Скачать или смотреть The Wadi el Rayan Protected Area - Italy's Technical Cooperation for the environment in Egypt

The Wadi el Rayan Protected Area - Italy's Technical Cooperation for the environment in Egypt - Domenico Bruzzone

From: Mohamed Kassas - Introduction to 'Wadi El Rayan - Gateway to the Western Desert'

Wadi el Rayan is one of the depressions in Egypt’s Western Desert and has the advantages of being near the Nile Valley, being uninhabited (unlike its twin depression of Fayoum) and having a considerable depth (60 metres below sea level at its lowest point) and volume (a storage capacity of 21 cubic kilometres of water at 30 metres above sea level). In the late 19th century there was a debate as to whether to use Wadi el Rayan as a reservoir for the Nile’s flood waters or to build a dam across the river in its upper reaches. A dam at Aswan was seen as the best solution, and by 1902 the Aswan reservoir had been built, later (1912 and 1933) being raised to increase its storage capacity. The question of Wadi el Rayan was thus shelved.

Interest in Wadi el Rayan was revived in about 1950 in connection with the concept of “century storage”, in which it was seen as a likely reservoir basin to be used as an escape valve for flood control and storage. A scheme was designed, encompassing an inlet canal from the Nile to the depression and an outlet canal to lead the stored water back to the Nile. Work started in the early 1950s. In the 1960s, however, the Aswan High Dam scheme replaced all century storage schemes, and the Rayan flood-water storage project was abandoned.

In the late 1960s agricultural drainage of the Fayoum farmland into Lake Qarun (bottom at 45 metres below sea level) increased, overflowing the lake and threatening adjacent farmland. As a lower-lying basin (up to 60 metres below sea level), the Rayan depression seemed suitable to take part of the Fayoum drainage water, and a scheme was designed to convey water from the southern Fayoum farmland to Wadi el Rayan along a channel that is partly open (7 kilometres) and partly in a tunnel (7.7 kilometres). This drainage water created the upper lake during the 1970s and then in the early 1980s spilled over - in a waterfall that is a special attraction of the area - and formed the lower lake.

These two man-made brackish lakes added a significant feature to the Rayan landscape and provided a wetland habitat for a variety of resident and transient wildlife. They also allowed various new land uses (farming, fisheries and recreation), while an abandoned monastery was renovated and reoccupied. These changes brought inhabitants to the area and made it hard to manage nature conservation.

This project was part of a broader effort of the Italian Co-operation and the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA), aimed at strengthening Egyptian capabilities to plan and implement adequate measures for rehabilitation of the natural environment and protection of resources leading to higher productivity, reduced migration and improvement of living conditions in rural areas. The Italian Support Programme to the EEAA, in fact, includes as its three main lines of operation:
Environmental Protection in the Fayoum and in Siwa Oasis.
Land and Water Resource Management (Decision Support System for Agricultural Water Resources Planning based on Ecological Balance).
Natural and Cultural Heritage: Preservation of Cultural Assets in Egypt (Saqqara Site Planning and management).

The three of them representing a multi-layered and integrated approach to the sustainable use of natural resources and the environment, as envisaged in the draft Environmental Action Plan prepared by the Government of Egypt in 1992.

Italy's Aid carried out in Wadi el Rayan one of its most successful nature conservation and local development projects (1996-2000), as displayed in this movie by Alexis Sweet Cahill and Giuseppe (Joe) Messana-Mattravers. This movie was awarded a special mention within the frmework of the 12th International Fair of the Archaeological Film in Rovereto (Italy), October 1-6, 2001, for the quality of photography and digital techniques.