خبراء ونواب يؤكدون أهمية وجود "خريطة طريق" وكيان مؤسسي معني بملف التشجير
Experts, officials and members of parliament stressed the importance of the recommendations of the national dialogue called for by the Ministry of Environment in cooperation with the Arab Office for Youth and Environment and the Egyptian Forum for Sustainable Development under the title “The 100 Million Tree Initiative: A Shared Responsibility,” which shed light on the issue of “tree cutting.” And the controversy surrounding it, so that there is a clear and specific roadmap for the future, and the importance of having an institutional entity concerned with the afforestation file that includes representatives of the relevant ministries and has the organizational and legislative framework that guarantees the development of the required policies.
The Middle East News Agency monitored the opinions of some specialists and representatives of the House of Representatives and the Senate, ministries, agencies and civil society on this subject and the necessity of identifying the relationship between trees and climate change and ways to avoid it by planting more trees.
Dr. Muhammad Ali Fahim, Head of the Climate Change Center at the Ministry of Agriculture, pointed out the impact of cutting down trees on climate change, as he confirmed that cutting down trees does not affect climate change at all, explaining that they are only affected by the removal of forests in Western countries that contain millions of trees, noting that trees and greening on the sides of roads and street corridors relatively moderate temperatures under their shade only.. With regard to the fact that trees emit Oxygen in the open air He said that the oxygen emitted by trees quickly goes to the upper layers of the atmosphere and is not spread in the air at all.
Dr. Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, agreed with this opinion, as she confirmed that there is a great deal of confusion in what is being discussed on social media between the idea of cutting trees and the impact on climate change, as trees contribute to reducing the heat in the areas of shade resulting from them, but trees do not reduce temperatures in general, noting that planting trees contributes to reducing pollution and enjoying the shade, and with regard to climate change, they help reduce carbon dioxide emissions only without other emissions, while road expansion operations to ensure traffic flow contribute to reducing emissions compared to narrow roads and traffic congestion even in the presence of trees, stressing that any tree cutting operations for developmental reasons are followed by replacement and renewal operations.
For his part, Dr. Ayman Abu Hadid, former Minister of Agriculture, confirmed that there are major discussions linking tree cutting to the high temperatures that we are observing these days, because the temperature is not related to tree cutting and has no relation With the rise in temperatures witnessed by many countries, explaining that the source of water needed to plant 100 million trees must be other than the water used in the field of growing plants to produce food, and with the presence of some trees that cause the spread of certain pests in the field of agriculture, so it is necessary to take into account combating them.
As for Dr. Sayed Sabry, an expert in climate change and sustainable development, he said that it is scientifically known that trees play an effective role in moderating the climate, purifying the air, and reducing the impact of global warming by absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen.. noting that a person needs an average of about 7 to 8 trees to meet his oxygen needs annually, and each tree produces about 100 to 120 kilograms of oxygen annually, while a person needs about 740 kilograms of oxygen annually.
He pointed out that Egypt has a very low ratio of one tree per person, so if it is necessary to remove trees, they must be replanted in the same place again in order to maintain the care of the environmental balance and reduce the negative environmental impact resulting from them, the most important of which is the loss of The vegetation cover that helps cool the atmosphere and reduce temperatures in addition to increasing the percentage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which contributes directly to the phenomenon of global warming.
Dr. Sayed Khalifa, the head of the Agricultural Syndicate in Egypt, referred to the initiatives and efforts made by the state in planting trees, including planting 2 million palm trees in Toshka, as well as the 100 Million Trees Initiative, and the Get Ready for Green Initiative, as Egypt is one of the countries that combat desertification, noting the need to implement training programs to raise the capabilities of workers in local administrations in the field of afforestation and that tree cutting operations were an inevitable necessity and not random cutting.
In turn, Representative Ahmed Al-Sajini, Head of the Local Administration Committee in the House of Representatives, confirmed that as head of the Local Administration Committee in the House of Representatives, a parliamentary oversight session was held on this subject, in the presence of a group of experts, and supported by documents proven by the relevant authorities in the esteemed council, stating that the president’s directives were implemented and 7 million trees were planted in the first phase, and this year 3 million trees were planted, in addition to planting 2 million other trees, totaling 12 million trees, with classifications between Fruitful and other, stressing the necessity and importance of the 100 million tree initiative being linked and coupled with the economics of the initiative, and the concept of returns to achieve its intended purpose, and there are many legislations in this field. As for Ms. Noha Zaki, a member of the Energy, Environment and Manpower Committee in the Senate, she stressed the importance of tree cover in order to confront climate change and quality of life, and that the issue of afforestation requires joint efforts among all, and the necessity of developing a clear plan for afforestation for each governorate, as well as following up and evaluating the afforestation projects that are being implemented, in addition to the importance of media marketing for the government’s efforts in this regard continuously, and in the event of cutting trees for national projects, this must be quickly clarified to the citizen first hand. Meanwhile, Hisham Al-Hosary, head of the Agriculture Committee in the House of Representatives, referred to Article No. 120 of the new irrigation law, which criminalizes cutting trees and fines those who do so from 100 pounds to 5 thousand pounds, while Representative Rawya Mukhtar referred to new ideas such as involving graduates of the Ministry of Agriculture and disbursing seeds for planting roofs in cities New. Dr. Maha Farouk, Head of the Forestry and Wood Trees Research Department at the Horticulture Research Institute, called for the necessity of enacting a special law on afforestation in Egypt, noting the necessity of starting now to care for the nurseries in the neighborhoods and providing technical support and expertise capable of producing this number of seedlings for the required trees in terms of the type and specifications appropriate for each area, whether broad-leaved street trees or forest trees on sewage water, noting Egypt’s pioneering experience in planting 32 irrigated forests on sewage water, which, unfortunately, was not completed, to save us the import of about 1.5 billion pounds of wood.
