Challenges 

 The national biodiversity target had been selected due to the following challenges:

• Weak operational, administration and management system for protected areas
• lack of proper updated PA management plans
• Insufficient staff and financial resources.
• Unsatisfactory law enforcement mechanisms for PAs.
• Weak use of GIS in planning process
• Lack of accurate information system on the number of fauna and flora species in Egypt
• Limited Institutional Capacities for protected area
• Absent proper criteria for defining critical habitats
• lack of international cooperation to support PAs
• Lack of regular monitoring of PAs
• Limited environmental awareness, and lack of knowledge of current activities
• Perceived conflict of interest between protected areas and local communities

Priorities

There is a need to do the following as priority activities:

• Establish a new self-financed for conservation of biodiversity based on the current initiative by the Sustainable Finance of Protected Areas Project.
• Establish coherent and resilient ecological network of PAs with especial attention to marine PAs.
• Set programmes for the capacity building of staff members
• Set up GIS-based national planning and evaluation system in accordance with the international standards.
• Define and implement proper criteria for proper management of key biodiversity hotspots.
• Establish standardized national monitoring systems within PAs based on the current monitoring efforts.
• Increase close cooperation with international organizations at both technical and financial levels
• Develop and implement CEPA strategy for PAs in accordance with the Global CEPA for NBSAPs.
• Develop five years action plans that include required staff, equipment and infrastructure based on the actual financial gaps.

Challenges 

The national biodiversity target had been selected due to the following challenges:

• Current status of most species is out of date.
• Limited data to evaluate the species against the Red List criteria.
• Quotas have not been established for economically important plant and animal species.
• Habitats host endangered species are under continued stress.
• Over exploitation of resources.

• Weak law enforcement of wildlife protection measures outside PAs.
  

Priorities  

There is a need to do the following as priority activities:

• Develop national interactive centralized biodiversity information system.
• Assess status of species and habitats.
• Ensure the conservation of 20% of threatened species and reintroduce critically endangered species as appropriate and feasible.
• Ensure conservation and management of biodiversity hot spots located outside protected areas.

Challenges

The national biodiversity target had been selected due to the following challenges:
•    Limited mechanisms for re-introduction of captive/breeding animals into wild inside PAs.
•    No guidelines for establishment and operation of captive breeding centres.
•    Scarce data available about the produced generations in captivity.

Priorities

There is a need to do the following as priority activities:
•    Practice and adopt a national policy on ex-situ conservation.
•    Inspire ex-situ conservation through the establishment of natural history museum, gene banks, seed banks captive breeding,        zoos and public gardens.
•    Develop guidelines and mechanism for collection, maintenance, reproduction and reintroduction of plants and animal species in ex-situ programmes

Challenges

The national biodiversity target had been selected due to the following challenges:
•    Insufficient information about number, trends and extent of invasive species in Egypt.
•    Limited information about the impacts of AIS on ecosystems, economy and human health.
•    Poor well-defined figures about human, financial and technical resources needed for combating AIS.
•    Weak institutional capacities in evaluating and preserving alien species.
•    Lack of national monitoring system for alien invasive species.
•    Shortage of adequate legislative tools to control introductions of alien invasive species.
•    Lack of preventive and remediation measures.

Priorities 

There is a need to do the following as priority activities:
•    Update and verify a list of alien invasive species and identify the most dangerous ones.
•    Monitor and control the expansion of key AIS with relevant authorities.
•    Reinforce quarantine measures to control intentional and unintentional introduction of AIS.
•    Launch and strengthen database of alien species
Institute a specialized unit to be concerned with AIS.

Challenges

The national biodiversity target had been selected due to the following challenges:
•    Little attention is paid to the conservation of agrobiodiversity at the national level.
•    Lacking information on Egypt’s agrobiodiversity, its current status, associated products and traditions.
•    Import/export of genetic materials is not legislatively controlled.
•    Access to genetic materials is limited for both farmers and research programmes.
•    Economic incentives for the conservation of Egyptian agrobiodiversity are lacking.
•    Gaps exist in current legislation relating to agriculture and fishing.
•    The recovery of certain economically important fish species will require specific restoration efforts.

• Specific mechanisms for fish stock restoration and protection have not been put in place.

Priorities

There is a need to do the following as priority activities:
•    Develop a national agrobiodiversity conservation program with relevant authorities in association with public organizations.
•    Improve capacity for the recovery and preservation of agrobiodiversity.
•    To create an agrobiodiversity and fisheries inventory.
•    To conduct research and conservation relating to the wild relatives of native domestic species and varieties.
Strengthen the capacity of relevant governmental agencies through (among other mechanisms) provision of specialized training.

