TITLE:
Impact of biomass in Egypt on climate change
AUTHORS:
Dalia Adel Nakhla, Mohamed Galal Hassan, Salah El Haggar
KEYWORDS:
Waste; Climate Change; Biomass; Egypt
JOURNAL NAME:
Natural Science,
Vol.5 No.6,
June
10,
2013
ABSTRACT: Egypt is one of the
most vulnerable countries to climate change due to the expected detrimental
impacts on coastal zones, agriculture, water security as well as indirect
social and health impacts. Egypt is responsible for 0.57% of the global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Although Egypt
is a non-annex I country not requiring any specific emission reduction or
limitation targets under the Kyoto protocol,
its National plans have included
mitigation measures to reduce its greenhouse gases. The main sectors
contributing to climate change in Egypt are energy, industry, agriculture and
waste. Waste, on the other hand, has been accumulating
in the streets of Egypt and along its water banks causing considerable air,
soil and water pollution and indirect detrimental
health impacts. However, this waste which is composed of organic
municipal waste, agricultural residues, agro-industrial waste, animal manure
and sewage sludge are valuable biomass resources. Utilizing the waste resources
of Egypt especially the biomass or the organic component of this waste will not only solve some of the pressing economic
needs of Egypt such as animal fodder, fertilizer and fuel but will also alleviate environmental burdens through decreasing
air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in the sector of waste as well as
those of energy, industry and agriculture. This
paper quantifies the biomass resources in Egypt generated from different waste
resources. Then it demonstrates the efforts that Egypt made to contribute to
global greenhouse gas emissions reductions through the Kyoto Protocol’s clean
development mechanism (CDM). The projects
in the waste sector already established in Egypt and approved as CDM
projects are listed, which are related to waste management facilities and those
which are waste to energy projects. Finally, a list of mitigation projects as
proposed by the Egyptian government to decrease GHGs as related to the waste
sector are enumerated.