China’s ecological expertise and technological advancement are beneficial to Egypt’s effort to curb pollution and “go green” amid the two countries’ growing cooperation, an Egyptian ecologist has said ahead of World Environment Day.
China has long and growing cooperation with Egypt and other developing countries in various fields, “the foremost of which are agriculture, industry and energy,” said Magdy Allam, an advisor to the Global Environment Facility, in an interview with Xinhua.
The most challenging environmental problem faced by Egypt is the intense pollution coming from vehicles and motorbikes in residential areas in cities and villages, the expert pointed out, calling for planting trees to tackle the issue.
He said the Egyptian leadership has launched a plan to plant 100 million trees under the country’s “Go Green” initiative launched as part of the National Sustainable Development Strategy “Egypt 2030.”
“China is the number one country in the world in terms of tree plantation in the past ten years,” said Allam, also secretary-general of a federation for Arab environmentalists, adding that Egypt can learn from China’s expertise in this regard.
Noting that forests are the world’s oxygen factory and the biodiversity incubator, he said China has launched “the largest afforestation campaign in the world.”
This aerial photo taken on May 25, 2023 shows birds resting in the mangrove forest near the sea in Zhanjiang City, south China’s Guangdong Province. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)
Egypt can also benefit from its cooperation with China in green economy, since China is a leader in solar energy production, said the expert. “We import from China solar-powered irrigation pumps.”
“China also partners with Egypt in projects related to reusing green and blue hydrogen as well as types of new energy,” he added.
Waste recycling and wastewater treatment are among the major potential fields of cooperation between Egypt and China, Allam said, noting that Egypt has already been importing recycling machines from China.
Recalling his visit to China in the 1990s as a representative from the Egyptian Ministry of Environment, the expert said the Chinese side showed the Egyptian delegation models of eco-friendly use of rice straw, like using it for ready-made walls or wooden boards instead of burning it and causing air pollution as was the case in Egypt.
China has succeeded in implementing “the four Rs of recycling,” Allam said, referring to the reuse, reduction, recycling, and recovery of waste material.
Speaking of World Environment Day, a UN-established day held annually on June 5 to raise awareness of environmental protection, Allam called for greater action by the world’s major industrial countries to reduce the use of fossil fuels and restore the globe’s lost vegetation cover through afforestation.
“It is an opportunity to say that China has contributed a lot in environment protection,” said the ecologist, citing China’s pioneering accomplishments in afforestation, recycling, and clean energy production.
Since bilateral cooperation covers a wide range of fields, Egypt is very keen to deepen cooperation with China, he said.
