Environmental Management for the National Sustainable Development in Egypt ; Case Study : Matrouh Governorate ; Egypt

The North-West coast, NWC, of Egypt represents one of the longest coasts in the country; which extends from Alexandria in the east for 520 km to El-Salloum on the Libyan border to the west. The development plans have been lunched into the zone which is concerned with industrial, agricultural, mining, touristic, and environmental activities. The current study is concerned with studying the management of the different proposed development sectors in the coastal zones. A Strategic environmental assessment model, SEA, has been designed to formulate the correlation between the scoped factors of the study based on weighing forces of each on the other and on the whole process. The studied NWCZ has a fragile nature as a dryland and it is exposed to the deforestation phenomenon which may affect all the proposed future development plans. So, The agricultural and environmental proposed projects for the studied zone were found as the most positive projects for the area where they recorded 13 and 50 as numerical values; respectively. While; the industrial, mining, and touristic proposed activities, have recorded -38, -40, and -5, respectively. INTRODUCTION Environmentally, as a global interest, and in the light of the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD), the world aims at enhancing the sustainable management and conservation of marginal drylands in Northern Africa. Also, the Egyptian’ strategic plans aim at decentralizing the population out of the Nile Valley in order to maintain the Egyptians’ new community to meet the population increase and to add to the National Growth rate, NGR.(1) Drylands are particularly vulnerable due to climatic and human pressures, yet they constitute some of the world’s largest land reserves in terms of space and natural resources. Their increased productivity, which becomes a necessity in times of 126 Bull High Inst Public Health Vol. 38 C.1 [2008] exponential population growth, needs however to be embedded in wise practices that both respect the conservation of the environment, and provide improvement and alternative livelihoods for dryland populations.(2) There are some international projects that will use a harmonized methodological approach for selected study sites in the countries involved to compare results and share knowledge, and Egypt is one of those countries of interest to the international organizations; UNESCO and International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). The North West Coastal Zone, NWCZ, in Matrouh Governorate; is one of the scoped regions in Egypt.(3) Future plans for integrated coastal zones management, in Egypt, primarily rely on the implementation of an action plan entailing cooperation and smooth coordination between all concerned governmental bodies and authorities, on the basis of well defined roles and responsibilities for these different entities, with the aim of ensuring their effective contribution, each in its field of competence.(4) The North-West coast of Egypt represents one of the longest coasts in the country. The northern extremities of the Western Desert along the Mediterranean coast represent the so-called northwestern coastal zone, NWCZ, which extends from Alexandria in the east for 520 km to ElSalloum on the Libyan border to the west. The average width of the zone varies between 30 and 50 km overlapping with the limestone plateau of the Western Desert in the south.(5) The national plans for the NWCZ has started, late of the 80’s of the twenties’ century, to impose the main artery of proposed communities there when a branch of the Nile river has been established to supply the inner 3050 km of the NWCZ with the Nile water as a


INTRODUCTION
National Growth rate, NGR. (1)ylands are particularly vulnerable due to climatic and human pressures, yet they constitute some of the world's largest land reserves in terms of space and natural resources.Their increased productivity, which becomes a necessity in times of the basis of well defined roles and responsibilities for these different entities, with the aim of ensuring their effective contribution, each in its field of competence. (4)e North-West coast of Egypt represents one of the longest coasts in the country.The northern extremities of the Western Desert along the Mediterranean coast represent the so-called northwestern coastal zone, NWCZ, which extends from Alexandria in the east for 520 km to El-Salloum on the Libyan border to the west.
The average width of the zone varies between 30 and 50 km overlapping with the limestone plateau of the Western Desert in the south. (5)e national plans for the NWCZ has started, late of the 80's of the twenties' century, to impose the main artery of proposed communities there when a branch of the Nile river has been established to supply the inner 30-50 km of the NWCZ with the Nile water as a Sherif M Shawky 127 milestone for the life and the planned development. (6 )e NWCZ, during the last three decades has been exposed to mega touristic activities in the form of tens of resorts to cover mostly 50% of the coastal zone to the Mediterranean Sea, in Egypt.
Even the back side of the coastal zone, during the last decade the expansion has reached the zone.
In the last decade of the last century,

RESULTS AND DISSCUSSION
The studied area, NWCZ, as Shown in figure (1), which has a major adverse feature of the whole studied area, is the fragility nature that is associated with the speed deforestation, as proved using the GIS' studies. (9)e main three local reasons that speed up the deforestation in the zone are, the land abuse which affects the biodiversity, increasing the land salinity as a result of the agricultural activities for the non-sustainable lands, and changing the slops of the zone for scattered investment projects that are not integrated within the sustainable development plans. (10)e whole area is divided into two main regions: Hammam-Fouka and Fouka-Saloum, the first is suffering of severs degree of deforestation while the second is a mild deforestation region. (11)ull High Inst Public Health Vol.The treated water will be reused as a source for irrigation. (3)ile for solid wastes, there are no defined collection systems for the majority of the studied area but the city of Matrouh and exist in the very well established resorts.

