Egypt: Land Degradation Issues with Special Reference to the Impact of Climate Change - Combating Desertification in Asia, Africa and the Middle East - page 112

Fig. 6.3 Satellite view
of Nile Delta and part
of the Mediterranean coast

southern city of Aswan. The giant project managed to regulate the often devastating
effect of the Nile's yearly floods, but it also deprived lands of crucial nutrients and
minerals. Only 4 % of Egypt is arable, most of it along the floodplain of the Nile but
two other important zones exist. The area east of the Nile Delta and the El Fayoum
Depression.

3.1 Nile Delta

The Nile Delta is low-lying, flat, and rich in silt deposits. The recognized landforms
comprised; old deltaic plain, eolian plain and depression with alluvial deposits. The
Nile Delta's agricultural products support the entire country. An extensive network
of canals now crisscrosses the delta region and assists the flow of the waters into the
agricultural fields. A number of lakes and marshes dot the Nile Delta. In the eastern
part of the Nile Delta area (west of the Suez Canal) land degradation threatens
the ongoing agricultural activities and prohibits further reclamation expansion
(Fig. 6.3 ).
The Nile Delta, Egypt's bread basket since antiquity, is being turned into a salty
wasteland by rising seawaters, forcing some farmers off their lands and others to
import sand in a desperate bid to turn back the tide. The fertile Nile Delta provides
around a third of the crops for Egypt's population of 80 million and a large part of
these crops are exported providing the country with an important source of revenue.