Arab Republic of EGYPT Ministry of Higher Education Egyptian National UNESCO Commission (UNESCO – ALECSO – ISESCO) Egyptian National MAB Committee NATIONAL REPORT EGYPT In occasion of 40th Session of the International Coordinating Council (ICC) of the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme Palembang, South Sumatra Province of Indonesia 23-28 July 2018 2017-2018 June 2018 Country Report on MAB Programme: Egypt In occasion of 40th Session of the International Coordinating Council (ICC) of the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme Palembang, South Sumatra Province of Indonesia, 23-28 July 2018 Background Biosphere reserves are conceived as examples of sustainable socio- ecological systems. Egyptian Government has made efforts to prevent the extinction of biodiversity through in-situ and ex-situ conservation activities. Biosphere reserves (BR) are an appropriate program for conducting conservation activities effectively and corroborating the sustainable development principles, thus make a challenge for the government to implement this concept. Egypt has engaged in the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme since it was launched in 1971. We boast that three of our outstanding scientists, Prof. Abdel Fatah El Kasas, Prof. Mohamed Ayyad & Prof. Samir Ghabour participated in laying the foundation stone for this program. Presently, there are 2 biosphere reserves in Egypt, Omayed ( OBR) and Wadi Allaqi (WABR). Core support for the biosphere reserves is provided by the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA). The intensive research work conducted in OBR by Alexandria University and in WABR by South Valley University in Aswan has led to a clear understanding of their natural resource components, highlighting the ecological processes and the role of human beings in this ecosystem. Results of the research have been brought to the attention of decision-makers in public and government sectors through the organization of seminars, conferences and workshops and giving lectures, where OBR and WABR actors have been involved in discussion and information exchange. Omayed Biosphere Reserve (OBR) is the only protected area in the northwestern Mediterranean coast (the richest phyto-geographical region in Egypt). It joined the world network of biosphere reserve in 1981 and was declared as a protected area by Prime Minister Decree in 1986. Egyptian National MAB Committee 1 Recently, impacts of several national development plans and projects that took place in the western coastal desert of Egypt coupled with a severe environment, has adversely affecting the conservation function of OBR particularly the two cores areas. Sincere efforts have been done during the year 2017/ 2018 by National MAB Committee together with Nature Protection and Nature Reserves Sector of Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) to overcome the resultant serious changes in landuse / land cover and the considerable changes in areas of the core and buffer zones of OBR. Core zones and the Buffer zone were modified and updated to fulfill the functions of OBR; such amendments were revised and approved during the 24th meeting of the International Advisory Committee for Biosphere Reserves, 5-8 February 2018, UNESCO Headquarter, and Paris. Also, management plan and an associated executive plan were prepared, revised and consigned to fit the environmental changes taking place and to reinforce the implementation of Lima action Plan. Wadi Allaqi Biosphere reserve was designated in 1989 as a national protected area. In1993 it was announced as a biosphere reserve. It is located in the south eastern desert of Egypt and extends, about 180 km south of Aswan governorate on the eastern side of Lake Nasser. It is a major dry river, which drains from the Red Sea hills to the Nile Valley. The location of the WABR in the remote desert, its diverse ecosystems comprising the lake, transition zone (eco-tone) and extreme arid desert, together with the nomadic population inhabiting this area, represents a unique combination of features. After the construction of the High Dam, Aswan, water from the newly formed reservoir (Lake Nasser) entered deeply into the desert through the main channel of Wadi Allaqi converting its downstream part into a lake and forming the ecotone on its shores. Fluctuations of the lake’s water level, which could be as much as thirty meters vertically, with a horizontal expansion of about sixty kilometers, control the dynamics of the ecotone ecosystem. Available water and large plant biomass attract animals, which have changed from a migratory to a settled or semi-settled pattern of life. The same is also true for the nomadic population, which has semi-settled in the downstream part of the wadi close