Biological factors:
Of

The alternatives:
The 1 st Alternative: In this alternative the study recommends the exclusion of both the industrial and mining projects of the studied area.This alternative will maximize the nature of the area from many point of views: it will add economically to the area of study and it will be of a unique nature to be marked globally as a green zone.Plus the previous studied positive impacts of these Kinds of projects 2 nd alternative is: enforcing the needed detailed environmental studied prior to each project of the industrial and mining ones.Also, all the treatment and wastes infra structure for both kinds of projects should be applied and monitored.Those applications will minimize dramatically the expected negative impacts of both on the water resources and the air quality.
3 rd Alternative, Excluding the industrial activities and allowing those mining project in the remote areas of the NWCZ that will not be impacted adversely from the geological, water resources, and air quality aspects.Also, enforcing all the environmental studies prior and during the mining projects

CONCLUSIONS
From the study the following could be concluded: • The studied NWCZ has a fragile nature as a dryland and it is exposed to the deforestation phenomenon which may affect all the proposed future development plans.
• The agricultural and environmental proposed projects for the studied zone Bull High Inst Public Health Vol.38 C. 1 [2008]   were found as the most positive projects for the area where they recorded 13 and 50 as numerical values; respectively.
• The studied zone has a great deficiency in most of the infrastructure facilities, which is hindering the progress of the zone development.
• The zone is considered as one of the richest phytogeographical and faunistically regions in Egypt.

RECOMMEDATIONS:
• Thoroughly detailed studies for many factors which will majorly affect the proposed plans have to be carried out before lunching the project.Those factors could be briefed in: the water supply as potable and natural, the wastewater treatment plants, the solid waste handling, the endangered species and more conservation zones is strongly recommended.
• The medical plantation is highly recommended for the agricultural zones • The most appropriate development for the studied area to be globally unique is, to be free of any industrial activity and to focus on the environmental, agricultural, and touristic projects.
That will add to the economic value of the whole area.
• A general Master Plan for the governorate is strongly recommended to maximize the project goals and to minimize any violation to the sustainability of the proposed development.
• Encouraging the public participation before applying the proposed projects.
Environmentally, as a global interest, and in the light of the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD), the world aims at enhancing the sustainable management and conservation of marginal drylands in Northern Africa.Also, in order to maintain the Egyptians' new community to meet the population increase and to add to the the development plans have been lunched into the zone.The development is concerned with industrial, agricultural, mining, touristic, and environmental activities.All these sectors will impact the NWCZ environmentally either positively, negatively, or will have no impacts on the zone.The environmental assessment, EA, and impact assessment, EIA, are mile stones for the environmental management and securing the sustainable development for any human being activity.Where, the environmental assessment tackles any current situation for the interaction between the human activities and the environmental, while the EIA is concerned with the studied of the changes in the current environment as a consequence of the proposed activity or activities. (7)The current study is concerned with studying the management of the different proposed development sectors in the NWCZ, Matrouh Governorate, and proposing the different mitigation measures and alternatives in order to assure the sustainable environment and development.MATERIAL AMD METHODS The preliminary activities of the research are divided into two sectors: a. Projects' classification b.NWCZ features: the physicochemical, biological, and socioeconomic ones, through a detailed environmental assessment regime.The studied projects' nature and the NWCZ's characteristics were been pulled Bull High Inst Public Health Vol.38 C.1 [2008] together to perform the second technique of the environmental management for the studied zone, the environmental impact assessment study.The EIA has been started with listing all the different affected environmental factors then they have been screened and scoped according to the nature of the studied area and the different projects.A model has been tailored in order to correlate between the different environmental scoped factors and the proposed projects for the zone.The data were collected through: references, field survey, sampling, lab works, interviews, and collected information about the studied zone and the projects.The field surveys covered the whole NWCZ and its depth, 30-50 km.The survey was concerned with the different physicochemical factors as water, land use, biomass, the different socioeconomic factors, endangered species,…,etc.While the collected samples of the different water sources, as potable water, ground water and surface water, and sea water; were collected , preserved and analyzed according to the Standard Methods for Water and Wastewater analysis techniques. (8)The interviews with the Bedouins and administrative personnel were concerned with inspecting the native's point of views about the proposed and futures development and with the administrative personnel as a source for the documented data about the whole zone of the study.A Strategic environmental assessment model, SEA, has been designed to formulate the correlation between the scoped factors of the study based on weighing forces of each on the other and on the whole process.Based on the model, a numerical environmental matrix has been tailored to study all the impacts that have been scoped during the whole research.The different collected data from the field, lab, statistical studies, and the published previous data about the studied zone were all pulled together to perform the numerical study for the scoped impacts of the different projects upon the different environmental sectors.The matrix's results have been studied and the mitigation measures and alternatives have been stated to secure the sound sustainable environment and development for the NWCZ.

