rural areas, have become particularly judicious when consuming water, using electricity, creating food waste, and undertaking any other consumption activities in the home. They have also adopted, for example, the practice of recycling plastic, clothes, and paper. Moreover, several households are now using roof-planting methods to grow tomatoes, mint, arugula, and fruits.⁶⁸ Lastly, many households have given up on using plastic bags and are now more consistently reusing cloth bags for groceries and cooperating with small and medium-sized businesses that make local kitchen tools from wood and straw rather than plastic.

The Case for Landscape Architects

Around the world, landscape architects are well prepared to address the social, ecological, and functional aspects of both natural and built environments. Yet, in Egypt, landscape architects remain underutilized in efforts to combat climate change at the national, regional, and local levels, as landscape architecture is often overlooked in both policy frameworks and urban development projects. There is a misconception that landscape architects focus mostly on the beautification of landscapes, thereby disregarding their critical contribution to addressing climate resilience and environmental sustainability.⁶⁹ This narrow conception has caused significant gaps within planning, policy, implementation, and governance processes related to tackling the pressing climate issues of water scarcity, heatwaves, biodiversity loss, sea-level rise, and flash floods.

In September 2024, the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) issued a “Code Red for Earth” declaration.⁷⁰ It accentuates the need for immediate collective measures against environmental crises. The declaration highlights the role of landscape architecture in responding to climate change and driving sustainable development. Although it has not yet begun integrating such measures, the IFLA’s national association in Egypt, the Egyptian Society of Landscape Architects (ESLA), incorporated in October 2023, aims to encourage, advocate, and broaden the role of landscape architects, in recognition that they can address multifaceted climate challenges during their planning, design, policymaking, and implementation efforts while integrating social science concepts, environmental design, and urban planning.⁷¹ Landscape architects operate at multiple scales, from national or regional strategies down to site-specific projects; their work involves translating environmental, economic, and social considerations into resilient designs. The American Society of Landscape Architects recognizes the profession as “one of the most diversified of the design professions.”⁷² It would be wise for Egypt to shift its perspective and to treat landscape architects as key, transformative participants in planning and mitigation efforts.⁷³ The ESLA should begin slowly integrating the recommendations outlined in the IFLA’s Code Red for Earth declaration.

 Addressing Climate Across Levels Through a Landscape Architecture Lens

Given its multiscalar and complex nature, combatting climate change requires tailored interventions that address different environmental, social, and economic factors across different levels and contexts. Given this requirement, landscape architecture should, and can, play a much bigger role, as it provides an integrated, site-sensitive, and interdisciplinary approach in designing resilient and adaptive spaces to respond to and mitigate climate risks. Landscape architects’ proposed solutions attend to wide-scale environmental systems as well as localized community needs. This section discusses how landscape architects can work effectively at the national, regional, and local levels, highlighting their potential to connect policy and design while embedding sustainability principles into spatial practices.

National Level

At the national level, landscape architects can contribute to strategic planning and policymaking, extending their role beyond site-level design. Environmentalists, urban planners, and policymakers can set holistic national strategies to develop resilient systems against climate change.

Integrating Water Management Strategies

On a national scale, landscape architects play a strategic role in addressing land-use policy and management. They can contribute to urban planning frameworks by integrating green infrastructure into citywide water management strategies. For instance, the implementation of integrated water-resource management (IWRM) can be incorporated into national urban development plans to store, filter, and redistribute water resources efficiently.⁷⁴Landscape architects can design water-sensitive landscapes to manage rainwater harvesting, as well as efficient irrigation systems that support agriculture.⁷⁵ Additionally, landscape architects can advocate policy reforms that instigate sustainable water management and ecological conservation. They can engage in public awareness programs to educate communities, farmers, and urban planners on water conservation practices, ensuring behavioral shifts toward sustainable water use.

Prioritizing Green Infrastructure and Cooling Systems

Prioritizing planning for public spaces, green corridors, green belts, and urban parks helps reduce UHI effects and enhance thermal comfort.⁷⁶ Landscape architects can employ climate-responsive land-use planning in city design processes to allocate enough green spaces, tree-lined streets, and shaded pedestrian zones; these kinds of areas become natural cooling systems and help lower surface and air temperatures.⁷⁷Landscape architects could consistently design compact urban forms, while optimizing green building regulations that improve airflow and prevent heat pockets. Through long-term planning and nature-based solutions, landscape architecture can contribute to policy frameworks and urban design guidelines that integrate green infrastructure. Green urban development will facilitate the reduction of urban heat stress and thereby improve public health, social equity, and livability in Egypt’s growing cities.⁷⁸

Regional Level

Egypt’s diverse landscapes have varying environmental challenges that require tailored landscape architecture strategies. Regional interventions focus on managing large-scale ecological systems to enhance climate resilience in vulnerable regions such as coastal zones, flood-prone areas, and agricultural lands.

