54
M. A. S. Abdel Monem and P. Lewis
6 Engagement in Regional and Global Climate Change
Governance
At the regional level, Egypt has played a vital role in enhancing the climate change
policies and strategies in Africa through its role as president of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) and Coordinator of the Committee
of the African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC)
for the period 2015 to 2017. The AMCEN presidency works very closely with the
Africa Group of Negotiators (AGN), the African ministers, and the AMCEN bureau
members to emphasize the African priorities during the global negotiations for the
COP21 meetings in Paris. Efforts have been made by Egypt as president of AMCEN
to maintain African unity and defend African interests.
Furthermore, AMCEN presidency spearheaded the development and promotion of
the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI) that aims to scale of renewable energy
deployment on the African continent as well as the promotion of the Africa Adaptation Initiative (AAI) that is considered a major initiative in mobilizing the needed
support to significantly scale up adaptation actions in Africa. At the global level,
Egypt ratified the UNFCCC in 1994 and the Kyoto Protocol in 2005. It submitted
its First UNFCCC National Communication in July 1999 and the Second UNFCCC
National Communication in June 2010 as well as signing the Paris Agreement in
April 2016 [11].
7 Challenges Facing Climate Change Governance in Egypt
The most significant constraint to effective environmental policy making and implementation in Egypt is the lack of reliable and timely information indicating how various sectors of society impact the environment and whether development is becoming
more sustainable or not. Various constraints related to the processes of environmental information collection, production and dissemination are evident in Egypt. These
include uncoordinated institutional set-ups for monitoring activities, the absence of a
common information system for monitoring organizations to feed data and findings
into, the absence of comprehensive systematic methodologies for monitoring, the
absence of valuation, and/or the undervaluation, of many natural resources, and the
lack of financial resources for maintaining monitoring processes.
The coordination required to reach comprehensive and integrated environmental activities is significant because of the cross-sectoral nature of environmental
issues. Although EEAA has the primary responsibility for coordination, numerous
other entities are partners in environmental policies, playing roles in implementation
and/or monitoring. In this respect, the Agency has to empower the already established
inter-ministerial committees on each of the major relevant crosscutting environmental issues, such as water, energy, and climate change in order to coordinate between
multiple competent authorities for the different specific environmental processes of
M. A. S. Abdel Monem and P. Lewis
6 Engagement in Regional and Global Climate Change
Governance
At the regional level, Egypt has played a vital role in enhancing the climate change
policies and strategies in Africa through its role as president of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) and Coordinator of the Committee
of the African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC)
for the period 2015 to 2017. The AMCEN presidency works very closely with the
Africa Group of Negotiators (AGN), the African ministers, and the AMCEN bureau
members to emphasize the African priorities during the global negotiations for the
COP21 meetings in Paris. Efforts have been made by Egypt as president of AMCEN
to maintain African unity and defend African interests.
Furthermore, AMCEN presidency spearheaded the development and promotion of
the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI) that aims to scale of renewable energy
deployment on the African continent as well as the promotion of the Africa Adaptation Initiative (AAI) that is considered a major initiative in mobilizing the needed
support to significantly scale up adaptation actions in Africa. At the global level,
Egypt ratified the UNFCCC in 1994 and the Kyoto Protocol in 2005. It submitted
its First UNFCCC National Communication in July 1999 and the Second UNFCCC
National Communication in June 2010 as well as signing the Paris Agreement in
April 2016 [11].
7 Challenges Facing Climate Change Governance in Egypt
The most significant constraint to effective environmental policy making and implementation in Egypt is the lack of reliable and timely information indicating how various sectors of society impact the environment and whether development is becoming
more sustainable or not. Various constraints related to the processes of environmental information collection, production and dissemination are evident in Egypt. These
include uncoordinated institutional set-ups for monitoring activities, the absence of a
common information system for monitoring organizations to feed data and findings
into, the absence of comprehensive systematic methodologies for monitoring, the
absence of valuation, and/or the undervaluation, of many natural resources, and the
lack of financial resources for maintaining monitoring processes.
The coordination required to reach comprehensive and integrated environmental activities is significant because of the cross-sectoral nature of environmental
issues. Although EEAA has the primary responsibility for coordination, numerous
other entities are partners in environmental policies, playing roles in implementation
and/or monitoring. In this respect, the Agency has to empower the already established
inter-ministerial committees on each of the major relevant crosscutting environmental issues, such as water, energy, and climate change in order to coordinate between
multiple competent authorities for the different specific environmental processes of