Egypt's famous archaeological sites, including the pyramids and Sphinx, could disappear in 100 years as a result of climate change, experts have warned.
Extreme weather and rising sea levels threaten the country’s fragile historic site, with the ancient temples of Luxor and a Roman amphitheatre near the Mediterranean also at risk.
Low-lying areas of Alexandria, Egypt’s second-largest city, founded in 331BC by Alexander the Great, are expected to be under water in as little as 30 years’ time.
Hussein Abdel Basir, director of the Antiquities Museum at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, said: “I am afraid that climate changes may affect the monuments of the city of Alexandria and I fear that the city and part of the Egyptian Delta will be flooded over time if it continues on this approach.”
He said air pollution and more extreme weather events were taking a toll on sites such as the pyramids in Giza.
Mr Basir said: “One third of every natural site, and one sixth of every cultural heritage site is currently under threat due to climate change.
Heritage
“If no action is taken, it will negatively affect the natural heritage sites by the end of the century.”
The Egyptian government has earmarked more than £11million to protect the Citadel of Qaitbay, a 15th century fortress, from coastal erosion. To protect the monument from rising sea levels, 4,700 concrete blocks have been dropped into the water.
Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, the country’s former Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, said virtually all open-air archeological sites in Egypt were in danger. He said: “In 100 years all these antiquities will be gone because of climate change.”
Monuments elsewhere in the world, such as Machu Picchu in Peru and the Taj Mahal in India, could also be damaged by more extreme weather events.
Benedicte de Montlaur, World Monuments Fund President, said: “As the world turned its eyes to the COP27 in Egypt, we wish to underscore not only the vulnerability of historic sites to climate change but also how heritage conservation can point us to ways of mitigating the worst effects of a warming world.”
