CAIRO — Egypt held its first Cairo Water Week Oct. 14 -18 to discuss Cairo’s concerns over the effects of climate change. The meeting closely follows the Egyptian government's acceptance of a $31.5 million grant from the Green Climate Fund Oct. 2 to protect the areas that are most affected by climate change, which threatens to flood the Nile Delta, increase desertification and impede investment for decades in coastal areas.

Egypt will use the funds on projects to reduce coastal flooding in five governorates (Port Said, Damietta, Dakahlia, Kafr El Sheikh and Beheira), a strip of land stretching over 70 kilometers (43 miles). It will also set forth a national monitoring plan on climate change and rising sea levels in these areas, a project that will take seven years to be implemented.

Climate change threatens to cost Egypt billions of dollars in investment and the deterioration of the tourism sector. The rising sea level is expected to erode the Egyptian coasts and damage the coral reefs. High temperatures also threaten to accelerate the deterioration of monuments and historical landmarks.

According to the Egyptian government, at least five million people are expected to be displaced from the Nile River Delta if appropriate measures are not taken. In previous statements, Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohammad Abdel Ati said that the ministry’s climate change studies predict that Egypt’s two main crops, wheat and maize, will decrease by 15% and 19% respectively by 2050, and 15% of the most arable lands in the Nile Delta will become salinized.