Raising Adaptive Capacity to Climate Change in the Energy and Food Sectors of Egypt

Abstract

Climate change will likely impact food security globally, regionally, and locally. Climate change can disrupt food availability, reduce access to food, and affect food quality. Accordingly, the impacts of climate change on the agricultural sector reflect food security and pose a serious threat to sustainable development. Furthermore, the total energy demand of Egypt is marked by an exponential growth of electricity demand, at a pace much faster than that of GDP, primary energy consumption, and population mainly due to a doubling up of the consumption of Egypt. The expected development of the industrial sector, the accelerated access to electricity, and the improvement of standards of living (directly connected with the consumption of the residential sector) are the reasons for these consumption upsurges. The different components of climatic change such as projected increases in temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, changes in extreme weather events, and reductions in water availability may all result in reduced agricultural productivity and may cause energy consumption upsurges. The main problem with climatic change and climatic variability in all parts of the Mediterranean Basin is that systematic climate observation programs are, at present, inadequate to permit reliable assessment, quantification, and prediction of climatic conditions and their impacts. More accurate assessments of regional climate variability and change and their related environmental and socio-economic impacts are highly needed.