The Minister of Higher Education inspects the exhibition of governmental universities to cope with climate change.

Dr. Mahmoud Muhiddin: A comprehensive and integrated action plan must be developed in collaboration with universities to address climate change.

Dr. Ayman Ashour, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, concluded the forum of events and activities of Egyptian governmental universities to counter climate change, hosted by Suez University under the chairmanship of Prof. Dr. Al-Sharqawi, from 22 to 23 September. It was under the auspices of the Supreme Council of Universities under the secretariat of Dr. Mohammed Latif, in the presence of Dr. Yasser Rifat, Deputy Minister for Scientific Research Affairs, Ambassador Hisham Badr, General Coordinator of the National Initiative for Smart Green Projects and Chairman of the Organizational Committee of the Ministry of planning as well as university presidents, a group of academic leaders, and several representatives of entities relevant to the climate change.

In addition, Dr. Mahmoud Muhyiddin, United Nations Special Envoy for Finance Agenda 2030 and Climate Leader for the Egyptian Presidency of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Climate Change Convention COP27, participated in the Forum's events via video conference, emphasizing the importance of holding the Forum, which not only presents problems but also their solutions, noting that the importance of the synergy of different countries of the world in reducing carbon emissions is one of the main causes of the climate change crisis, stressing the need to develop a comprehensive and integrated action plan in cooperation with Egyptian universities to resolve this crisis and encourage researchers to carry out applied scientific research in this field and to make greater use of it, in line with the sustainable development goals and Egypt's Vision 2030.

In his speech, the Minister stressed the importance of convening a forum aimed at highlighting the importance of complementarity among Egyptian governmental universities in preserving the environment and sustainable development and the creation of regional integration mechanisms to counter the negative impacts of climate change. The forum also aims to strengthen Egypt's role in the global climate change field and highlight the activities of governmental universities in this important field.

Dr. Ayman Ashour added that the Forum will contribute to supporting scientific research and the development of applied projects linked to the axes of climate change, stressing the importance of enhancing cooperation and integration between various stakeholders to reduce the negative impacts of climate change.

The Minister commended the efforts of all organizers of the Forum and praised the distinguished research projects presented by the universities during the Forum's events, stressing that the COP27 conference hosted by Egypt next November in Sharm el-Sheikh City will be the beginning to confront the climate changes at the local and international levels.

The sessions tackled the participation of governmental universities in the presentation of their activities and research projects in the field of climate change, most notably: the treatment of agricultural waste, the manufacture of automatic cleaning devices for solar cells, the project to rationalize electricity consumption, support ecotourism, encouraging researchers to prepare research studies on climate change, cleaning the Nile River from the Nile rose, localizing Egypt's electric car industry, green hydrogen, protecting the marine and terrestrial life, attention to endangered plants and sustainable agriculture, relying on new and renewable energy instead of traditional methods, reducing the burning of agricultural waste, relying on modern irrigation techniques for agricultural land, studying the future of household energy consumption in Egypt, conducting awareness-raising campaigns on the risks of climate change, desalination of seawater, rooftop cultivation, an environmentally friendly developed oven project for plant coal production, and solid waste management.

The Forum's recommendations are as follows:

- The University Forum was held periodically in the presence of industry and civil society to facilitate partnerships based on the guidance of innovation in green industries and the green economy.

-Preparation of a climate change response document comprising all Egyptian universities. The document contains general strategic plans to help universities draw up a clear road map to provide solutions for limiting or adapting to climate change.

-Establishment of energy and water companies in Egyptian universities.

-Establishment of a unified observatory and database at the level of Egyptian universities to follow up on international and local publishing of research in the areas of climate change, activate the National Property Rights Strategy, and encourage patenting in this field.

- Establishment of a national center for integrated studies on climate change.

- Strengthen early warning systems and forecast climate changes to reduce their risks and assist in developing plans to address them.

- To stimulate Egyptian universities to promote and improve the educational environment to keep abreast of fourth-generation universities and create a climate that contributes to creativity and innovation.

- Encouraging researchers to conduct applied scientific research in the areas of climate change.

-Create a green environment within the university community.

- The need to establish a sustainability center for each university.

-Take care of the Egyptian monuments’ protection field.

- Establishment of cooperation protocols between Egyptian governmental universities and the Egyptian Association for Beach Protection.

- Maximize the use of industrial, agricultural, animal, and solid waste.

- Maximize the use of rice straw in the production of weatherproof plastic wood.

- Promote the development of climate-resistant crop strains.

- Adopted a national project to study and document the genetic diversity of endangered wild plants.

- Orientation towards the wider use of new and renewable sources of energy, the use of organic farming systems, and the use of scientific innovations to reduce carbon emissions.

- Launch several initiatives, competitions, and exhibitions to increase environmental awareness and ecotourism.

- Implementation of projects to harvest and store water and artificial feeding to ship groundwater in areas suitable for harvesting.

- Converting lighting poles in universities and streets to use solar cells which are moving according to sunlight.

- The project to disseminate the cultivation of jojoba plants was widely adopted.

- The development of smart systems that operate on the mobile app to regulate the charging of electric vehicles on Egypt's highways.

- Interest in developing innovation in energy storage and linking it to renewable energy systems.

- The use of innovative techniques for desalination of salty sea water based on renewable energy.

On the sidelines of the events, the Minister inspected the exhibition held on the sidelines of the Forum, which contains models of applied projects from Egyptian public universities linked to the axes of climate change.