020318_Hurghada SECAP_FINAL

Section IV: Climate Adaptation Plan
1. Summary
The current chapter aims to provide Climate Action for internal guidance to the Governorate of the Red Sea regarding
the vulnerability to climate change, climate risk assessment and climate adaptation. The proposed structure has been
developed based on extensive literature review. This study, which is an integral part of the Sustainable Energy and
Climate Action Plan (SECAP), is a strategic document as well as an operational tool.
Current trends indicate that Climate Change (CC) is happening due to increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
in the recent years as a result of burning great quantities of fossil fuels and deforestation. In the recent decades, changes
in climate have caused impacts on natural and human systems worldwide. Evidence of CC impacts was observable in
different sectors that also have consequences for social and human aspects of the built environment.
This chapter describes the SECAP - Climate Adaptation Actions (CAA). It comprises three main parts that are dedicated
to analysing the existing situation in Egypt and the Governorate and city of Hurghada. The chapter conducts a Risk
Analysis and Vulnerability Assessment in order to define the adaptation actions already in place or suggested to be
implemented by the Governorate of Red Sea and the City of Hurghada.
2. Current Status Analysis
This chapter focuses on an introduction to climate change impacts, particularly in the Mediterranean countries. It also
highlights the National and Regional Strategy on Climate Change Adaptation.
This is followed by a part dedicated to climate data feeding in estimations of the climate change impacts in the future,
as well the evolution of the climate conditions in the area (temperature increase, rainfalls etc.).
The last part of this chapter focuses on the adaptation scoreboard, based on the self-assessment from the Governorate
of Red Sea against the standard adaptation scoreboard in the SECAP template.
2.1. Introduction to Climate Change Impact
The Mediterranean region is rich in a large variety of complex climatic phenomena, linked with its morphology and
geographical location. Indeed, the Mediterranean Sea is in a transitional band between subtropical and middle latitude
regimes, offering large climate variability at multiple timescales and a strong seasonal variability of precipitation in many
areas (Lionello 2012). The Mediterranean region has been identified as one of prominent “Hot-Spots” in future climate
change projections (Giorgi 2006).
The water cycle and its extremes are one of the major concerns, since there are many countries that are over exploiting
water resources, a problem that is expected to deteriorate in the future.
Episodes of extreme precipitation are also taking place and disastrous floods are a major threat for the region, especially
the coastal areas. In addition to the above, cultivation of marginal land, overgrazing and firewood harvesting put more
pressure on the environment, particularly in the Southern Mediterranean Countries, such as (Lionello 2012).
According to Luterbacher et al. (2006), the Mediterranean region has experienced drastic changes in its climate over
the years.
Figure 12 presents the seasonal mean temperature for the period 1961-1990 depicted in panels A-D, while the total
precipitation maps for the same period are depicted in panels E-H.
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