Challenges

The national biodiversity target had been selected due to the following challenges:

• Unsatisfactory regulation of ecotourism.• 
• Low level of environmental awareness and ecological education.
  
• Generalized deficiency in eco-tourism facilities.
• Inadequate legislative framework and weak enforcement of eco-tourism legislation.
• Fragile local communities and private sector participation in tourism management and investment in this sector.​

Priorities 

There is a need to do the following as priority activities:•    Sustainable management of ecosystems, its heritage and cultural resources based on best conservation and tourism models for the socio-economic wellbeing of the communities and other stakeholders.

•    Promote environmentally sound, sustainable tourism through “wise use”, ecotourism practices and technologies, in particular at South Sinai, Red Sea, and Western Desert.
•    Promote marine conservations and ecotourism in the business community and general public.
•    Promote desert safari to be ecologically reliable avoiding destruction and degradation of natural habitats, landscapes, cultural heritage sites and other resources.
•    Carry out surveys of areas suitable for eco-tourism, taking into account habitat vulnerability.
•    Reduce the impact of tourism activities on biodiversity and natural habitats.
•    Assess impacts of recreational activities in coastal areas.
•    Encourage eco-tourism in established and managed national parks.
•    Launch projects to establish infrastructure and management programs for marine tourism at key sites to mitigate negative environmental impacts
•    Set up guidelines and licensing procedures for the desert tourism industry.
•    Develop environmental education and awareness campaigns to generate awareness about desert conservation, ecotourism and encourage support for management program
•    Enhance the infrastructure and natural resource base of all protected areas to make them attractive destinations for tourists and tourism investors and to improve the working environment.

Challenges

The national biodiversity target had been selected due to the following challenges:
•    Weak enforcement of laws related to pollution.

Priorities

There is a need to do the following as priority activities:
•    Set up periodical national assessment of pollution within different ecosystems taking into account habitat vulnerability.
•    Establish criteria for monitoring of pollution inside protected areas and associated buffer zones.
•    Set Capacity building for research and development regarding combating pollution.
•    Undertake measures to minimize the impacts from local pollution instances such as oil spills, harmful algal blooms and hydrogen sulphide events at the coast
•    Update greenhouse gas inventory and take action to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions.
•    Develop and implement Environmental Management Plans (EMPs) for all urban areas.
•    Develop and implement National Implementation Plans (NIPs) for the Stockholm and Basel Conventions.
•    Promote increased adoption of the "reduce, re-use and recycle" principle by residents, as well as the public and private sector. Bill on waste management and pollution control enacted and implemented.
•    Investigate and install alternative systems to make use of solid waste as an economic resource.
•    Develop, monitor and enforce minimum national standards on soil, water and air quality as well as occupational health.

Challenges

The national biodiversity target had been selected due to the following challenges:
•    Damage of natural habitats because of desertification and land conversion.
•    Destruction of sensitive natural habitats caused by unplanned land reclamation.
•    Rapidly growing population with intensive use and pressure on natural resources particularly in the densely populated centres of the country.

Priorities

There is a need to do the following as priority activities:
•    Uphold environmentally friendly land use practices.
•    Enhance the implementation of land regulation, pricing and registration.
•    Minimize the uncontrolled urbanization and enhance land-zoning and land use management plans.
•    Develop mapping of soil degradation and desertification
•    Expand desertification control programs focusing on conservation of plant cover, reduction of soil erosion and watershed management.
•    Develop guidelines for strategic EIA for projects.

Challenges

The national biodiversity target had been selected due to the following challenges:
•    Discharge of untreated or partially treated industrial and household waste water.
•    Discharge of agricultural drainage loaded with fertilizer, pesticide and herbicide residues.

Priorities

There is a need to do the following as priority activities:
•    Develop and communicate a science-based strategic process that identifies and prioritize wetlands important for biodiversity.
•    Capacity building for integrated management of wetlands.

Challenges

The national biodiversity target had been selected due to the following challenges:
•    Over-exploitation, pollution and mismanagement of fishing in the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea and Egyptian Islands.
•    Over-fishing and lack of quality controls.
•    Damage of coral reefs and underwater habitats caused by bottom trawling, ornamental fishing
•    Weak conservation and sustainable use of marine and fishery resources.

