Governing climate change in Egypt
The establishment of a Center of Excellence (CoE) for Climate Change in Egypt was presented at a side event during the COP22 in Marrakech, Morocco. The Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) and the ClimaSouth project, co-organizers of the event, presented the key findings of a recent feasibility study. The CoE will be designed to create a safe, neutral space for stakeholders to develop pragmatic solutions to climate change issues. It will operate at national, regional and international scales, providing training in support of high-quality proposals for the Green Climate Fund and other climate-related investment opportunities. It will also provide digests of relevant science and training for critical assessment methodologies such as loss-and-damage estimation, climate model downscaling, and integrated assessment scenarios.
The Egyptian Minister of Environment, present at the event, declared the Government’s full support for the initiative. He stressed that the CoE will bring together climate science, climate adaptation and knowledge management to serve climate policy. He also stressed that the CoE should be built on the partnership between academic research centers, with the Government playing a coordinating role. The wide range of panelists further explored in their interventions, how the CoE will promote accountability and transparency, building trust among members and stakeholders, while addressing the climate risks that Egypt currently faces.
The values, goals and objectives of the proposed CoE were debated at length. The needs and opportunities to improve the circulation and sharing of data, information and tools between technical and academic institutions were highlighted as well as the need to support decision making processes with appropriate analysis and evaluation procedures. Panelists also discussed the impact of climate change on Egypt including extreme weather events and provided important insights on the articulation of the future mission of the proposed CoE.
Key resources