15 June 2012
Egypt Designates Lakes as Two New Ramsar Sites
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The Ramsar Secretariat has announced that the Government of Egypt has designated two new Wetlands of International Importance: Lake Qarun Protected Area, a permanent saline inland lake; and Wadi El Rayan Protected Area, comprising two main lakes.

13 June 2012: The Secretariat of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention) has announced that the Government of Egypt has designated two new Wetlands of International Importance, in Fayoum governorate west of the Nile River.

The first site, Lake Qarun Protected Area, is a permanent saline inland lake, which supports approximately 88 species of birds and over 12 species of fish. The site supports mammals species, some of them endangered, as well as several species of reptiles. Activities carried out on the site include: traditional agriculture; fish farms; salt extraction; and ecotourism. The site is threatened by water pollution from domestic and industrial waste disposal practices, in addition to agrochemical contamination and lack of sustainable wastewater management.

The second site, Wadi El Rayan Protected Area, comprises two main lakes and provides the habitat for certain bird species of national, regional and international importance. It also supports 29 fish species, 24 mammal species, 14 reptile species and 38 plant species. The main activities carried out on the site are fishing and agriculture. Potential threats to the site include agricultural and wastewater drainage, as well as illegal hunting.

Egypt’s designations contribute to one of the goals contained in the Ramsar Convention’s Strategic Plan for 2009-2015, which is to reach a protected area of 250 million hectares by 2015. [Ramsar Press Release]