As prepared for delivery. 

Your excellency Dr. Yasmin Fouad, Minister of Environment

Your excellency Mr. El-Sayed El-Qasir, Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation

Your excellency Dr. Hani Sewilam, Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation

Your excellency Mr. Ahmed Issa, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities

Distinguished Guests, Dear Colleagues and partners,

I am pleased to join you today in the inception workshop for the preparation of the Climate Change National Adaptation Plan (NAP).

We are honored to collaborate with the Ministry of Environment and the Global Climate Fund (GCF) on this important project. 

Our strategic partnership with the Ministry of Environment has been fruitful over the years, resulting in the preparation of national strategic climate change documents, including three National Communication Reports, the Biennial Update Report, the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) Report, the National Climate Change Strategy and more.

The partnership has been extended to other important areas critical to advancing the national climate change mainstreaming agenda, led by H.E. Dr. Yasmine Fouad, such as climate finance, green budgeting, education and public awareness/engagement.

Climate change is one of the most significant global challenges of our time. It is therefore a priority to ensure that we build resilience and find ways to adapt as we face these challenges.

By 2030, climate change impacts globally could drive an additional 100 million people into poverty.

Negative impacts will affect people’s lives and livelihoods in areas related to agriculture, water resources, coastal areas, health, tourism, human settlements and biodiversity. 

At UNDP, we support more than 35 countries in preparing National Adaptation Plans to identify medium- and long-term adaptation needs based on climate science, and develop and implement strategies to address those needs.

In Egypt, initiating the ‘National Adaptation Plan’ project came after the success of COP27.

We will now work together to carry the momentum from COP27 into the future.

The Loss and Damage Fund was one of the COP27 outcomes. Access to this fund can be facilitated through climate risk assessments generated by the NAP project.

The main objective of the NAP is to reduce vulnerability to climate change and mainstream climate change adaptation in all levels of planning. 

Egypt’s NAP should respond to the country’s adaptation priorities in the updated NDC report by strengthening water and food production and security measures, safeguarding economic assets from extreme climate events and disasters, and protecting and regenerating natural capital.

Such plans should not be seen as one-off investments but as continuous processes that are progressive and iterative.

Importantly, this plan is multi-disciplinary. Thus, I am delighted that relevant sectors are present today and participating in this effort at the ministerial level.

Distinguished Guests, Dear Colleagues,

We are proud of our partnership with the Egyptian government and other partners to combat climate change and ensure that the SDGs - particularly SDG 13 for climate action - are met and succeeded.

This has been clearly outlined in UNDP’s current Country Programme Document (2023-27). 

For instance, we have partnered with the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation in a very successful initiative on protecting low-lying lands in the Nile Delta from sea level rise, also through GCF funds. 

UNDP is also engaged with the Ministry of Agriculture and FAO on the SCALA global project that will address climate change adaptation in the agriculture sector, which is most affected by climate change. 

Moreover, UNDP is coordinating with the Ministry of Tourism to build a pipeline of large-scale interventions on sustainable tourism to expand activities and improve resilience. This portfolio aims to ensure more benefit flows to Egypt and its communities in a way that sustains its culture and environment.

Finally, I would like to thank the UN Agencies for participating in today’s workshop. I look forward to their active involvement in developing the NAP and, later, supporting the government with the implementation.

Thank you.