Fig ( 1 )
Fig (1); The studied NWCZ map the total number of plant species Bull High Inst Public Health Vol.38 C.1 [2008] recorded in Egypt, 50% occur in this region.The composition of plant growth forms in the region expresses a typical desert flora.The majority of species are drought evaders and drought enduring.In most cases, animals are confined to plant canopies where they are protected from wind and radiation and where food is available.Egypt.Plants species are estimated by more than 60 in Matrouh's desert along with natural protectorates in El-Omaid and Siwa regions. (5)Ayyad, 1995 stated that the studied zone is considered as one of the richest phytogeographical regions of Egypt with about 1,000 plant species representing some 50 percent of the total number of plant species in Egypt.It is argued that the coastal sand dunes ranging between the sea shore and the Mariout salt marshes are characterised by more humid environment, more friable soils and dense vegetation, have a richer fauna. (5)Socioeconomic factors: The governorate covers an area of 170,000 km 2 , representing 16.5% of the Republic's total area.It comprises 8 Marakz, 8 cities, 56 rural local units annexed by 98 villages, and 241 hamlets.According to the preliminary results of the 2006 census, the population has reached 322.3 thousand people; 70.3% of them are concentrated in urban areas, and 29.7 % in rural areas, and the population natural growth rate has stood at 25 per thousand.particular of soils and water, and it will foster the rehabilitation of degraded drylands using community-based approaches.It is reported in some statistics on the relative contribution of job alternatives to family earning.In areas close to sea resorts and other tourist facilities, only 25% of the population depends on farming and grazing as a principal source of income.In areas far from tourist activities, such as Sidi Barrani, 70% of the populations rely on farming and grazing for most of their income.The proportion of income from livestock increases gradually southward to the rangeland area away from the shoreline.The characteristics of the NWCZ qualify it to contribute larger proportion to the socio-economic activities of the country.The ambient environment of the area affords several alternative human activities including agriculture, fishing, mining, and tourism.It enjoys milder climatic conditions, compared to the rest of the country. (14)The proposed projects: The general vision of the development plans are all focused on the sustainable development of the NWCZ.The plans are initiated based of the facts of the importance of the zone that represents almost 20% of the country area, the rich natural resources in the area that serve the different plans for industries that will serve the different community sectors and will maximize the use of the natural resources there.The rich coastal zones of the area will add to the national touristic values of the country.While, the agricultural projects will optimize the natural fertile lands, maximize the wasted rain water' values, and will support the global plans of delaying the deforestation of the fragile lands.All the proposed projects will enhance the manpower supportive national plans and all will pool the National Growth Rate Bull High Inst Public Health Vol.38 C.1 [2008] upward.All the proposed projects are planed in parallel to the environmental projects that will secure the sustainability of the whole national plans for the NWCZ.There are proposed projects for the NWCZ, which are 5 industrial, 6 mining , 13 agricultural, 6 environmental, and 10 for tourism sector.The mega industrial projects can be categorized into: Fiber glass project, petrochemical compound, natural clay production compound, poultry, prefabricated houses, production of solar united , livestocks, medical planting and processing, enhancing the use of the rain water as reservoirs, touristic projects,…,etc.Also, there are some other supportive industries on medium and large scales.The added manpower is expected to be 86,000 jobs.The proposed touristic activities will turn the current use of the zone from seasonal usage to an annual one.While, the agricultural ones will focus on the medical plants, wheat, and livestock.The whole details of the proposed projects have been studied thoroughly against the zone features, resources, and infrastructure.The environmental assessment model As an environmental management tool, the designed environmental assessment model, as shown in figure (2); is tailored to be as a baseline for designing the numerical matrix for the study.It is correlating and linking the different environmental factors to each other and to the whole studied strategic environment assessment technique.The different environmental factors, which are categorized into the physicochemical, biological, and socioeconomic ones, and detailed in some backbone factors as water resources and water and wastewater treatment are all studied in accordance with some other environmental infrastructure factors as; the environmental laws, environmental awareness and education.All these environmental factors and their infrastructure ones are all Sherif M Shawky 137 assembled with the different studied projects and their infrastructure supportive planes, and as shown in the figure (2) some of these factors are affecting the whole strategic plan and the other studied factors, as primary and secondary impacts while others are effecting and impacting with one and other of the studied factors, and projects Out of the designed model, the numerical environmental matrix has been established to study individually the different project categories and to estimate the cumulative impacts upon the NWCZ; either positively, negatively, or no effect.

Fig. ( 2 )B
Fig. (2): A Model for the different Factors affecting the Strategic Environmental Assessment, SEA

Table ( 1
): The numerical matrix analysis for the studied factors in the proposed projects for the NWCZ