Egypt and UNDP Discuss New Fund to Finance Red Sea Coral Protection

Egypt's Minister of Local Development and Environment, Manal Awad, has discussed establishing an Egyptian fund to finance the protection of Red Sea coral reefs in a meeting with the UN Development Programme's Deputy Resident Representative, Ghimar Deeb, Egypt Independent reported.

Awad said the proposed fund would help attract long-term investment to support marine conservation, according to the report.

What the report does not give is the size of the fund, who would capitalise it, when it might be created, what it would pay for, or whether the businesses that use the reefs every day — dive centres, boat fleets, hotels — would contribute to it or draw on it.

The reefs are the product this coast sells. Diving and snorkelling trips out of El Gouna, Hurghada, Safaga, El Quseir and Marsa Alam are built on reef systems that sit under simultaneous pressure from warming water, coastal construction and heavy boat traffic. A financing vehicle aimed at that pressure is a meaningful signal, even at the discussion stage.

The timing is pointed. Al-Masry Al-Youm reported this week that reef damage valued at $800,000 has been attributed to an accident at Safaga port, and Hurghada News has reported an environmental consultant urging coral-safe design for the new desalination plants planned along this coast.

For now, though, this is a conversation between a minister and a UN agency, not a fund. No follow-up meeting or decision date was reported.