Egypt: Land Degradation Issues with Special Reference to the Impact of Climate Change - Combating Desertification in Asia, Africa and the Middle East - page 113

Climatic changes (see below) have forced some Delta farmers to abandon their land,
while others are trying to adapt by covering their land with beds of sand to isolate it
against seawater infiltrations, and grow crops.
Land reclamation has been going on for some years but salinization, alkalization,
soil compaction and water logging are the main barriers to irrigated agriculture
in the area. The main causative factors of human induced land degradation types
on the already established areas are; over irrigation, human intervention in natural
drainage, improper time use of heavy machinery and the absence of conservation
measurements. Low and moderately clay flats, gypsiferous flats, have high to very
high risk in both salinization, sodification (becoming strongly alkaline) and physical
degradation. The assessment of the different degradation degrees has been carried
out through integrating remote sensing, GIS and GLASOD approaches (Mohamed
et al. 2012 ). A spatial land degradation model was developed based on integration
between remote sensing data, geographic information system, soil characteristics
and DEM. This will be of great help and be the basis for the planners and decision
makers in developing more sustainable land use plans (Ali and Shalaby 2012 ).

3.2 El Fayoum Depression

The El Fayoum oasis is a depression or basin in the desert immediately to the
west of the Nile and south of Cairo. The extent of the basin is estimated to be
between 1,270 and 1,700 km 2 . The floor of the basin is irrigated by a canal from
the Nile. The depression comprises lacustrine plain, alluvial-lacustrine plain, and
alluvial plain representing 12.2, 53.6, and 34.2 % of the total area, respectively.
Over 1,000 km 2 of the El Fayoum is irrigated. Drainage water goes to Lake Moeris -
a once freshwater lake.
Land degradation puts cultivated land in El Fayoum depression at risk. Most
of lacustrine and alluvial-lacustrine soils are actually degraded by salinization,
sodification and waterlogging. The results from research by Ali and Abdel Kawy
( 2012 ) indicate that severe risk to chemical and physical degradation affect 54.2
and 29.2 % of the depression, respectively. Negative human impact affects 26.3 %
of the area mostly in the alluvial plain. Great efforts related to the land management
are required to achieve agricultural sustainability (Ali and Abdel Kawy 2012 ).

4 Egypt's Coastal Zones

4.1 The Setting

The dominant feature of Egypt's Northern Coastal Zone is the low lying delta of
the River Nile, with its large cities, industry, agriculture and tourism. The Delta and
the narrow valley of the Nile comprise 5.5 % of the area of Egypt but over 95 % of