Priorities

  There is a need to do the following as priority activities:
•    Develop habitat mapping, and sensitivity analysis of the entire coastline.
•    Develop data base management systems of fishery resources based on stock assessment.
•    Prepare and implement pilot Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plans
•    Conserve key threatened coastal, coral relief, mangrove and marine species, habitats and ecosystems.
•    Re-plant/re-forest mangroves wherever feasible.

Challenges

The national biodiversity target had been selected due to the following challenges:
•    No legislation to control the national, or international movement of GMOs and give the rights to public to monitor these GMOs
•    There is little information on the short- or long-term impacts (ecological, social or economic) of GMOs
•    There is little information concerning alternative options to the use of GMOs
•    There is little capacity to assess the risks of biotechnology use
•    There is poor understanding of how to prevent the accidental release of GMOs in to the environment, and low capacity of how to respond in this situation
•    Lack of participation of local communities.

Priorities

There is a need to do the following as priority activities:
•    Systematic update of existing biotechnologies applications and uses.
•    Building the capacity of NCS as the entity responsible for the management and control of biosafety issues.
•    Build up National Biosafety Database and operational BCH based on the requirements of the CBD.
•    Normalize, manage or control the risks associated with the use and release of LMOs.
•    Develop operational guidelines for issues related to biosafety within PAs.
•    Institute "polluter pays” legislation to recover rehabilitation costs of damaged resources affected by applications of GMOs.
•    Establishment of a national gene bank for all Egyptian species (economic and wild species).
•    Establishment of national framework for trading Egyptian’s native genetic resources and for pharmaceutical and biotechnological uses.

Challenges

The national biodiversity target had been selected due to the following challenges:
•    Weak Institutional structures and financial resources to ensure the sustainable use of natural wildlife.
•    Current levels of illegal hunting and trade of wild species.
•    Current application of hunting and harvesting practices do not take into consideration principles of biodiversity conservation.
•    Hunting and harvesting on monetary value rather than their conservation status.
•    Smuggling and uncontrolled exporting of wildlife (fauna and flora) and threaten medicinal plants species

Priorities

There is a need to do the following as priority activities:
•    Conserve and management of wild species under the pressures of illegal hunting.
•    Develop effective tools for combating illegal hunting of wild animals (e.g. illegal birds hunting).
•    Improve the licensing procedure for hunting of migratory birds.
•    Define hunting quotas for migratory birds and conduct studies on hunting.
•    Understand and implement the concept of sustainable legal hunting.

Challenges

The national biodiversity target had been selected due to the following challenges:
•    Degradation of irrigated farmland as a result of using low quality water in irrigation.
•    Degradation of rain-fed farmland (northern coastal belt and northern Sinai rainfall.
•    Degradation of range and (northern coastal belt) through overgrazing, degradation of plant cover.
•    Encroachment of sand formations, especially from the Western desert, on the Nile Valley land (southern Egypt).

Priorities

There is a need to do the following as priority activities:
•    Enhance synergies in efforts to address desertification/land degradation and drought.
•    Promote sustainable land management and contribute to land degradation neutrality
•    Share and implement measures for sustainable land management and the combating ofdesertification/land degradation
•    Establish policies and enabling environments for promoting and implementing solutions to combat desertification/land degradation and mitigate the effects of drought, including prevention, relief and recovery;

Challenges

The national biodiversity target had been selected due to the following challenges:
•    Poor mechanisms to predict the impacts of climate change.
•    National assessment needs including financial assistance, technical and technology transfer, monitoring systems, education, and public awareness

Priorities

  There is a need to do the following as priority activities:
•    Assess the impact of climate change on biodiversity in vulnerable areas and protected areas.
•    Conduct a feasibility assessment of the application of international mechanisms, suggested by UNFCCC (e.g. international carbon market), in Egypt.
•    Implement Climate Change Capacity Building Phase II.
•    Continue the implementation of Integrated Solar Thermal/Natural Gas Power Plant (e.g. Kuraymat).
•    Continue the implementation of the Energy Efficiency Improvement and Greenhouse (GHG) Reduction Projects.
•    Promotion of wind energy for electricity generation.

Challenges

The national biodiversity target had been selected due to the following challenges:
•    Poor integrated methods of biodiversity research & monitoring.
•    Integrated information exchange between responsible agencies is weak.

Priorities

There is a need to do the following as priority activities:
•    Strengthen the role of NCS in the field of biodiversity research & monitoring.
•    Improve & maintain a regularly up-dated biodiversity data base.
•    Provide oriented systematic reports for the general public about the status of biodiversity
•    Designate an entity (center responsible for biodiversity data analysis and for the development of recommendations from monitoring within the NCS.