Why Egypt Is So Vulnerable To Melting Glaciers And Rising Seas

CAIRO — With its densely populated coasts and low-lying agricultural areas, Egypt is one of the most vulnerable countries to rising sea levels.

According to World Bank data, a one-meter rise in the sea level would inundate a quarter of the Nile Delta and force 10.5 million people from their homes. Rising sea waters would also leave the soil in many of Egypt's traditional agricultural areas unfit for planting, destroy critical wetland habitats, wipe out coastal industry and tourism infrastructure, and possibly intrude on fresh water aquifers.

The seas have already started rising. Ice caps and glaciers are melting, and warmer weather is driving thermal expansion (when water heats up, it takes up more space). Scientists observed that the global mean sea level rose as much as 20 centimeters during the 20th century, and that the level of increase accelerated beginning in the 1990s, reaching around 3.2 millimeters per year.

Although there is still debate among scientists about how fast and how high the world's oceans will rise, there is little doubt that the seas will get higher in the coming decades.

But will Egypt be ready? According to a panel discussion on the subject, held recently as part of the Cairo Climate Talks, the answer is maybe.

Khaled Kheir Eddin, head of the Environment and Climate Change Research Unit at Egypt's Water Ministry, points to Egypt's collection of official strategy papers devoted to this issue as a sign that the government is taking preparations seriously.

In 2011, Egypt's Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) think tank published a set of recommendations about what...