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Biodegradable straws and recycling bins, beach walks and electric shuttles, a complete ban on plastic bags: Egypt has been greening the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for months to prepare for a Global climate conferences are held there.
It was a delightful vision that heralded a worrying summit in Egypt, whose repressive politics undermined its efforts to establish itself as a climate champion in developing countries.
Egypt plans to lead the push at this year’s conference, called COP27to compensate those who are least responsible for global emissions but feel the most result of climate change.
“We need a comprehensive vision to support African countries in their efforts to adapt to climate change,” Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi told a climate change forum in September.
But Egypt’s status at the convention center raises the question of whether an authoritarian state with a troubling record on the environment and human rights should host a major climate summit.
Egypt aims to become a regional gas export hub, and its capital Cairo has the most polluted air in the world. Many environmental advocacy groups in Egypt have been harassed and even forced to close, according to rights groups and Egyptian environmentalists, even though they were given more leeway in the run-up to the summit.
The environment is just one of many issues that Egypt considers sensitive.
Since the military takeover in 2013, El-Sissi’s government has imprisoned or exiled thousands of people believed to be political opponents.They include ordinary Egyptians who criticize the authorities Facebook and prominent opposition politicians.
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg said last week she would not attend the summit in Egypt, in part because of concerns over Egypt’s human rights record. She joined a large international network of climate groups in signing a petition calling on Egypt to ease its crackdown and release political prisoners, a call that the European Parliament echoed.
“This is a challenge for the global community,” said Alden Meyer, an international climate policy expert at the Washington-based think tank E3G. “People are asking, ‘Should you reward countries that have huge human rights problems and problems by allowing them to host these high-profile, prestigious UN conferences?'”
Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt’s Sinai resort, will host the COP27 climate conference. (New York Times)
Last month, Egypt released prominent political activist and former lawmaker Ziad el-Elaimy.
But thousands remain imprisoned, including the country’s most prominent dissident, Allah Abdul-Fatah, who has been on a hunger strike for more than 200 days in an attempt to pressure authorities to let him go. His family feared he was dying.
He has vowed to stop drinking water because the summit will last two weeks and start on Sunday. But despite efforts by his family and officials in Britain, where he holds dual citizenship, to free him, Egypt has so far remained unmoved.
Egypt has also imposed increasingly stringent restrictions on civil society groups and academics working on human rights, the environment and other issues.
The government, which has placed high priority on international scrutiny, has said it will allow protests in a purpose-built desert area separated from the convention center — but only if demonstrators register their protests in advance. In the past, protests were allowed inside and outside the summit’s main venue.
Local governor Khaled Fouda promised in a recent TV interview that the protest zone, with cafes and restaurants, would be “very chic”, no matter how restrictive.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told The New York Times on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in September that Egypt wants to ensure that the protests do not disrupt organizations that rent booths at the conference.
But he added that protests “certainly will not be ruled out”.
Even if foreign tourists did succeed in their demonstrations, the authorities acted typically cautiously to ensure Egyptians did not spoil the country’s important moment with massive political unrest. Dozens of Egyptians have been arrested in recent days after calling for anti-government demonstrations during the summit, local human rights groups said.
Sharm el-Sheikh is fenced off with barbed wire and has checkpoints. Egyptians entering the region by van (the most common form of cheap transport) must present a permit to prove they are working there. Sharm el-Sheikh residents said Egyptians who were not directly connected to the meeting were forced to leave the city in recent weeks.
But with lodging scarce — hotels were priced up to 10 times their normal prices during the summit — there was little chance that Egyptians would travel to protest anyway.
Tight security is also in place to guard against Islamist militants, who bombed Sharm el-Sheikh in 2005 and shot down a Russian plane full of tourists as it flew out of the resort in 2015.
However, analysts and diplomats say Egypt is also working to stem political conflict.
Eager to boost his profile ahead of the summit and ease internal dissent over the war-induced economic collapse Ukraine It hit Egyptians hard, and the country started a “national political dialogue” in the spring to make politics more inclusive and released hundreds of political prisoners.
However, rights groups say such actions have done little to reverse years of repression.
Egyptian environmentalists are often the target of threats, asset freezes, travel bans or arrests. Since 2014, dozens of human rights and civil society groups have been prosecuted for receiving funds from abroad, making it difficult for them to survive on Egypt’s meager funds.
A September report by Human Rights Watch found that some environmental groups have scaled back or closed in the face of government harassment and restrictions on funding and field work. These groups face insurmountable hurdles in gaining legal status and security clearances that allow them to conduct research, the report found.
Egypt’s state media center did not respond to several requests for comment. But a foreign ministry spokesman said in September that it was “regrettable and counterproductive” for Human Rights Watch to “issue such a misleading report” when the world should be focusing on climate goals.
In interviews, environmental activists said victims of industrial pollution and other Egyptians who could help provide valuable environmental data often refuse to talk because the government portrays researchers and journalists as foreign agents. In many cases, they avoided asking questions to protect these people from repercussions, the researchers said.
“It’s very dangerous to do this without approval,” said Ragia Elghzawi, an environmental researcher at the Egyptian Individual Rights Initiative, one of the few remaining rights groups in Egypt. “People are afraid to talk to us.”
The restrictions, she said, have resulted in “very poor” data on pollution problems, such as Cairo’s notoriously dirty air, weakening analysis of Egypt’s environmental needs and hindering solutions. The air in Cairo is one of the most polluted in the world.
In another dubious distinction, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said environmental research in Egypt is among the most underfunded in the world.
Some areas where environmentalists can safely focus in the past include waste clean-up, recycling, climate financing, renewable energy and food security, which are priorities aligned with the government.
By contrast, groups opposed to industrial pollution and environmental damage from military-owned businesses, development, tourism and agriculture – including large government projects such as Egypt’s new administrative capital – say they face significant resistance.
But Egyptian environmentalists say the mood has improved as COP27 approaches, thanks to a joint push with the government for rich nations to take more action on climate change. Officials have invited some environmentalists to a roundtable discussion and asked for their input on preparations.
Thirty-five Egyptian civil society groups, including well-respected groups, were granted UN permission to attend the summit with Egypt’s support, although others were rejected. Egypt has also pushed dozens of other African civil society groups to participate.
Optimism is protected.
Several environmentalists said they feared the respite would be short-lived. They say they fear greater scrutiny by security agencies once the world’s attention turns elsewhere.
“I have seen a lot of progress,” said Ahmed el-Saidi, an environmental lawyer in Cairo who has sued the government for several violations of environmental law. “But we need more. After the COP, no one knows what will happen.”
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