Egypt Country Report
This report examines the application of the Water Resilience Tracker for National Climate Planning tool to Egypt's climate change planning framework. Egypt, with a population of 104 million concentrated within 20km of the Nile Valley and Delta, faces severe water stress as current water needs (114 BCM annually) are nearly double the available resources (59.25 BCM), with 97% of freshwater coming from the Nile River.
Climate projections indicate temperature increases of 1.8-5.2°C by the 2080s, extended heat waves lasting up to 77 additional days, and continued precipitation reductions with longer dry spells potentially increasing by 75 days.
The Water Resilience Tracker assessment of four key planning documents (National Water Resource Plan, Updated NDC, National Climate Change Strategy, and Climate Change Adaptation Strategy) reveals that Egypt demonstrates strong understanding of water-related climate risks and has well-developed governance frameworks, but faces significant challenges in climate risk assessment formalization, multi-sectoral coordination, and financing mechanisms.
Key opportunities include better integration of water requirements across sectors, enhanced wetland ecosystem consideration, improved tracking of financial allocations for climate actions, and strengthening the alignment between water and climate policies. The report emphasizes Egypt's reliance on innovative water management, high levels of water reuse in irrigation, and the critical need for nature-based solutions to protect the vulnerable Nile Delta against sea-level rise while expanding efficient water use practices to other sectors.
