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 The
present
Egyptian
Italian Environmental Cooperation Program
(EIECP) aims at
the continuation of the cooperation between the Governments of the
Italian Republic and the Arab Republic of Egypt in the field of
environment via Phase II of the Program under implementation
“Institutional support to the Egyptian Environmental Affairs
Agency (EEAA) to improve planning capabilities for rehabilitation
and protection of natural and cultural environmental resources and
implementation of pilot-projects within the framework of Egypt’s
NEAP activities”.
The
Program was agreed through the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
signed on June 18th, 1998 between the Ministry of State
for Environmental Affairs (MSEA) and the Directorate General of
Cooperation for Development (DGCD) of the
Italian Foreign
Ministry.
EIECP
has the overall objective “to contribute to the protection of
Egypt’s natural and cultural resources”, and the following
immediate objectives:
-
To strengthen Egyptian capacities to analyse, plan and
implement adequate measures for the conservation and rehabilitation
of natural, cultural and man-made environments;
-
To enhance current strategies and ways to protect and expand
available natural resources base, with the aim of leading to higher
productivity, reduced migration and improvement of the living
conditions in rural areas;
-
To contribute to reinforce the role of
EEAA, as the central
co-ordinating and competent body, and its partners institutions for
the protection and promotion of the environment.
To
achieve these objectives, the following specific activities have
been implemented in first phase, subsequent to proper identification
and preparation:
-
Establishment
of a joint Program
Coordination Unit (PCU) with the task to assist the Donor and
the Recipient Government, including the Program Steering Committee,
in coordinating the Program and its components;
-
Two
pilot projects within the context of Water and Land Resource
Conservation Section of the NEAP, and under the framework of
Egypt’s biodiversity conservation strategy and the plan of a
national protected areas system. Namely these are:
-
Establishment
of the
Wadi
El Rayan Protected Area (WRPA) in Fayoum oasis,
-
Siwa
Environmental Amelioration Project (SEAP).
An
applied planning scheme for the water sector, adopting
the Decision Support System (DSS) as a key instrument and an environmental
balance methodology, aimed at featuring a holistic
strategy for the sustainable use of Egypt's water
resources: “ Decision
Support System for Water Resources Planning based on
Environmental Balance (DSS)”;
A
project aiming at better preserving and managing cultural heritage
assets in Egypt:
“
Enhancement of the organizational and planning
capabilities to preserve and manage
Cultural
Heritage
Assets of Egypt”.
The
execution of these projects has been ongoing from 1998 and the
completion dates of the Program have been set at early 2003.
 The
Program Review Mission, jointly conducted by the DGCD and
EEAA, made
specific recommendations regarding future activities. A Task
Force (hereinafter named TF), headed by one Egyptian expert
seconded by the EEAA and one Italian expert recruited by the DGCD,
was constituted with the purpose to carry out the preparatory work
for Phase II of the Program. The TF produced a profile of the
proposed components of Phase II (Project Concept Papers), with the
estimated budgets and the logical frameworks.
During
the bilateral discussions held between the Italian and Egyptian
Governments on February 2002, the financing of Phase II of the
Program was agreed for an Italian contribution of about nine
millions Euro.
The
final formulation of Phase II documents has been completed by the TF
after verifying and discussing with EEAA, and the relevant
Implementing Agencies, all elements that needed clarification.
Background information on the Egyptian-Italian Environmental
Cooperation
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