Group K - Collaborative Climate Adaption Project
| Area | The Mediterranean Sea Region | |
| Place | Alexandria | |
| Country | Egypt | |
| Topic | Climate change and availability of fresh Water | |
| Author(s) | Martina Sekutor, Ilze Draudina, Emil Tanner | |
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Rationale: Why have you selected this case study area?
Climate changes are already having an enormous effect on ecosystems, agriculture, forests, hydrological cycle, air quality etc. The Mediterranean region is one of the most threatened on the Earth. Mediterranean climates are found in only five places on the Earth: California and northern Baja California, the basin of the Mediterranean Sea, southwestern Australia, the western cape of South Africa and the central coast of Chile (Mediterranean climate change…). These regions cover only a small part of the Earths land surface (about 2,2 percent), but it also incorporates about 20 percent of all known plant species. Only the tropical rainforests of the western hemisphere and Southeast Asia have a bigger density of plant species (Shaw, 2010). By 2100, the Mediterranean biome is presumed to loose poportionally the largest biodiversity of all terrestrial biomes because of its sensitivity to multiple biodiversity threats(Klausmeyer and Shaw, 2009). One of the most noticeable coastal villages in the Mediterranean Sea region is Alexandria in Egypt and it is chosen as a case study area. Alexandria is an important area for industry, agriculture,fishery and tourism. Because of lack of environmental monitoring and legal framework Alexandria is subordinated to serious changes. For all of our group members this area is a new challenge and a great opportunity to study the impact of climate change on the high value coastal areas.
Authors' perspectives
One of the requirements of landscape architecture as a profession is to try to always take climate change into consideration. This becomes especially important when dealing with plans for larger scale projects and areas inhabited by people (urban or rural) because it is likely that any action taken or measure implemented will have an impact on a larger number of people. Considering landscape architecture is a multi-disciplinary field we believe landscape architects can offer a unique view on problems caused by climate change and provide solutions that represent an optimal compromise that will benefit an area in it's entirety, and not just some of it's elements.
Landscape and/or urban context
Alexandria lies on the Mediterranean coast in the north central part of Egypt at the western edge of the Nile River delta. With an area of 2679 square km and a population of about 4.1 million, it is the second-largest city in Egypt. With its northerly coastal boundaries stretching nearly 32 km or 20 mi, Alexandria is considered to be the largest coastal city on the Mediterranean sea. Being the standpoint to Egypt’s largest seaport and natural gas and oil pipelines from the Suez, the city is of great economic importance. The port handles close to 80% of Egypt’s imports and exports. Alexandria is also an attractive tourist destination with its beaches and monuments[1]. Looking at satellite imagery, most of Alexandria is densely built with very few green spaces available.The modern city extends 25 miles (40 km) east to west along a limestone ridge, 1–2 miles (1.6–3.2 km) wide, that separates the salt lake of Maryūṭ, or Mareotis—now partly drained and cultivated—from the Egyptian mainland. An hourglass-shaped promontory formed by the silting up of a mole (the Heptastadion), which was built soon after Alexandria’s founding, links the island of Pharos with the city centre on the mainland. Its two steeply curving bays form the basins for the Eastern Harbour and the Western Harbour[2].
Illustration:
Map; sketches; short descriptive analyses
Topography of Egypt
Cultural/social/political context
- Brief explanation of culture, political economy, legal framework
Illustration: Bullet points, image, background notes
Local Climate
Because of the prevailing north wind, blowing across the Mediterranean Sea the climate in Alexandria is different from the climate in inland. Alexandria is a semi – desert area. Hot dry summers and moderate winters are characteristic for the climate of Alexandria. The summers are relatively temperate the hottest months are July and August, when the average temperature reaches 30 °C (Climate indicators...) [3] Winters are cool and often marked by a series of storms that can bring torrential rain and even hail. The coldest months are January and February, when the average temperature dips till 13 °C and the average minimum temperature is 8°C (Climate indicators...) [4]. The average annual temperature is 21, 3°C (Climate and Temperature Alexandria...)[5]. Moving southward from the Delta to the Sudanese border the average annual temperature increases – the temperature variation becomes similar to those of the open deserts IPCC (2007)[6]
The average annual precipitation of Alexandria is about 190mm with most of the precipitation occurring in January and December, while the average precipitation of all Egypt is about 26mm (Climate and Temperature Egypt...)[7]. So Alexandria is one of the wettest areas of Egypt. The driest weather is from June to September when the precipitation may come to 0mm.
