The Nile Delta (Arabic: دلتا النيل ) is the delta formed in Northern Egypt (Lower Egypt) where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. Its area extends along a low lying coast of lagoons, river wetlands and brackish environments for about about 20,000 km2.

The Delta is particularly vulnerable to the effects of sea-level rise, salinization of ground water, coastal erosion, land use and decreasing water quality. Almost 14 million people are living along the narrow strip of the Nile River.

The vulnerability of this coast is further increased by the prevailing farming and associated industries, harbor activity, the pressure on fisheries resources and tourism, domestic waste and other extracting industries like natural gas exploration. More than 80% of agriculture production and 90% of fish catch comes from this area. It is also home to over 50 percent of Egypt`s population and a main stop on the flightway for many migrated birds.

This project case will be exploring ways to enhance the participation of the experts, stakeholders and decision makers to achieve a better coastal environment and designing as well as implementing local development plans with particular reference to coastal erosion and land use. A Strategic ICZM Action Plan for the Nile Delta will be prepared with the consultation and feedback of local communities. This plan will also represent a way of analyzing the institutional and organizational context of the adaptation strategy planning process (management plans, licenses, regulations, awareness campaigns, etc).

A set of Pegaso indicators will be used for the application of the regional risk assessment in order to investigate the environmental risks related to water quality and other coastal stressors.

The participation tool has been used to involve relevant stakeholders and policy makers in the Nile Delta region to achieve several objectives regarding the: reviewing of the ICZM indicators and previous national ICZM development plans along Nile Delta region; reviewing the existing land use plans in the case area and approve the final products.

The main constraint concerning the use of the Pegaso tools is related to the limited data availability needed to evaluate indicators as well as the lack of knowledge regarding the Scenario tool.

In the coming months, the activities to be developed will include the finalization of data collection, complete and validate the land use and shore protection management plans in the Nile Delta region and update the national ICZM guidelines and regulations to be compatible with International ICZM guidelines.

The case supervisor is Susan Kholeif, National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries.