The Clima-Med experts have conducted on the 26th and 27th of January 2020, successful capacity building workshops for 4 cities in the Red Sea Governorate in Egypt that took place at the Egyptian Public Library in Hurghada. The events took place under the auspices of Hurghada Governorate, in the presence of General Secretary of the Governorate, Major General Abdel Fattah Tammam and 33 participants from Ras Ghaleb, Safaja, Marsa Alam cities, in addition to representatives from the Directorates of Tourism and Resorts, Planning, Statistics, E-portal management, Electricity, Water and Lands use, Agricultural, Roads authority, drinking water and sanitation. The workshops were conducted for the 4 cities at the same time with the presence of cities representatives, Governorate authority’s representatives, and local social associations and NGO’s representatives, with a total number of 22 participants.

One of the main objectives of the capacity building workshops was to support the local authorities in identifying the city priority projects related to the mitigation and adaptation of climate change in all sectors; this is made possible by providing technical assistance to understand and respond more actively to climate change and to formulate and implement more sustainable projects such as renewable energy solutions, energy efficiency measures to reduce CO2 emissions, solid waste management, efficient water usage, water harvesting and environmental – friendly transport.

Moreover, the project experts were able during these meetings with the technicians involved in the SEACAPs development to identify the cities sustainable development projects, the problems and challenges they are facing and the priority action plan of each of them, in order to be able to speed up its development, financing and implementation. Based on the deep analysis done for all sectors in each of the cities, the Clima-Med experts have reached their target in identifying and prioritizing the actions and measures to be taken to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Consequently, an actions plan has been developed for each city covering the sectors included in the SEACAP formulation.

The Red Sea Governorate Cities Local Councils are leading the fight against climate change inside their cities and have made it their highest priority. At the local level, the cities have shown interest and willingness to speed up the development of the identified actions and commit themselves to deliver their work. Similarly, the National Authorities are supporting the cities in their sustainable development projects and are providing them with the necessary technical assistance as well as the financial means when it is available.