- The Government of Egypt is planning to upgrade and expand the city of St. Katherine, and the Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities (MHUUC) has prepared a Master Plan in this regard. However, potential unsustainable urban and tourism-related development in this area of great ecological and cultural significance can have a major negative impact on surrounding ecosystems and therefore can become a major threat to biodiversity, local culture and tradition. The “Mainstreaming Biodiversity into Tourism Development” (MBTD) Project is supporting the MHUUC in the development of a sustainable and environmentally-friendly Master Plan.
- In this regard, Environics has been commissioned by MBTD to prepare a SEA for the proposed development.
- Accordingly, Environics has defined the Area of Influence (AoI) of the proposed development and assessed the Saint Katherine upgrade and expansion Master Plan versus the area bio-physical and socio-cultural sensitivities to highlight potential constraints and inconsistencies of the development, as well as to provide recommendations for the integration of the environmental and social dimensions to the Master Plan.
- Environics focused on the project components taken into account by the urban planner interacting with and potentially affecting the environmental and social features of the area; the scope of work encompassed:
- Review of the preliminary Master Plan provided by the urban planner, as well as other secondary data provided by MBTD;
- A review of the legal and regulatory framework to which the project should abide;
- A thorough desktop review of reports and studies describing the bio-physical and socio-economic environment of the Saint Katherine Protected Area complemented by an analysis of satellite images;
- Investigating dominant trends and dynamics based on the advent of development, through the analysis of historical satellite imagery, as well as remote interviews with local key informants; and
- Identification of an exhaustive list of stakeholders as well as their proposed representatives.
- Based on these activities, Environics developed a map of the project’s footprint and its AoI through defining the extent of potential impacts related to the development and its associated facilities, whenever possible.
- A detailed analysis of the environmental and socio-cultural features falling within the project’s AoI was carried out and the sensitivities that could be affected by the development have been highlighted. Accordingly, a map showing the entire set of sensitivities (physical, ecological and socio-cultural) was developed.
- Following the preparation of the sensitivity map, a Master Plan assessment has been carried out to include:
- A SWOT analysis focused on sensitivity aspects, to complement the one developed by the urban planners; and
- An assessment of the likely impacts of the proposed development to disclose potential impacts that can be mitigated and those eventually requiring a modification to the Master Plan.
- Accordingly, a set of recommendations has been provided, including: suitable mitigation measures; planning recommendations; and criteria for project components.