Sirocco (khamsin for Egyptian) – a hot spring wind that blows across the country is an important climatic phenomenon in Egypt. The wind forms a small but forceful low pressure area and rages across the northern coast of Africa. The speed of wind may reach140 kilometers per hour. Sirocco wind is mixed with sand and dust from the deserts and it can increase the air temperature suddenly about 20°C within two hours. It appears usually in April and at times in March and May (IPCC, 2007)[8] In the National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries (NIOF) in Egypt has been done a research on climatic change and sea level variation of Alexandria in time period from 1974 – 2006. The main conclusions are (Said, M., Moursy, Z., and Radwan A.,2006)[9] the mean annual air temperature over Alexandria region increased by about 2.24°C; the annual mean sea level increases by 9.95 cm over the study period giving a sea level rise of 3 mm per year.
In 2010 heavy rains and strong winds affected several parts of the Middle East it caused dozens of damaged buildings in Egypt. High winds and heavy rains caused a partial collapse of some 28 buildings in Alexandria – there were seven victims (Middle East flooded...)[10]
Based on the IPCC fourth assessment report (IPCC, 2007)[11], temperature increase per decades in Alexandria (since 1979 to 2005), is in the range of 0.05 to 0.15 °C.And the temperature will continue to rise. The report is not predicting the change of the precipitation in the same period due to insufficient data to produce reliable trends. A sea level rise is described in the NIOF research: the sea level rise of 15-20cm by 2020 would be of little consequence, augmentations over 30-50cm by 2050 would have more serious effects, and a sea level rise of 100cm by 2100 could flood land within 30km of the coast or more, affecting 12-15% of Alexandria's land (Said, M., Moursy, Z., and Radwan A.,2006)[12]
Analysis of vulnerability
- If you consider these potential changes - which aspects/functions of your case study would be affected?
Illustration: Map/diagram/sketches/photos/background notes
Proposals for Climate Change Adaption
1) Coastal erosion
In the geological and topographical context Alexandria is built on a coastal plain. On this account the coastal area of Alexandria is subjected to erosion. The coastline of Alexandria can be divided into three categories (Executive summary…[13]): 1) Seriously eroding areas – flat and low-lying coastal areas, for example western back-shore zone of Abu Quir Bay and El Tineh plain,and also delta coastal plain areas affected by subsidence. Also because of ongoing natural coastal processes beaches of Alexandria, from Mandara to El Silcila are experiencing long term erosion of approximately 20 cm a year. 2) Artificially protected coastal areas. These areas are at risk of structural defects caused by tsunami or storm, for example, Abu Quir seawall along the Nile delta coast. 3) Remaining areas along the Alexandria coast can be regarded as safe. Erosion caused by the climate changes endangers the first mentioned category. So it is very important to find solutions to reduce this disruptive process. There could be three decently solutions for adaptation:
Beach Nourishment Beach nourishment is an adaption technology usually used to protect coastal area from erosion, but it also helps to reduce the flooding risk. The aim of this technology is to ensure that nourishment material is compatible with the existing natural beach material (Reeve et al., 2004). The acquisition of the beach nourishment comes from wave energy dissipation – waves loose energy, when they swashes the beach. Different beach profiles and gradients interact with waves to differing extent (TNA guidebook...[14]). There are different methods how nourishment can be deposited, for example by dredge, trucks or conveyor belts. The most popular method is to supply of nourishment material by offshore dredging because it allows to move large quantities of nourishment material from an area where its removal transport is cautious to the shoreline (TNA guidebook...).
Beach nourishment does not stop the erosion process, but the widened and deepened beach will provide a buffer to protect coastal infrastructure and coast line of erosion and storm damage.
