Water, climate and energy: the Netherlands and Egypt

Egypt and The Netherland work together on the field of water, climate and substainable energy. Therefore, the Netherlands is involved in a variety of activities in Egypt.

Economic growth

Egypt and the Netherlands have a long-standing relationship for over 40 years concerning water. In 2014, a Memorandum of Understanding between Egypt and the Netherlands was signed to express our joint interest in further development of a long-term balanced cooperation on water.

Furthermore, the Netherlands wants to promote the use of sustainable energy and energy efficiency. A sustainable and robust energy supply is crucial for economic growth and for the well-being of society as a whole: it must be clean, reliable and affordable.

Water Panel

Egyptian and Dutch water management issues are equally enormous and complex. Twice a year, Egyptian and Dutch government experts gather to discuss policies concerning sustainable water management. This is coordinated by alternating sessions with the Egyptian and Dutch ministers for water.

Coastal Zone Management

Coastal erosion is an important issue in both Egypt and the Netherlands. Although both countries face different challenges on the coastline, prevention is better than accepting the high risks of flooding or loss of land. Together with Egypt, the Netherlands is searching for which measures are best to implement and where, creating mutual learning experiences.

River Transport

Transport over the Nile river is beneficial to create a more sustainable logistics network in Egypt. The pressure on the road network is too high while the natural conditions of the Nile river offer potential for transport. Together with the related authorities in Egypt, the Netherlands is researching this potential and seeking opportunities to revive river transport on the Nile.

The Netherlands has the best water transport infrastructure in the world

Water and Agriculture

Food security in relation to water is one of the largest challenges that Egypt is facing and will face in the future. Global climate change will influence existing eco-systems, the high population growth in Egypt will increase the competition for available land and water, and the construction of the GERD in Ethiopia will affect Egypt’s share of the Nile water.

The agricultural sector currently uses 80% of the Nile water. Water efficiency is of great importance to reach sustainable water management in agriculture.

The Netherlands is sharing her knowledge for optimizing agricultural practices, like water efficient greenhouses which use only 4 liters of water for the production of 1 kg of tomatoes (versus 250 liters in traditional open cultivation in Egypt).

This is done by the promotion of an approach named ‘Climate Smart Agriculture’ (CSA). CSA is an approach to transform and reorient agricultural development under the new realities of climate change.

Its principal goal is food security and development, while productivity adaptation and mitigation constitute the pillars necessary to achieve this goal, with involvement of all stakeholders.

Energy Efficiency

Saving energy will not only be financially attractive, it will also contribute to a better climate and a cleaner Egypt. The Netherlands is therefore involved in several energy efficiency programs:

The Netherlands is supporting the Ministry of Electricity & Renewable Energy with the implementation of Egypt’s ambitious National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (NEEAP).
The Dutch government is stimulating local banks to provide SMEs with loans to implement energy efficiency measures.
The Netherlands is training ‘energy managers’ within Egypt’s biggest companies who have the task to make these companies more energy efficient.

Making the transition towards more efficient use of energy requires the efforts of citizens, policy makers, politicians, companies, entrepreneurs and more. The Netherlands therefore focusses on an inclusive and multi-stakeholder approach.

The Netherlands is doing these programs together with our partner RCREEE, Regional Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency.

A lunch in the residence with Egypt’s most important electricity sector stakeholders (Egyptian government, IFIs, private sector, donors)

Decentralized Energy Production

In recent years, Egypt has booked tremendous progress in the field of renewable energy production. The Egyptian government, development agencies and investors are making good use of Egypt’s abundance of land, sunny weather and high wind speeds by developing large scale renewable energy projects.

This comes at a crucial moment; climate change, a growing population and a decrease in fuel subsidies make it necessary to invest in renewable energy production. So far Egypt is making impressive steps into this direction.

The vast majority of these projects is large scale and centralized. We believe that there is also a big potential in decentralized energy production.

Therefore, the Netherlands, together with the UNDP in Egypt, is stimulating stakeholders in the Egyptian energy sector to explore the potential for energy production on a local, decentralized level.

Oil & Gas

The Netherlands is also closely monitoring developments in Egypt’s oil & gas sector for business opportunities for the Dutch private sector.

Contact

For inquiries or more information, contact the Embassy of the Netherlands in Egypt.