Climate Change, Agriculture and Rural Communities’ Vulnerability in the Nile Delta

Abstract

Climate change is a global phenomenon that has different regional impacts. Some countries and sectors are to be affected more than others, especially those with inadequate adaptive capacities that would increase their vulnerability. According to the climate change projections of potential impacts, Egypt and the Nile Delta are to be affected. The effects of climatic changes are to be experienced more in agriculture, which is to negatively affect rural communities. Meanwhile, agriculture in Egypt and the Nile Delta is countering immediate socio-economic and natural resources related challenges which continuation would exacerbate the impacts of climate change. Therefore, the impacts of these challenges on agriculture in the Nile Delta governorates, in terms of population growth, agricultural land fragmentation, and urban expansion on agricultural land are reviewed. For the identification of the impacts of climate change: temperature increase and sea-level rise (SLR) on agriculture in the Nile Delta governorates, the vulnerability assessment framework (VAF) is used. Findings show that—immediate challenges—urban expansion on agricultural land if not curbed, even without climate change, would severely impact agriculture and thus the national food security. Nevertheless, climate change would have great impacts on agriculture and farmers in the Nile Delta, whereas some governorates are to be more vulnerable to the climate change stimuli than others depending on their exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacities. The chapter concludes that more ‘context-specific’ attention needs to be directed towards agriculture in the Nile Delta to preserve it—from man-made and environmental challenges—for future generations.