Coastal Zones: Managing Erosion and Sedimentation

Coastal erosion is driven by rising sea levels and human interventions. It eats away valuable land and threatens urban settlements. Sediment buildup in coastal zones disrupts coastal ecosystems. Different nature-based solutions have been implemented to absorb wave energy: the planting of mangroves, salt marshes, dune stabilization, and artificial reef systems.⁷⁹ Without such integrated approaches, traditional hard infrastructure (for example, seawalls) often exacerbates erosion in adjacent areas and disrupts natural coastal processes.⁸⁰ In Egypt’s vulnerable areas such as Alexandria and Port Said, landscape architects can introduce living shorelines, combining vegetation, rocks, and other natural elements to protect coastal infrastructure while maintaining ecological functions. Strategically, landscape architects can contribute to regional land-use master plans for vulnerable coastlines, restrict high-risk developments, and promote sustainable zoning regulations.⁸¹ Landscape architects should work with local governments, coastal engineers, and community participants to promote longer-term coastal management policies that embody resilience-oriented urban design and community-based adaptation planning. 

Red Sea Mountain Range: Enhancing Flood Management and Community Resilience

In the region of the Red Sea Mountain range, wadi floors become channels for destructive floodwaters during sudden rainfall events. Landscape architecture designs can integrate watershed management systems that balance floodwater retention and infiltration. Check dams and terracing (the creation of sloped landscapes) can slow water flow, reduce erosion, and allow gradual groundwater recharge.⁸² Landscape architecture techniques can integrate retention basins into wadi landscapes to act as natural floodwater storage zones.⁸³ Additionally, through vegetation-based strategies, such as planting native drought-tolerant species along wadi edges, these techniques can further stabilize soils and enhance the landscape’s ability to absorb excess water. By conducting regional flood risk assessments and developing land-use zoning guidelines, landscape architects can assess the projected flood risks to help prevent the construction of settlements in wadi floors. They can incorporate community knowledge into flood management plans to achieve culturally appropriate and socially inclusive designs.⁸⁴

Agricultural Areas: Combating Saline Intrusion and Agricultural Resilience

Agricultural lands in the Nile Delta suffer from intensified soil salinization and waterlogging.⁸⁵ In collaboration with farmers and local authorities, landscape architects can propose sustainable system solutions for water management and soil salinity mitigation in agricultural areas. The restoration of coastal buffer zones is important for creating natural barriers against saline water intrusion and for stabilizing shorelines.⁸⁶ A primary approach employed in other countries involves coordination between landscape architects and farmers to apply precision irrigation systems, such as drip and sprinkler systems, as well as to introduce salt-resistant crops.⁸⁷Landscape architects can also integrate agroforestry systems to regulate water and sediment flows, further enhancing soil fertility and reducing flood and pest control.⁸⁸

Local Level

Landscape architects can also implement site-sensitive, context-specific strategies to mitigate climate risks. Local interventions generally have a direct and immediate effect on both communities and infrastructure and are therefore capable of bolstering social resilience and economic feasibility. The interventions can vary in scale and context and often focus on private developments, public spaces, coastal resorts, urban parks, streetscapes, community gardens, and infrastructural landscapes.

Mitigating Urban Heat Islands Through Green Infrastructure

In collaboration with engineers, landscape architects can play a leading role in implementing green infrastructure in cities and communities to provide a cooling effect during extreme heat events. Green infrastructure alleviates UHI risks by introducing more vegetation in streetscapes, roofs, and facades.⁸⁹ Urban trees and green roofs not only provide shade and cooling through evapotranspiration but also filter harmful airborne particles such as carbon dioxide. The design of green infrastructure helps create wind corridors that improve airflow and disperse trapped heat. Landscape architects work with various policymakers and urban planners to design public parks and gardens for the overall well-being of communities. They also shape local mandates and guidelines that encourage the implementation of tree canopies, pocket parks (a small urban green space, often on unused land), and building retrofits that mitigate heat.⁹⁰

Setting Up Alternative Water Systems

Landscape architects can help rectify the disparity in water access through IWRM frameworks.⁹¹ For example, landscape architects can design local water distribution hubs and water collection points to provide underserved neighborhoods consistent and reliable access to clean water. They also can retrofit aging water infrastructure in vulnerable areas to reduce losses because of leakages.⁹² Other strategies include designing appropriate rainwater harvesting systems in public spaces and on rooftops to enable communities to collect and store rainwater for domestic and agricultural purposes. Alternatively, landscape architects can design unconventional solutions for more resource-efficient recreation landscapes. One such solution includes implementing desert-adapted systems in golf courses for reduced water consumption, such as precision irrigation systems that deliver water directly to crops in precise amounts and times. Other solutions involve the introduction of native, drought-tolerant vegetation and the installation of gray water treatment plants to repurpose treated water in irrigation.⁹³