to the lake. Inundation from the Egyptian National MAB Committee 2 Lake has penetrated through the valley deeply into the Eastern Desert, a previously hyper arid environment. Nomination of new World Heritage site The Egyptian MAB National Committee revised and submitted the nomination file of Jabel Qatrani site for inscription on the World Heritage List. Nomination file was prepared by Nature Conservation Sector, Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency(EEAA) – Ministry of Environment (January,2018) The Jebel Qatrani site is proposed to be inscribed under natural criterion viii of the operational guidelines for World Heritage 2005; stated that sites “to be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features” Jebel Qatrani (Qatrani Mountain) lies within the Fayoum province, and forms part of the Qaroun Protected Area (QPA). It is located within the Western Desert of Egypt, 100 km south-southwest of Cairo and 60 km west of Fayoum City. The Jebel Qatrani is a distinct area within the QPA, and lies c.20 km north of the lake among an attractive and distinctive desert landscape of wind eroded pillars, surrounded by sand dunes, hills, cliffs and high escarpment-bounded plateau. Jebel Qatrani property lies between two high escarpments, Qatrani escarpment in the north and Qasr El-Sagha escarpment in the south. Jebel Qatrani property comprises irregular core area of c. 20673.55ha, (c. 9km x 27 sq. km) defined by latitude/longitude co-ordinates, with a 3560.66 ha buffer zone. Jebel Qatrani site is the best to fill the global evolution gap reveals the mammalian fossil records of the transition from Eocene to Oligocene boundary (40-30 million years ago), that records the most significant interval in Earth history since the dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago. Jebel Qatrani area is both a treasure trove of fossils that tells the story of the evolution of mammals and primates, starting in the Eocene, notably the ancestry of elephants, hippopotami, hyraxes, lemuroids, monkeys, and anthropoids, in addition to multiple representatives of extinct mammalian orders (Embrithopoda, Ptolemaiida) and noteworthy fossil plants. Egyptian National MAB Committee 3 The JQ site is the only one produces to iconic change in both marine and continental mammals and primates (such as Aegyptopithecus), evolution during the interval climate change from the Eocene to the Oligocene Epochs, about 40 to 30 million years ago. Winners of Egyptian MAB Young Scientists Research Awards Offered by the Ministry of Higher Education: Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education offers annually 6 grants (5,000 LE each) for young researchers to promote scientific research on the biosphere reserves or potential biosphere reserves in Egypt besides hot issues as water & energy. National Egyptian MAB committee reviewed all submitted proposals and the winners were as follows: 1. Ms. Samah Mohamed Khalil, National Research Center, Cairo- Monitoring biodiversity and determining the current status of important economic species in Omayed Biosphere Reserve. 2. Mr. Alaa El-Din Mohamed Younes, Aquatic Environment Department, Faculty of Fisheries, Suez University - Ecological Risk Assessment of heavy metals along Nabq Protectorate coast, South Sinai. 3. Ms. Marwa Mohamed Abdo, National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries- Evaluation of fish parasite impact on Lake Burullus ecosystem. 4. Ms. Asmaa Adlan Ibrahim, Department of Botany, Faculty of Science- Cairo University- Phytoremediation of soil polluted with crude oil using Bassia scoparia and its associated rhizosphere microorganisms. 5. Ms. Alaa Harby Rashed, Department of Fisheries, Faculty of Fisheries, Suez University- Population genetics structure and ecology of Penaeus japonicas for fisheries management Case study: Suez Gulf & Bitter Lakes. 6. Mr. Ahmed Hamdy El Hawary, Environmental Sciences Department, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University. Scientific publications related to Egyptian BRs Marwa Halmy, Manal F. Ahmed, Dalia Amed, Nouran Saeed, Mohamed Awad. (2018). Monitoring and predicting the potential distribution of alien plant species in arid ecosystem using remotely- sensed data. Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment. (under review). Egyptian National MAB Committee 4 Halmy, M. W. A. & Salem, B. B. (2015). Species conservation importance index (SCI) for comparing sites’ conservation value at landscape level. Brazilian Journal of Botany, 38(4) 823-835. DOI: 10.1007/s40415-015-0197-z. Halmy, M. W., Gessler, P., and Selim, Z. H. (2015). Implications of change on the distribution of important plant species in the northwestern coastal desert of Egypt. Renewable Energy and Sustainable Development.