184
A. Solyman and T. Abdel Monem
1 Introduction
There is no doubt that human-induced climate change has become one of the biggest
challenges facing the world nowadays. According to IPCC [1], the global average
of land and ocean surface temperature has increased by 0.85 °C since the end of the
nineteenth century. Such a phenomenon is caused by anthropogenic activities that
intensified with the start of the industrial revolution and is mainly linked with the
greenhouse gas emissions released by burning fossil fuels. Climate change threatens
almost every economic sector either directly or indirectly with some of its effects
already being felt. The agriculture sector is expected to suffer due to climate variability, change in rainfall patterns and sea level rise (SLR). Although some higher
latitude locations will benefit from higher crop yields due to higher temperatures,
major crops in lower latitude regions are expected to be negatively affected by a 2 °C
rise in temperature [2].
Stern [2] reported that around 2 million km
2 are only 1 m above sea level and are
expected to be highly impacted by the anticipated rise in sea levels. Such impacts
include coastal flooding, loss of wetlands and displacement of millions of people
[2]. However, climate change impacts are not equally distributed, with developing
countries expected to have the bigger share [2]. In particular, some areas are more
vulnerable to SLR than others.
In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, although the land area
affected is not the biggest globally, the impacts are much more severe [3]. For a 1 m
rise in sea level, 3.2% of the population and 1.49% of the GDP of the MENA region
will be negatively impacted, with these figures being higher than the global impact
figures [3]. Among the MENA region, Egypt’s population is the most exposed to a
1 m SLR with 10% of it expected to be affected where most of the impact is upon
the Nile Delta area [3]. More than 1 million people will be directly affected by 2050
in three megadeltas: the Ganges–Brahmaputra delta in Bangladesh, the Mekong
delta in Vietnam and the Nile Delta in Egypt [4]. Hence, the Intergovernmental
Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) declared the Nile Delta in Egypt as one of three
hotspots that are most vulnerable to SLR [4]. The Nile Delta is also predicted to
experience the highest share of impact in the MENA region with respect to the
agricultural sector with 12.5% of the agricultural extent expected to be negatively
affected by 1 m SLR [3]. The 2011 Egyptian adaptation strategy for climate change
has recommended a set of policies designed for the agricultural sector to cope with
the future climate challenges. The policies mainly focused on flexibility, the use
of technological innovation, systems diversity and developing new systems for risk
management [5].
In this chapter, we present a methodology to build an integrated web map solution (SLRS) using Geographic Information System to access the effect of the SLR
scenarios on the northern coast of Egypt. SLRS covers the area from Alexandria to
Port Said which extends to about 285 km along the Mediterranean coast. The overall
objective of the SLRS is to develop a web vulnerability mapping solution to study
the different sea level rise scenarios and to identify and map the areas that are most
A. Solyman and T. Abdel Monem
1 Introduction
There is no doubt that human-induced climate change has become one of the biggest
challenges facing the world nowadays. According to IPCC [1], the global average
of land and ocean surface temperature has increased by 0.85 °C since the end of the
nineteenth century. Such a phenomenon is caused by anthropogenic activities that
intensified with the start of the industrial revolution and is mainly linked with the
greenhouse gas emissions released by burning fossil fuels. Climate change threatens
almost every economic sector either directly or indirectly with some of its effects
already being felt. The agriculture sector is expected to suffer due to climate variability, change in rainfall patterns and sea level rise (SLR). Although some higher
latitude locations will benefit from higher crop yields due to higher temperatures,
major crops in lower latitude regions are expected to be negatively affected by a 2 °C
rise in temperature [2].
Stern [2] reported that around 2 million km
2 are only 1 m above sea level and are
expected to be highly impacted by the anticipated rise in sea levels. Such impacts
include coastal flooding, loss of wetlands and displacement of millions of people
[2]. However, climate change impacts are not equally distributed, with developing
countries expected to have the bigger share [2]. In particular, some areas are more
vulnerable to SLR than others.
In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, although the land area
affected is not the biggest globally, the impacts are much more severe [3]. For a 1 m
rise in sea level, 3.2% of the population and 1.49% of the GDP of the MENA region
will be negatively impacted, with these figures being higher than the global impact
figures [3]. Among the MENA region, Egypt’s population is the most exposed to a
1 m SLR with 10% of it expected to be affected where most of the impact is upon
the Nile Delta area [3]. More than 1 million people will be directly affected by 2050
in three megadeltas: the Ganges–Brahmaputra delta in Bangladesh, the Mekong
delta in Vietnam and the Nile Delta in Egypt [4]. Hence, the Intergovernmental
Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) declared the Nile Delta in Egypt as one of three
hotspots that are most vulnerable to SLR [4]. The Nile Delta is also predicted to
experience the highest share of impact in the MENA region with respect to the
agricultural sector with 12.5% of the agricultural extent expected to be negatively
affected by 1 m SLR [3]. The 2011 Egyptian adaptation strategy for climate change
has recommended a set of policies designed for the agricultural sector to cope with
the future climate challenges. The policies mainly focused on flexibility, the use
of technological innovation, systems diversity and developing new systems for risk
management [5].
In this chapter, we present a methodology to build an integrated web map solution (SLRS) using Geographic Information System to access the effect of the SLR
scenarios on the northern coast of Egypt. SLRS covers the area from Alexandria to
Port Said which extends to about 285 km along the Mediterranean coast. The overall
objective of the SLRS is to develop a web vulnerability mapping solution to study
the different sea level rise scenarios and to identify and map the areas that are most