While Dr. Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, indicated that she is currently working with the Senate through the Energy, Environment and Manpower Committee on the Unified Environmental Law, in addition to accelerating the pace of work on the 100 Million Trees Initiative and maximizing the role of the law to support environmental issues.
Dr. Magdy Allam, an expert in environmental affairs and climate change, commented on the phenomenon of cutting trees, explaining that there is a difference between cutting trees that have grown and become perennial and represent a danger regarding the possibility ofIt falls on passersby and does not harm anything.. indicating that it is permissible to cut trees if it represents the protection of citizens and the protection of trees next to them to prevent them from falling on them, and there are ancient trees with extended roots that affect the quality of sidewalks. Dr. Emad Adly, head of the Arab Office for Youth and Environment, confirmed that Egypt has many initiatives and civil society activities in the field of afforestation, and its efforts to prevent the erosion of agricultural lands, indicating that there may be errors against the environment by some irresponsible people, which is what must be focused on to put in place deterrent measures for such practices.. denouncing some practices on social media by publishing false information without relying on facts, which causes confusion among citizens, stressing that we must work together for reform, and this is achieved through the presence of awareness, law, and a system to confront the problem. Engineer Mohamed Qabtan, the general coordinator of the “Hengmalha” initiative, pointed out the success of the initiative in cooperation with the Environmental Affairs Agency in planting 718,000 trees from Marsa Matrouh to Halayeb and Shalateen, calling for the need to benefit from national capabilities in promoting afforestation in Egypt.
In an important intervention by the Minister of Environment during the national dialogue, Dr. Yasmine Fouad confirmed that the private sector based on profitability can be involved in planting plants with an economic return, such as offering 3 investment packages for planting jojoba, jatropha and prickly pear, noting that when talking about the afforestation process, the talk is not only related to planting the road, but also about how to plant these trees and where they can be planted, whether as shade trees, ornamental trees, fruit trees or trees that can be used in the manufacturing process, noting the planting of mangroves on the Red Sea coast, which is a type of tree that quickly absorbs and stores carbon dioxide, and is called the mother of nature, and for us as environmentalists it has become a link between biodiversity and environmental balance in the marine environment and climate change, and there are places where it has been successfully planted And others did not succeed.
Recommendations of the National Dialogue:
The National Dialogue had a clear, specific, and multi-pronged vision, the most important of which is that the first conclusion of this dialogue is to write the final word on tree cutting operations that are carried out without a legitimate or legal reason, and to emphasize the necessity of regulating dealing with trees and criminalizing cutting in the absence of legal reasons for this, so that there is a clear, specific, and scientifically supported roadmap for the future. One of its most important recommendations, which the Minister of Environment confirmed would be submitted to the Prime Minister, was the importance of having an institutional entity concerned with the afforestation file that includes representatives of the relevant ministries and has the organizational and legislative framework that guarantees it the development of policies and has the authority to supervise, follow up, and evaluate, as well as to grant licenses to cut trees if this cutting is necessary and cannot be avoided. It is necessary for it to be committed to the values and principles of accountability and transparency and to be allowed to include whomever it deems appropriate from experts, specialists, and civil society organizations concerned with the same The matter.
The recommendations also included the demand for the importance of the economic value index being one of the most important elements of implementing the initiative to ensure sustainability and the use of trees that are suitable in terms of environmental value and to ensure water conservation and the necessity of starting quickly to prepare seedlings for the list of required and agreed upon trees and that this be done in a decentralized manner through local nurseries in each governorate, and also through neighborhood nurseries within local units, in order to ensure a scientific and sustainable implementation plan, continuing to work towards the rapid issuance of a unified environmental law that must work to integrate all issues related to the environment and sustainable development, and establishing a governance framework for the afforestation file so that it guarantees the legal frameworks that allow approval to remove trees and works to increase penalties against crimes of cutting trees and excessive pruning without any reason or public benefit, while working to increase the powers of the Ministry of Environment to control everything that is contrary to the environment and sustainable development, demanding the existence of a coded database within each governorate for the trees that are planted to facilitate the process of inventory, follow-up and evaluation and that each governorate of the republic has a strategic plan with clear and specific sustainable standards Within a time frame to maintain and increase green spaces within the governorate, specifying the type of trees and plants appropriate to the ecological reality and proportionate to the available water resources, taking into account the economic and social dimension and the visual and aesthetic appearance of the implementation plan within the governorates in order to maintain the unified aesthetic style and appearance within the governorate.
In addition to creating interactive maps for each governorate showing the locations and areas of green spaces, as well as standard scientific information to measure the percentage and rate of implementation and setting a unified specification for sidewalks and the specified distances for planting trees and implementing them in all governorates, in addition to the sustainable water management program at the national level including taking into account the provision of the necessary water sources for each governorate to irrigate gardens and trees, and increasing interest in rain harvesting operations, especially in the northern border governorates, in a scientific manner so that they can be utilized to the greatest extent possible, and interest in developing scientific training programs to build the capacities of those in charge of afforestation operations in the executive bodies, and that this is done on an ongoing basis to ensure that trees are planted within the governorates in a methodology that enables them to achieve a return and economic value, and also recommending the importance of exchanging information easily and transparently with the aim of correcting concepts, and transferring it through various means of communication to limit the spread of information Misconceptions among different segments of society.
للمزيد : تابع خليجيون 24 ، وللتواصل الاجتماعي تابعنا علي فيسبوك وتويتر
