3. Egyptian Natural Resources

Abstract: The Arab Republic of Egypt is the main northeastern entrance of Africa continent. The total area of Egypt territory is around one million square kilometer and occupied by approximately 95 million inhabitants who live on about 4% of this area. This chapter presents an overview of the land, water, and human resources in Egypt. Egypt land is geographically divided into five sections: Western Desert, Eastern Desert, Sinai Peninsula, Nile Valley, and Nile Delta. These sections involve 33 soil units in which sandy areas and loamy sand/sandy loam soils cover over 57% of their surface. Despite that, agriculture is the fundamental economic activity in Egypt. The Egyptian agricultural lands could be classified as Oldlands and Newlands. The Oldlands are assigned for the fertile and intensively cultivated lands in Nile Valley and Delta that have been farmed since ancient time till now, whereas the newly reclaimed areas that have been cultivated relatively recently or in the process of reclamation now are known as Newlands. The natural water resources in Egypt are inadequate since the primary water source is the annually fixed share of Nile River of 55.5 BCM that is utilized for almost all human activities despite the high growth rate of population. The Egyptian government adopts strategies to utilize the non-conventional water resources (mainly recycled agricultural drainage, shallow groundwater, and treated wastewater) in irrigation as the agricultural sector consumes 80–85% of available freshwater in Egypt. At the administrative level, Egypt involves 27 governorates in which New Valley governorate represented 42% of total Egypt’s area and occupied with only 0.25% of the Egypt total population. Conversely, the Great Cairo (involves Cairo, Giza, and Kalyoubia governorates) occupied by around 25% of the total population. Agricultural sector supports the livelihood to approximately two-thirds of the Egyptians and considers the primary source of income to about 60% of Egyptians.