In the fertile Nile Delta, rising sea levels and a rising water table are already cutting into Egypt’s precious 4 percent of arable farmland.
CAIRO — The heat feels relentless. Temperatures here in August regularly top 95 degrees Fahrenheit, and Sunday’s forecast projects thermometers will hit 100 F. In Ouargla, Algeria, the temperature spiked to 124.34 F on July 5 this year, the highest temperature reliably recorded on the continent of Africa. In 2016, Mitribah, Kuwait, reportedly reached 129.2 F, which could make it the highest temperature on record for the Eastern hemisphere and Asia.
With blisteringly hot summers becoming a regular occurrence, climate change could soon push an environment that is uncomfortable into one that is unsustainable — particularly for countries along the Arab Gulf and in North Africa.
The past three years have been the hottest in Egypt since temperatures have been recorded, said Ashraf Zaki, representative of the Egyptian Meteorological Authority.
Related :: Japan heatwave declared natural disaster as death toll mounts
“All of the extreme weather events have really been increased, the number of heat waves have increased,” he said. “Humidity levels are increased. All these issues belong to the effect of climate change.”
In Egypt, statistics show that temperatures are increasing at a faster pace and Zaki calls the trend “highly significant.” He warns that if global warming continues on this trajectory, and countries don’t take efforts to remediate the problem through guidelines like those outlined in the Paris climate accord, it could all add up to “one of the biggest disasters on the globe.”
In the fertile Nile Delta, rising sea levels and a rising water table are already cutting into Egypt’s precious 4 percent of arable farmland. In the worst affected areas off the Mediterranean, up to 6.25 to 12.5 miles from the shoreline have already become saline.
“The main problem that most people are talking about is inundation by sea level rise for the Nile Delta. There is another problem: saltwater intrusion,” said Mohamed Abdrabo, director of Alexandria Research Center for Adaptation to Climate Change.
To combat that, some coastal farmers are building up soil to raise their land and switching to salt-resistant crops like rice.
“We are talking about billions of dollars in terms of losses due to saltwater intrusion,” said Abdrabo.
In Alexandria, Egypt’s second largest city, about a quarter of the coast could be inundated if sea levels continue to rise, according to recent studies.
“The problem with sea level rise and saltwater intrusion and most of the impacts of climate change you’re talking about in Egypt, it will be mostly gradual, which means you don’t feel it,” Abdrabo said.
See Also :: Europe's record temperature of 48C could be beaten this weekend
In the muggy Arabian Gulf — which includes the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Oman — the immediate risk of soaring heat and humidity overshadows the distant threat of rising sea levels. An MIT research team determined that future temperatures there and in southwest Asia will exceed the threshold for human survival if nations fail to reign in emissions.
According to an MIT video on the subject, “exposure to wet bulb temperatures above 35 C (95 F) is enough to cause the fittest to overheat and begin to fail.” Wet bulb temperature measures the combination of heat and humidity to determine how well the body can cool itself by sweating.
Elfatih Eltahir, MIT professor of Hydrology and Climate and co-author of the paper, explained that they were able to measure how reducing emissions would decrease the number and severity of heat waves.
 |
| Kuwaitis watch pearl diving boats arrive at the main beach in Kuwait City, at the end of the 30th annual pearl diving festival, July 26, 2018. |
CAIRO — The heat feels relentless. Temperatures here in August regularly top 95 degrees Fahrenheit, and Sunday’s forecast projects thermometers will hit 100 F. In Ouargla, Algeria, the temperature spiked to 124.34 F on July 5 this year, the highest temperature reliably recorded on the continent of Africa. In 2016, Mitribah, Kuwait, reportedly reached 129.2 F, which could make it the highest temperature on record for the Eastern hemisphere and Asia.
With blisteringly hot summers becoming a regular occurrence, climate change could soon push an environment that is uncomfortable into one that is unsustainable — particularly for countries along the Arab Gulf and in North Africa.
The past three years have been the hottest in Egypt since temperatures have been recorded, said Ashraf Zaki, representative of the Egyptian Meteorological Authority.
Related :: Japan heatwave declared natural disaster as death toll mounts
“All of the extreme weather events have really been increased, the number of heat waves have increased,” he said. “Humidity levels are increased. All these issues belong to the effect of climate change.”
 |
| Egyptians jump into the sea to cool off during summer vacation in Alexandria, |
In Egypt, statistics show that temperatures are increasing at a faster pace and Zaki calls the trend “highly significant.” He warns that if global warming continues on this trajectory, and countries don’t take efforts to remediate the problem through guidelines like those outlined in the Paris climate accord, it could all add up to “one of the biggest disasters on the globe.”
In the fertile Nile Delta, rising sea levels and a rising water table are already cutting into Egypt’s precious 4 percent of arable farmland. In the worst affected areas off the Mediterranean, up to 6.25 to 12.5 miles from the shoreline have already become saline.
 |
| Tourists walk through the ruins of the ancient Roman site of Volubilis, near the town of Moulay Idriss Zerhounon in Morocco's north central Meknes region, on July 25, 2018. |
“The main problem that most people are talking about is inundation by sea level rise for the Nile Delta. There is another problem: saltwater intrusion,” said Mohamed Abdrabo, director of Alexandria Research Center for Adaptation to Climate Change.
To combat that, some coastal farmers are building up soil to raise their land and switching to salt-resistant crops like rice.
“We are talking about billions of dollars in terms of losses due to saltwater intrusion,” said Abdrabo.
In Alexandria, Egypt’s second largest city, about a quarter of the coast could be inundated if sea levels continue to rise, according to recent studies.
 |
| A woman wearing a full veil (niqab) uses a shower to cool off in hot and humid weather inside an Aqua arena during summer holidays at El Ain El Sokhna in Suez, east of Cairo on July 21, 2018. |
“The problem with sea level rise and saltwater intrusion and most of the impacts of climate change you’re talking about in Egypt, it will be mostly gradual, which means you don’t feel it,” Abdrabo said.
See Also :: Europe's record temperature of 48C could be beaten this weekend
In the muggy Arabian Gulf — which includes the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Oman — the immediate risk of soaring heat and humidity overshadows the distant threat of rising sea levels. An MIT research team determined that future temperatures there and in southwest Asia will exceed the threshold for human survival if nations fail to reign in emissions.
According to an MIT video on the subject, “exposure to wet bulb temperatures above 35 C (95 F) is enough to cause the fittest to overheat and begin to fail.” Wet bulb temperature measures the combination of heat and humidity to determine how well the body can cool itself by sweating.
Elfatih Eltahir, MIT professor of Hydrology and Climate and co-author of the paper, explained that they were able to measure how reducing emissions would decrease the number and severity of heat waves.
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