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Egypt

Twenty IPAs have been identified in Egypt to date, with six proposed that require further study to confirm their status as internationally significant sites for plants.

Egypt is situated in the south east of the Mediterranean Sea; bordered by Libya to the west, Sudan to the south, and the Gaza Strip and Israel to the east. Apart from the Nile valley, the majority of Egypt’s landscape is desert, encompassing parts of the Sahara and Libyan Deserts. The coast includes the delta of the River Nile, which, north of Cairo, splits into two branches that feed into the Mediterranean: the Rosetta Branch to the west and the Damietta to the east.

Egypt’s diverse flora contains over 2300 vascular plant species and subspecies, and approximately 190 species and subspecies of mosses and hepatics. This reflects the long Mediterranean and Red Sea coasts combined with Egypt’s position between Africa and Asia. Four floral zones are recognised: Mediterranean-Sahara regional transition zone, Sahara-Sindian regional zone, Irano-Turanian regional centre of endemism and Sahel regional transition zone. The preliminary red data list for the vascular plants of Egypt classifies nearly 450 species as threatened on a national level, although these are not necessarily threatened across the Mediterranean region. There are twenty seven protected areas across the country, which are ecologically significant sites, twelve of these, or parts of them, are also IPAs.

Twenty IPAs have been identified in Egypt to date, with six proposed that require further study to confirm their status as internationally significant sites for plants. Of these, ten are located within the Mediterranean region and five of those contain single country endemics or very restricted range species.

The Mediterranean IPAs of Egypt consist of five coastal lakes or lagoons, including the only oligotrophic hypersaline lake on the Egyptian Mediterranean coast and three lakes within the Nile Delta; as well as the limestone mountains of North Sinai, the coastal ridges and depressions of Omayed Biosphere Reserve, the Moghra Oasis, the oolitic sands of the Western Mediterranean coastal dunes and the plateau of Sallum on the border with Libya. Significant species on these sites include the relict patches of Phoenician juniper populations in North Sinai, Egyptian endemics Astragalus camelorum, Bellevallia salah-eidii, Bromus aegyptiacus, Sinapis allionii, Sonchus macrocarpus (of the coastal lagoons) and Anthemis microsperma, Atractylis carduus var. marmarica, Pancratium arabicum and Zygophyllum album var. album (of the coastal dunes).

Floristically, the richest IPA in Egypt is the mountainous Saint Katherine IPA. It contains around 500 vascular plant species and approximately 50% of Egypt’s endemic plant flora. This huge protected site covers over 5,000 sq km of South Sinai and rises up to 2641 m; it is outside the Mediterranean region.

Threats to IPAs in Egypt

IPAs in Egypt face numerous threats, particularly from overgrazing, tourism and infrastructure related development, eutrophication and mineral extraction.

Coordinating organisation:

• Tanta University

Contact:

• Kamal Shaltout