“Our land is thirsty, our land is thirsty, we would like to give it our blood.” Farmers Serire and her daughter Mervat sing in the autumn heat while harvesting peppers in a field in the Nile Delta. They experience almost daily how quickly it gets drier in their region.
The climate summit starts on Sunday in the seaside resort of Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt, the country where Serire and Mervat see the consequences of climate change with their own eyes. They have been working on the land of the Nile Delta for decades.
“The Nile is our life and brings us life, but the water is dwindling,” Serire says. Low on their knees they hoe the land. “If we’re lucky, the Nile water comes through the canals this way once a week, but we have to irrigate at least four times a week. Along the way, other farmers have often already taken the water and there is hardly anything left for us.”
lifeline
Almost everyone in Egypt lives in and around the Nile Delta. At least 90 percent of the more than one hundred million Egyptians depend on the Nile for work, water and food. The river is a lifeline, but the water is running out. Egyptians, for example, are outraged by the controversial dam that Ethiopia has built, reducing Nile water reaching Egypt. Moreover, there is hardly any precipitation and salinization is a growing problem.
Many trees and crops no longer grow because of the increasingly salty soil:
“I need a lot of groundwater,” sighs landowner Ahmad Abu Khatwa. A water pump hums in the background, the water sloshing over the edges. “But I want my Nile water, the very best water in the world. We won’t survive here without my Nile water,” says Abu Khatwa.
A horse walks across the land with a cart behind it. This is how it has been here for centuries. Abu Khatwa is the fourth generation to farm this land. “My father, grandfather and great-grandfather did not have these problems.” He proudly walks through the fields and runs his hand over plants. “Look, my peppers are thirsty. You can see that right away. They scream: I need water Ahmad. And I say: inshallah I can arrange it for you.”
He often thinks back to the days when there was more than enough water. “With more water, everything would grow much better. The harvest would double, but it’s not there,” says Abu Khatwa, looking at his green beans that are intended for export to Europe.
‘Need more efficient techniques’
Max Abouleish is associated with the so-called Sekem initiative in the countryside north of Cairo. Within that initiative, he works closely with 2000 farmers across Egypt. They see sustainable agriculture as an important part of combating climate change.
“The behavior of people and farmers does not yet reflect the urgent situation. We see very traditional ways of dealing with Nile water. Flood irrigation for example, which is certainly not the most water efficient way,” says Abouleish.
According to him, there is much to gain from introducing more efficient water techniques. Abouleish: “83 percent of water consumption is driven by agriculture. So that’s where the most progress can be made.”
Better techniques can make the soil more ‘resilient’, says Abouleish. This will help farmers in a country that is already severely affected by climate change. Not only because it is very hot, but also because we are experiencing a weather fluctuation that makes it difficult for farmers to cope with the changing climate,” explains Abouleish. “And also on a global scale, Egypt faces the danger of water level rise as due to the enormous population density in the Nile Delta.”
Fear for future generations
When landowner Abu Khatwa wakes up early in the morning, he first checks for Nile water in his channels. That is less and less the case: “I worry about crops that I can no longer grow. This is the first season that I plant sesame,” he says.
He shakes sesame seeds from some branches in the field. “Sesame hardly needs water. At least then I’ll be less annoyed. For me the Nile is my life, I can’t live without Nile water. My only concern is that the water is running out, so the Nile won’t be enough for us anymore. I may be able to manage for the next few years, but what will it be like for the next generations who have to irrigate my land?
