Collaboration Workshop

1
WORKSHOP COMMITTEES Workshop Chairmen Prof.
Atef Sherif NARSS, Chairma Organizing Committee
(NARSS) Dr. Sayed M. Arafat (NARSS) Dr. El Sayed
Zaghloul (NARSS) Dr. Mahmoud H. Ahmed (NARSS) Dr.
Roger. Flower (UCL) Dr. Hamdan (CU) Dr. Mike
Coney (BC)
Collaboration Workshop on ROLE OF MONITORED
AND HISTORICAL DATA IN ASSESSING ENVIRONMENTAL
CHANGE IN EGYPTIAN LAGOONS 21st April 2004 Cairo
/Egypt
VENUE The British Council Offices, Cairo
WORKSHOP LANGUAGE The language of the Workshop
is English.
CORRESPONDENCE Dr. Mahmoud H. Ahmed National
Authority for Remote Sensing Space Sciences, 23
Joseph Brows Tito, El-Nozha El-Gedida P.O. Box
1564 Alf Maskan, Cairo, Egypt Tel
02-6225815/4 Mobile [phone]
Fax [phone] e-mail Mahahmed_narss_at_yaho
o.com Ms. Shimaa H. Zayed National Authority for
Remote Sensing Space Sciences, 23 Joseph Brows
Tito, El-Nozha El-Gedida P.O. Box 1564 Alf
Maskan, Cairo, Egypt Tel [phone] Mobile
0101238882 Fax
02-6225800 e-mail shimaa_zayed_at_yahoo.com
Sponsored by British Council (BC) National
Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences,
(NARSS) University Colleague of London (UCL)
2

• OBJECTIVES
• Bring together scientists from different
  disciplines involved with original research on
  the status of key Egyptian lakes
• Make a case for integrated science and
  environmental change research in lakes
• Focus attention on the value of current and past
  lake conditions from the point of view of i.
  water quality, ii. hydrology, iii aquatic
  biodiversity (aquatic plants, invertebrates and
  fish).
• Examine the relevance of archaeological and
  sediment records to Egyptian lakes with reference
  to the history of human activity and water
  management.
• To consider data recording and GIS databases
  together with furthering Egyptian lake research
  and co-operation with European Union science
  programmes.

PREFACE The MELMARINA research project
Monitoring and Modeling Coastal Lagoon Making
Management Tools For Aquatic Resources in North
Africa. And financed by the European Union
explores the importance of a coastal information
system based on satellite remote sensing and
ground truth data for coastal and marine areas.
If inrlus the European patens an the north Africa
partres. The former are -------and the letter
are. ----. The duistiol of the project is three
years staiting ----- The potential MELMARINA is
to help understand the current, and predict the
future changes in the hydrological and ecological
status of North African lagoons, gives the
opportunity to better appreciate, and potentially
manage the extent and spread of water-borne
diseases in these systems. Although not a
primary aim in MELMARINA, modeling and future
projects concerning water quality should be
particularly useful for anticipating likely
changes in the abundance of aquatic snail species
(vector of Bilharzia) and of mosquitoes (vector
of Melmarina . Such aspects represent a
particularly valuable environmental and
scientific desirable objective. The project is
designed to embrace the important principle of
subsidiary and will give significant control to
the operation of local activities in each North
African country to national partners and
representatives from each country. A major
concern of MELMARINA is the transfer of technical
and scientific know-how and skills from the
European to the North African partners. This is
considered to have potential positive economic
implications and is an ethically sound objective
of the project. In-particularly, the project aims
to plan the extension of the established coastal
lagoon information system of Egypt.
PROVISIONAL AGENDA 09.00-09.30 Opening session
Welcome from the British Council NARSS
Chairman Session 1. Lake Manzala Chair Persons
Dr. A. Sherif and Dr. Medney 09.30-09.45 Human
activities and Economic important of Manzala
Lagoon (Dr Mostafa Kamel) 09.45-10.00 History of
Manzala lagoon Dr. Zaghloul 10.00-10.15 Water
quality of Manzala lagoon the past and the
present Dr M.Fahmy 10.15-10.30 Plankton of Lake
Manzala. Dr M. Dorgham 10.30-10.45 Aquatic
plants (Dr. M. El-Demerdash) 10.45-11.00
11.00-11.15 Break Session 2. Melmarina
Project Chair persons Dr. A Sherif and Dr.
Zaghloul 11.15-11.30 Role of NARSS in Melmarina
Project (Dr Mahmoud Ahmed) 11.30-11.45 Lake
Manzala Past and present (Dr M. Naeim
Dewidar) 11.45-12.00 Hydrological pathways (Dr
I. El-Shenawi) 12.00-12.15 Moroco Lakes (Dr.
Mohamed Ramadani) 1215-1230 Tunisia Lakes (Dr.
Kriem M.) 12.30-12.45 Hydrology monitoring. (Ms
C. Chambers Julian Thompson) 1245-1300
Remote sensing of Melmarina Sites (Eng. B.
El-liethy) 1300-1315 Fish Assessment (Alaa
El-Haweet) 1315-1330 Discussions 1330-1430 Lu
nch Break Session 3 Lake Qarun Chair person
Dr S Riad and Dr Patrick 1430-1445 Economic
considerations (Dr Saad Nasaar ) 1445-1500 Archa
eological sites of the Faiyum Revisited Ancient
(Dr Tassie) 1500-1515 Long-term fluctuations
and cultural history of the Faiyum (Pr. Fekri
Hassan) 1515-1530 Surface geology of the
Fayum Bedrock to Quaternary (Dr.
Hamdan). 1530-1545 Recent landuse/hydrology
changes and aquatic plants (Dr T.
Saif) 15.45-16.00 Zoobenthos of Qarun Lagoon (Dr
R Fishar) 16.00-16.15 Stable isotopes and
environmental change (Dr Keatings) 1615-1630 Eco
nomic considerations (Dr Dardir) 1630-1645 Water
quality and phytoplankton (Dr A
Fathy) 1645-1700 Break Session 4 Integrated
project development and management Chair person
Prof A. Sherif, Dr A Dardir? 17.00-17.15 Environm
ental change and lake sediment records. (Roger
Flower) 17.15-17.30 Lake database development
(Mike Hughes) 17.30-17.45 Project management- EU
opportunities and challenges (Simon
Patrick) 1745-18.00 Summing up and decisions on
key aspects for Egyptian lagoons management
(Chairmen) 1800-1815 Close of meeting Mr
Coney? Prof A. Sherif Roger Flower
WORKSHOP THEME Lakes everywhere are affected by
increasing human activities yet wise management
of these valuable aquatic resources depends
initially on good quality relevant data.
Development combined with a dry climate, make the
natural lakes of Egypt especially threatened by
landuse changes, hydrological modifications and
by water pollution. This workshop addresses
scientific issues relating to environmental
change in North African lakes and focuses on two
sites, Lake Manzala and Lake Qarun. These lakes
have a long history of human intervention and
both these sites have high cultural, economic and
biological value. Lake conservation requires
integrated high quality science that uses present
and historical lake system attributes to
construct databases and models as management
tools.