Egypt’s Minister of Local Development and Acting Minister of Environment Manal Awad met with Nuria Sanz, Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for Cairo and Sudan, at the ministry’s headquarters in the New Administrative Capital to explore new areas of cooperation in environmental fields.
The talks covered ongoing joint programmes between UNESCO and the Ministry of Environment, including biodiversity conservation projects, national parks, and World Natural Heritage sites such as Wadi el Hitan.
Egypt has also partnered with UNESCO to establish and manage biosphere reserves aimed at protecting biodiversity and promoting sustainability.
Minister Awad has announced that work is underway to declare Egypt’s first geological reserve in Fayoum, with technical support and capacity-building efforts for local communities.
A team from Cairo University and the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency is developing the criteria for the reserve. Future plans include declaring new marine protected areas, creating marine national parks, and designating Saint Catherine as a cultural reserve.
Awad also received an invitation from Nuria Sanz to represent Egypt at the fifth World Congress on Biosphere Reserves, scheduled to take place in China at the end of September. The event will bring together nearly 1,000 experts and delegations to discuss conservation priorities, set a global action plan for the next decade, and align efforts with key frameworks such as the Global Biodiversity Framework and the Paris Climate Agreement.
For her part, Sanz praised Egypt’s role in environmental diplomacy, noting its hosting of COP27, and stressed the importance of Egypt’s participation in the upcoming congress.
She highlighted the opportunity for Egypt to showcase its experience as part of the World Biosphere Reserve Network and to expand the number of its reserves.
She also pointed to cooperation on UNESCO’s geoparks programme, which involves local communities and governorates, and expressed readiness to support Egypt in hosting the Barcelona Convention conference on Mediterranean pollution protection this December.
