NUNZIUM

Negotiators from nearly 200 countries will prod each other at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt) to raise their clean energy ambitions until November 18. Universal access to clean water is a top priority at the meeting since water scarcity has become a critical concern for many developing countries including Egypt. Despite water poverty, on the outskirts of Cairo, the Egyptian government is building a giant belt of lakes and parks deep in the desert called “Green Rivers”. Also referred to as Capital Park, Green Rivers is set to be a river-like series of large-scale urban parks. When finished, it should span over 35 kilometers and cover a total area of 6,200 acres making it six times the size of Central Park in New York City. The artificial body of water is meant to mimic the Nile and become a key piece of the New Capital project, a large-scale project of a new capital city in Cairo. The giant system of lakes, canals, and gardens connecting the New Capital’s different neighborhoods is designed to be 35 kilometers long and encompass what Egypt says will be the largest park in the world. Costs for the first phase were estimated at $500 million, state media reported in 2019. The project also includes two giant manmade lakes, the first of which has been built, according to state media. The video shown off five years ago by Egypt’s prime minister depicts lush riverbanks dotted with trees and occupying vast landscapes of greenery – even though the site is in the middle of a desert, with no natural sources of water nearby. Just how the government plans to source vast amounts of water for the project is still unclear. The park is being constructed in the middle of a worsening climate crisis where water scarcity is one of the main issues. In May, the Minister of Local Development announced that the country had entered a stage of “water poverty” according to UN standards. The UN doesn’t have a metric for “water poverty,” but by its definition, a country is considered water scarce when annual supplies drop below 1,000 cubic meters per capita. Egypt needs an estimated 114 billion cubic meters of water per year. Furthermore, as record high temperatures have been registered around the globe, Egypt may also face heatwaves in the next future which would make things even more challenging. This said, the world certainly looks forward to seeing Egypt’s New Capital in all its splendor.