Introducing Native Plant Species

To combat the loss of biodiversity, landscape architects can utilize ecosystem-based design strategies that integrate biodiversity conservation into restorative planning. For instance, they could help restore coastal buffer zones within marine environments by planting mangroves and salt-tolerant vegetation. Such strategies could stabilize shorelines and reduce coastal erosion.⁹⁴ Within agricultural landscapes, they could establish agroforestry systems to mitigate runoff and reduce the loss of natural habitats. Landscape architects could also interplant native and pollinator-friendly plants with crops to create habitats for pollinators and beneficial insects. Further interventions include the planting of riparian buffer zones along agricultural fields to filter runoff, prevent pollutants from entering water systems, and ultimately protect aquatic habitats.⁹⁵

Recommendations

The growing climate crisis places greater demands on landscape architects to create adaptive, resilient, and sustainable environments. Multidisciplinary responses to the growing climate risks among natural and built landscapes require strategies that range from preservation and protection to transformative design. These recommendations identify specific ways forward to emphasize the protection of natural landscapes and changes to built ones, for landscape architecture to be fully operating within the frameworks of climate resilience, policymaking, and urban planning. Effective uptake of the recommendations and approaches will require governments, institutions, educators, and practitioners to work in closer collaboration.

Preserve and Protect Existing Natural Landscapes

The conservation and protection of natural landscapes is fundamental to limiting biodiversity losses, achieving ecological balance, and increasing climate resilience. Landscape architects should emphasize the restoration of degraded ecosystems, protection of vulnerable habitats, and inclusion of nature-based solutions during the large-scale planning of environments. Key strategies should involve mangrove and wetland restoration, afforestation projects, and the creation of biodiversity corridors to connect habitats. Water-sensitive design and soil conservation practices are also critical aspects in natural resource protection. Landscape architects must support establishing sufficient environmental controls and collaborate with ecologists, urban planners, and policymakers to preserve natural systems in urban and rural areas. Public awareness and participation campaigns will then be needed to ensure that these preservation strategies find acceptance and continue at the local level.

Change Practitioners’ Approaches to Landscape Design

Transforming built landscapes is also a necessity to alleviate climate risks, including UHI effects, water access issues, energy disruptions, and biodiversity loss in burgeoning cities and concrete jungles. By integrating green infrastructure and climate-adaptive design in existing infrastructures, landscape architects can help reduce ambient temperatures and improve air quality in densely populated cities. Permeable pavements and rainwater harvesting systems should be commonly installed within urban developments for better water management. Additionally, resilient shoreline designs should be integrated into coastal city and resort development plans to stabilize dunes and reduce the impacts of sea-level rise and coastal erosion. In support of these efforts, the government should implement policy reforms to ensure that principles of climate-sensitive design are included in building regulations, urban master plans, and public infrastructure projects.

Conclusion

Climate change poses multiscalar risks that impact all environmental, social, and economic systems in Egypt. Though Egypt has become more active and engaged in the global dialogue on climate change, its international commitments are not entirely mirrored by local actions and policy reform. Domestic efforts have mostly been limited to forming climate committees that are not fully empowered to alter or influence existing government plans and policies. Thus, the country remains vulnerable to extreme climate hazards. Within institutional efforts, a more interdisciplinary framework needs to be applied to engage additional stakeholders capable of providing valuable contributions, including landscape architects.

Beyond mere design, landscape architecture encompasses policy advocacy, ecological restoration, resource management, and community outreach. Nationally, landscape architects could promote integrated frameworks for water resource management, green infrastructure, and sustainable agricultural practices. Regionally, they could help address coastal erosion, the flooding of wadi floors, and soil salinization and waterlogging in agricultural areas through employing ecosystem-based design strategies along with spatial planning interventions. And locally, they could use public green spaces, water-sensitive urban designs, and biodiversity conservation to increase climate resilience in cities. 

Despite their capacity, however, landscape architects remain underutilized; their role is often sidelined in policymaking, institutional planning, and educational systems. Acknowledging the critical role of landscape architects within education systems, institutional frameworks, and policy agendas is necessary, not only recommended. There is also a pressing need to integrate landscape architecture more comprehensively into climate governance frameworks and adaptation plans. The ESLA is currently expanding the role of landscape architecture beyond aesthetics. It emphasizes its impact on climate change, policy, and environmental planning. The ESLA collaborates with IFLA Europe’s Mediterranean Network (MedNet), IFLA Middle East, and IFLA Africa to produce accessible academic and professional publications, including academic papers, professional booklets, and visual brochures, to raise awareness about the role of landscape architects in addressing climate change. ESLA has also redefined its membership criteria to formally recognize landscape planning as an integral part of the profession. The field of landscape architecture in Egypt is largely limited to aesthetic design for public spaces, and private compounds. Now, new members are required to understand and integrate landscape planning principles. This accentuates a more holistic approach to the profession. In addition, ESLA has been actively engaging with government stakeholders like the Ministries of Housing, Environment, and Tourism. Discussions are underway to formally incorporate landscape architects into government consultancies. This will allow Egypt to implement environmentally responsible planning at the national level. Finally, ESLA is collaborating with NGOs focused on climate change and environmental protection. It is currently advocating for the protection of Egypt’s Mediterranean and Red Sea coastlines from mass tourism and destructive land modifications that prioritize resort development over ecological preservation.