Protecting Biodiversity an Important Environmental Challenge, Says Egypt's Environment Minister

A western reef heron (Egretta gularis), also known as a western reef egret, stands in the water at the site of a state-sponsored mangrove reforestation project in the Hamata area south of Marsa Alam along Egypt's southern Red Sea coast on September 16, 2022. (AFP)
A western reef heron (Egretta gularis), also known as a western reef egret, stands in the water at the site of a state-sponsored mangrove reforestation project in the Hamata area south of Marsa Alam along Egypt's southern Red Sea coast on September 16, 2022. (AFP)
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Protecting Biodiversity an Important Environmental Challenge, Says Egypt's Environment Minister

A western reef heron (Egretta gularis), also known as a western reef egret, stands in the water at the site of a state-sponsored mangrove reforestation project in the Hamata area south of Marsa Alam along Egypt's southern Red Sea coast on September 16, 2022. (AFP)
A western reef heron (Egretta gularis), also known as a western reef egret, stands in the water at the site of a state-sponsored mangrove reforestation project in the Hamata area south of Marsa Alam along Egypt's southern Red Sea coast on September 16, 2022. (AFP)

Egypt’s Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad stressed that protecting migratory birds and biodiversity is one of the global and regional environmental challenges that Egypt is keen to address during the UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP27).

She made her remarks at the opening of the regional conference organized by Birdlife International, in cooperation with the Migratory Soaring Birds Project of the Ministry of Environment, under the title “Safe Flyways: Conference on Energy and Birds” from October 8 to 10, reported the United Arab Emirates' state news agency (WAM).

The conference aims to document relations and mutual understanding between the energy sector and nature conservation organizations along the African-Eurasian migration path in order to strengthen the relationship, understanding, and partnership between nature conservation, especially birds and energy infrastructure along the migration path.

Fouad invited attendees to the COP27, scheduled for Sharm El Sheikh in November, and called on them to create global momentum on the importance of protecting the environment and biological diversity from the effects of climate change during the Cop27 in Egypt and the Cop28 in the United Arab Emirates.



Israeli Airstrikes Kill at Least 31 in Lebanon

 Smoke billows over Beirut's southern suburbs after Israeli strikes, amid hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon, November 25, 2024. (Reuters)
Smoke billows over Beirut's southern suburbs after Israeli strikes, amid hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon, November 25, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Airstrikes Kill at Least 31 in Lebanon

 Smoke billows over Beirut's southern suburbs after Israeli strikes, amid hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon, November 25, 2024. (Reuters)
Smoke billows over Beirut's southern suburbs after Israeli strikes, amid hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from Baabda, Lebanon, November 25, 2024. (Reuters)

Massive explosions lit up Lebanon’s skies with flashes of orange, sending towering plumes of smoke into the air as Israeli airstrikes pounded Beirut’s southern suburbs. The blasts damaged buildings and left shattered glass and debris scattered across nearby streets. No casualties were reported after many residents fled the targeted sites.

Some of the strikes landed close to central Beirut and near Christian neighborhoods and other targets where Israel had issued evacuation warnings, including in Tyre and Nabatiyeh province. Israeli airstrikes also hit the northeast Baalbek-Hermel region without warning.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry said that 26 people were killed in southern Lebanon, four in the eastern Baalbek-Hermel province and one in Choueifat, a neighborhood in Beirut’s southern suburbs that was not subjected to evacuation warnings on Monday.

The deaths brought the total toll to 3,768 killed in Lebanon throughout 13 months of war between Israel and Hezbollah and nearly two months since Israel launched its ground invasion. Many of those killed since the start of the war between Israel and Hezbollah have been civilians, and health officials said some of the recovered bodies were so severely damaged that DNA testing would be required to confirm their identities.

Israel says it has killed more than 2,000 Hezbollah members. Lebanon’s Health Ministry says the war has displaced 1.2 million people.