From Tel Aviv to Sharm el-Sheiikh: Obstacles and Keys to Environmental Peacebuilding between Israel and Egypt
Publisher: Strategic Assessment
Author(s): Moshe Terdiman, Ofir Winter, Morr Link, and Tal Angert
Date: 2022
Topics: Climate Change, Cooperation, Dispute Resolution/Mediation, Governance, Renewable Resources
Countries: Egypt, Israel
The Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP27), held in Sharm el-Sheikh in November 2022, cast a spotlight on Egypt and its commitment to environmental reform. Yet while previous indications of potential cooperation between Israel and Egypt on environmental issues appeared promising, only some initiatives have so far reached the implementation stage. Although Israel and Egypt share many environmental interests, the dialogue between them is limited; notwithstanding the logic of joining forces and tackling joint environmental issues together, actual collaboration has not yielded the necessary response to the urgent needs. A study of three areas—water and food security, blue economy, and gas and renewable energies—indicates that shared mutual interests by themselves are not enough to expand the environmental ties between Israel and Egypt, and a further set of supporting conditions is needed to help overcome the impeding obstacles. This article examines Egyptian and Israeli environmental policies and explores past and current environmental collaboration between the two countries. It analyzes the elements affecting the development of this collaboration and proposes policy recommendations toward its further expansion.