Artificial Sand Dunes
Another technology which is used to reduce coastal erosion and flooding in the coastal lowlands is artificial sand dune construction. It is possible to combine the beach nourishment and the artificial sand dunes construction (see schema above). Dunes and beach makes a united system that react on the changes of wind force and direction, sea level changes ore wave climate (TNA guidebook...).
The simplest way of artificial dune construction is to use sediment from dredged sources on the beach. It is useful to build artificial sand dunes and beach nourishment at the same time, because sand is readily available.
Vegetation planting is used to strengthen artificial dunes. Vegetation promotes the accumulation of sand from windblown source, which causes growth of the dunes. This technology gives stable protection against coastal flooding and erosion (TNA guidebook...). Artificial sand dunes do also provide a valuable coastal habitat for many breeds of plants and animals.
Seawalls
Seawalls functions as a barrier for further erosion of the shoreline and also as a protection against flooding. Seawalls are built with the aim to hold or prevent sliding of the soil, and to protect the coastal area of the wave action. There are various materials that can be used for seawall building, for example steel plates, monolithic concrete barriers, brick ore block walls ore gabions (Kamphuis, 2000). The shape of the seaward face is important in the rejection of wave energy: smooth surfaces
reflects wave energy while irregular surfaces scatter the direction of wave reflection (TNA guidebook...).
Seawalls are often used in the urban areas, because they have lower space requirement than the other solutions for coast protection. Seawall also may fill the function of promenades etc. One other advantage of seawall is that these constructions potentially are long –lived structures.
Monitoring
The beach nourishment ore the artificial sand dunes are not a permanent solutions to diminish the coastal erosion. To make these solutions sustainable there must be a monitoring system that controls if the adaptation has achieved its goals and also control when new actions are necessary. All the solutions require regular maintenance and investments.
- How could your case study area become more resilient to climate change?
- Which measures would need to be taken to adapt to the new situation?
- How could you assure sustainability of these measures?
- Please describe 2-3 measures
Proposals for Climate Change Mitigation
- Which measures would need to be taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other drivers of climate change within your case study area?
- How could you assure sustainability of these measures?
- Please describe 2-3 measures
Your scenario
- How will this area look like in 2060?
- Please forecast one potential future development taking climate change into account
Illustration: Map/diagram/sketches photos and background notes
What can be generalized from this case study?
- Are there any important theoretical insights?
- Which research questions does it generate?
- Short statement plus background notes
Presentation Slides
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References
Please add literature, documentations and weblinks
Climate indicators in Alexandria. Retrieved December 15, 2012 from the Climate zone Website at: http://www.climate-zone.com/climate/egypt/celsius/alexandria.htm
Climate and temperature Alexandria.Retrieved December 15, 2012 from the Climatemps Website at: http://www.alexandria.climatemps.com/
Climate and temperature Egypt.15, 2012 from the Climatemps Website at:http://www.egypt.climatemps.com/
IPCC (2007). Working Group I: The Physical Science Basis, Technical Summary: The Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Retrieved December 15, 2012 from the IPCC Website at: http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_ipcc_fourth_assessment_report_synthesis_report.htm
Klausmeyer, K., and Shaw, R. (2009). Climate change, habitat loss, protected areas and the climate adaptation potential of species in mediterranean ecosystems worldwide. Retrieved December 11, 2012 from PLoS ONE Website at:http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0006392
The Mediterranean climate change. Retrieved December 10, 2012 from the Mediterranean climate change Website at: http://www.medclimatechangeinitiative.org/
Middle East flooded and Alexandria buildings collapsed by the storms in Egypt. Retrieved December 15, 2012 from the Earthe Changes and the Pole Shift Website at: http://poleshift.ning.com/profiles/blogs/middle-east-flooded-and
Said, M., Moursy, Z., and Radwan A. (2006). Climatic change and sea level variations off Alexandria, Egypt. Retrieved December 14, 2012 from the WCRP website at:http://conference2011.wcrp-climate.org/abstracts/C38/Said_C38_TH16A.pdf
Shaw, R. (2010). The nature conservancy in california - Mediterranean q&a with rebecca shaw. Retrieved December 11, 2012 from The Nature Conservancy Website at: http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/california/explore/mediterranean-qa-with-rebecca-shaw.xml
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