The United Nations Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP) has made the right selection of venue for the next “blah, blah, blah” occasion: Egypt. While the UK has been criticised for representing the Global North’s greenwashing agenda, Egypt and later the UAE will take greenwashing to new heights.
Without taking a position in the megacity of Cairo, COP27 (which will take place from November 6 to 18) will be held at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, at the tourist hotel of Sharm el Sheikh, which has 62,000 rooms, on the Sea Network.
Sharm, as it is commonly known, has Egypt’s hub for conferences, festivals, and foreign occasions for a reason: it’s far from Cairo. The complex reflects the symbol Cairo would like to convey to the world: uncluttered, unpolluted, uncluttered and “modern. “It is also devoid of Egyptians (except for staff or wealthier residents) as permission is required for citizens to pass through the multiple army checkpoints separating Sinai from mainland Egypt (tourists also want a separate visa to stop in the rest of Egypt’s Sinai). Such controls are also in position because of Cairo’s long war against a “jihadist insurgency” in the Sinai Peninsula.
Far from Cairo and the densely populated Lower Nile, Sharm is a smart position to avoid protests from pesky climate activists and Egyptians, who have been banned from protesting. Those protesting, as many Egyptians have done since the 2011 uprising and the 2013 military coup that overthrew the democratically elected government of Mohamed Morsi, threats of fines, criminal sentences and torture, perhaps in the infamous criminal Scorpion (a relative of an acquaintance was arrested during a protest in Cairo a few years ago, and the circle of relatives had paid $100,000 to get him out. )Nor is it a safe position for foreigners, highlighted through the torture and murder of Italian graduate student Giulio Regeni in 2016. Italian prosecutors Egyptian officials are guilty of Regeni’s “aggravated kidnapping. “
Distancing is one of the policies of President (former Field Marshal) Fattah al-Sisi to involve the protests, which is why a new capital is being built on the outskirts of Cairo, away from the masses. New Cairo would undoubtedly have been a first selection to host COP27 if the expanding allocation is ready.
Besides the fact that Sharm is a full-blown bubble away from the rest of Egypt, it’s also an environmental travesty, as is much of the beach tourism in the Red and Arabian Seas, which has been devastated by poisonous sunscreen and plastic. contamination. Water comes from desalination, and drinking water must be trucked, like all customers’ fruits, vegetables, and goods.
Cairo or Alexandria would have been more prominent features for COP27, as they would highlight the serious challenges to decarbonizing the economy. The Mediterranean city of Alexandria, home to five million people, is sinking due to rising sea levels and falling sediment levels in the sea. As the old python Michael Palin described the Corniche (the waterfront): “It’s like Cannes with acne. “Street, and in some other incident, the police stopped me for asking me while I was on my way to the exercise station (they let me pass after seeing photos of me and friends with bottles of beer on a dining room table, which “proved” that I am not an Islamist despite my thick beard).
As for Cairo as the host city, participants with little experience in the megacities of the Global South would gain insight into the severe traffic jams, pollutants and poverty faced daily by more than 20 million Cairo residents. The city also illustrates the demanding situations that population expansion poses to countries with limited resources: 97% of Egypt is a desert and the population is developing through 2-3 million more people according to the year, having crossed the one hundred million mark in 2020, and is expected to succeed in 145 million. until 2030. About 60% of the population is under 24 years of age.
A COP27 in Cairo would probably also have included a pathway of participants to the Pyramids of Giza. Delegates would be speechless as they crawled through traffic, with the stretch of road from the airport and downtown covered by rows of indescribable towers, many of which have no windows and would get an F in green building design. They also saw how attentive Egyptian road developers are to citizens who obstruct development.
You can also take a day to one of the country’s shopping centers, such as the city of Sadat or the city of October 6, where more than a million Egyptians paint in clothing and textile factories for about $ 100 a month, to witness “fast fashion”. Sewing closely.
Delegates can also go to the pyramids of Sukkara via back roads, as I once did without realizing it. We drove for miles along canals used for irrigation that were clogged with trash and smelled of open sewage. As part of the 3% of the country that is not desert, the spirit is impressive – and the abdomen is knotted – at the concept that all food is grown in the midst of such environmental degradation.
But any discussion of Egypt’s environmental disaster is, like any other dissent, forbidden. In 2018, an Egyptian singer jailed for insulting the state by saying other people shouldn’t drink from the filthy Nile and that “I’d better drink Evian. “”(That’s what delegates at COP27 and 28 will probably eat, with the French logo very popular in the Middle East, especially in the Gulf. The Egyptian army logo Safi will likely also be offered. )In fact, the Nile is thought of as a matter of “national security,” as hotel security told me when I stayed filming from the balcony.
Cairo would also be a suitable place to talk about the military’s role in environmental damage and carbon emissions, with members of Egypt’s security apparatus watching the city, specifically in Tahrir Square, which is flanked by armored vehicles to prevent a repeat of January’s attack. . 2011 survey.
Egypt is thought to be a republic of officers, in which the army plays an increasingly vital role in the economy. It is possible that the U. S. The policies pursued by Hosni Mubarak’s regime have destroyed the agricultural sector and widened inequality. As Tunisian educator Habib Ayeb has argued, Egypt prevents desert irrigation, as almost some of the water is lost by evaporation and impedes agricultural exports.
If you think COP26 was bad, this one will be even worse. And then we have COP28 to look to the future, which will take place in Dubai together. Dubai is a capitalist’s rainy dream, symbolizing all that is with our global consumerist and carbon-addict. But as you might expect, COPs sum up the upside-down world we live in.