To help to alert people to the hotter future ahead, an Egyptian theatre troupe is taking the climate message to villages to enlist farmers.
LONDON, 4 September, 2019 − Ever been to an Egyptian theatre? Go to one if you get the chance. You might have an enlightening time.
How to get the message about a warming world and the challenges ahead across to people in a straightforward, simple way is a problem as old as climate change itself:
In a project funded by the World Food Programme, a group of local actors is touring villages in Egypt, putting on performances on the theme of climate change. The aim is to persuade farmers to pool their efforts in order to adapt to the changing weather patterns already evident in many areas.
Egypt is considered a country acutely vulnerable to changes in climate. The Nile Delta, densely populated and the centre of Egypt’s vast agricultural sector, is already threatened by sea level rise, its lands eaten away by salt intrusion from the Mediterranean.
Several settlements along Egypt’s north coast, including Alexandria, the country’s second most populated city, are regularly inundated by seawater.
“The plays seek to encourage villagers to form co-operatives in order to maximise the output of wheat and other crops and use less wasteful methods of irrigation”
Rising temperatures mean more water is being evaporated from the Nile, Egypt’s water lifeline. Extensive dam building upstream further threatens Nile water flows.
The theatre project, though, is playing to packed houses. The crowds are flocking in to see what is a mix of entertainment and information on ways that farming methods can be adapted to changes in climate. Light-hearted banter is part of the show.
Bloomberg news agency reports that the plays seek to encourage villagers to form co-operatives in order to maximise the output of wheat and other crops and use less wasteful methods of irrigation, so as to conserve precious water resources.
One recent play, according to Bloomberg, featured a farmer unwilling to co-operate with his neighbours to fight climate change and refusing to help pay for a new irrigation canal. In the end, though, the farmer realises the folly of his actions.
Almost 30% of jobs in Egypt are in agriculture, and farmers regularly have to battle the impact of increases in temperature and more sporadic rainfall patterns.
Sun power replaces diesel
A heatwave in 2010 resulted in serious losses for Egypt’s wheat crop, a staple in the diet of the country’s population of nearly 100 million people. Earlier this year temperatures reached near-record levels, particularly in the south of the country. Last year sudden rain deluges caused flooding in several cities.
Bloomberg reports that the theatre shows have had an impact; in many areas solar-powered irrigation pumps have replaced diesel pumps.
Forecasts of sudden changes in weather are broadcast from mosques and via mobile phones. As a result of more co-operation between farmers and increased efficiency in the use of water resources, wheat output has improved, especially in the south of the country.
Recent reports have indicated that the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) will have to endure ever-higher temperatures in the years ahead. Researchers say parts of the region can expect increased social unrest. Others have warned that extreme heat and humidity may make some areas uninhabitable, with outside activities having to be severely restricted.
Last month came a warning that the rising heat could threaten the lives of many thousands of Muslims performing the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Egypt’s neighbour Saudi Arabia. − Climate News Network
