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The Impact of the Natural Environment on Egypt

Egypt is located in the traffic hub of the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, connecting with Europe via the Mediterranean Sea in the north and Palestine in the east via Arish. It connects Libya to the west, Sudan to the south, the Red Sea to the east and borders Palestine, and faces Jordan and Saudi Arabia to the southeast. The coastline is more than 2,700 kilometers long. The Suez Canal communicates the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean, and its strategic location and economic significance are very important.

Egypt covers an area of ​​1,001,450 square kilometers, and its territory spans Asia and Africa. Most of it is located in northeastern Africa. Only the Sinai Peninsula, east of the Suez Canal, is located in southwest Asia. The land is slightly irregular square. It is 1240 kilometers wide from east to west and 1024 kilometers long from north to south. The terrain is flat and there are no mountains.

Topography

Most of the whole of Egypt is a low plateau with an altitude of 100-700 meters, and there are hills and mountains along the Red Sea coast and the Sinai Peninsula. Deserts and semi-deserts account for 95% of the country. The Libyan desert in the west accounts for two-thirds of the country, and most of it is quicksand, with oases such as Kharja and Siwa among them; the Arabian desert in the east includes gravel deserts and exposed rock hills.

The Nile River, the longest river in the world, flows through the whole territory from south to north. The Egyptian section is 1,350 kilometers long, forming a narrow and long valley with a width of 3-16 kilometers on both sides, and forming a delta of 24,000 square kilometers north of the capital Cairo. Under the influence of the Nile River, the valleys on both sides formed an oasis belt with an area of ​​16,000 square kilometers.

The main lakes are the Great Bitter Lake and Timsah Lake, as well as the Nasser Reservoir (5,000 square kilometers), the largest artificial lake in Africa formed by the Aswan High Dam.

Climate characteristics

The country is dry and rainless, and the climate is hot and dry. Southern Egypt has a tropical desert climate, with relatively high temperatures in summer and large temperature differences between day and night. The Nile Delta and the northern coastal areas have a subtropical Mediterranean climate with a relatively mild climate, while most of the rest of the country has a tropical desert climate. The White Nile originates in the savannah climate zone of the southern hemisphere, while the Blue Nile originates in the savannah climate zone of the northern hemisphere.

The flood seasons of the two rivers are different. The average temperature is 12°C in January and 26°C in July; the whole area is dry and rainless, with an average annual precipitation of 50-200 mm. Most of the rest of the country has a tropical desert climate, which is hot and dry, and the temperature can reach 40°C. From April to May every year, there is often a “Pencent wind”, which entrains sand and stones and damages crops.

Natural resources

The main resources are oil, natural gas, phosphate, iron and so on. The proven reserves are: 4.45 billion barrels of oil (January 2013), 2.186 trillion cubic meters of natural gas (January 2012), about 7 billion tons of phosphate, and 60 million tons of iron ore. In addition, there are manganese, coal, gold, zinc, chromium, silver, molybdenum, copper and talc.

In 2015, the largest natural gas field in the Mediterranean Sea was discovered in the offshore waters of Egypt, with a potential natural gas reserve of 850 billion cubic meters. Egypt’s proven oil and natural gas reserves rank fifth and fourth among African countries respectively, and it is the most important oil and natural gas producer in Africa. The average daily output of crude oil reaches 711,500 barrels, and the daily output of natural gas reaches 168 million cubic meters. The amount of natural gas consumed domestically accounts for 70% of the total natural gas output, and the remaining 30% is for export.

Egypt’s power supply is dominated by thermal power, accounting for 86.9%. The national power grid coverage rate reaches 99.3%, ranking 28th in the world. Aswan Dam is one of the seven largest dams in the world, with an annual power generation of more than 10 billion kWh. In 2008, Egypt spent 1.6 billion Egyptian pounds to improve the generating units of the Aswan Dam, and spent 15 billion Egyptian pounds to improve the national power grid. In 2007, Egypt officially launched its nuclear power plant program, and in 2010 announced that it would build four nuclear power plants by 2025.

In May 2016, the Egyptian government stated that it would spend 13.9 billion US dollars before 2018 to add 21,900 megawatts of power generation capacity to the national grid, and focus on the development of renewable energy. In 2007, Egypt officially launched its nuclear power plant program, and announced in 2010 that it would build four nuclear power plants by 2025.