Egypt's Locally-Adapted Paulownia Forest: Is It an Answer to Many of the Country's Problems?

This month's newsletter arrives from Egypt via Egab. Journalist Mariam Mokhtar introduces us to a selected variety of Paulownia, an Asian plant with large leaves and multiple uses, which its advocates claim could help combat tree cover loss and desertification. While Paulownia can be invasive in some contexts, in an arid country like Egypt, it could help make up for a dwindling tree cover due to increasing urbanization. However, since it requires significant amounts of water, some argue it might not be ideal for countering desertification. Moreover, some of its proposed applications might need further research. Despite a few challenges, Paulownia forests are beginning to take root in Egypt. It may be too early to determine their effectiveness, but we believe this effort is worth reporting on.

A decade ago, a walk down Nile Street, near downtown Cairo, was considered a favorite Egyptian pastime. Many would stop to watch as the river’s water gently rippled, finding respite from the summer’s scorching heat beneath the sprawling branches of the 19th-century trees that lined the sidewalk. But today, after Egypt had lost three-quarters of its green cover, the Nile Corniche stands barren of the historic, towering trees that once interrupted its ever-so-urban landscape.

It is not just in Agouza, citizens are reporting trees being cut down in several of Cairo’s neighborhoods, including Garden City, Maadi and Downtown Cairo, as well as in other governorates. Egyptians are linking the intense summer heat they experienced this year — reaching nearly 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) in some southern governorates — to this rising trend, wherein trees are removed to make space for new megaprojects.

In the past ten years alone, driven by urban development, desertification and the removal of green spaces for industrial and commercial purposes, Egypt’s already scant tree cover, already less than one percent of the country’s area, dwindled to just a quarter of its 2010 baseline.

Without the carbon sequestering abilities of trees, much of this carbon would remain in the atmosphere as CO₂, the major greenhouse gas responsible for global warming. Trees store carbon in their branches, leaves, roots and soils. When they are removed, not only is less CO₂ absorbed, but the stored carbon is released into the atmosphere. According to data from Global Forest Watch, green cover loss in Egypt has resulted in an estimated 121 kilotons of carbon emissions, since 2013, equivalent to the annual energy use of 15,780 homes. 

To make matters worse, the country’s per capita green space shrunk to 0.17 square meters (1.83 square feet) per person, far below the World Health Organization's recommended minimum of nine square meters (97 square feet) per person.

Several reforestation initiatives, both government-led and driven by community groups, have sprung up in recent years to restore greenery to the arid landscape. These include the 100 Million Trees initiative, started by Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, which was launched around the time of COP27, the Shagarha campaign, which has seen the planting of 360,000 trees in 17 governorates since 2016, and the Paulownia Egypt campaign, which oversees the plantation and management of the first Paulownia forests in Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan.

The initiative, established in collaboration with the Egyptian Society for Timber Trees and Environmental Protection, was founded by Ashraf Orabi and includes experts from Cairo, Ain Shams and al-Azhar Universities.

“The lack of forests in Egypt is not only due to climatic conditions and scarce rainfall but also due to urban expansion and the focus on food production to accommodate rapid population growth,” Orabi says. “More than 96 percent of the land is dominated by deserts with sparse vegetation. We hope we can plant 100,000 acres of Paulownia across Egypt.”

Orabi came up with this project while managing a nursery that housed several plants. He was on a mission to plant a species that could have multiple uses. Over the following years, through extensive research and experimentation, he carefully selected Paulownia.

Paulownia, a fast-growing deciduous tree native to East Asia, is known for its heart-shaped leaves and trumpet-shaped flowers. Its large mass of green leaves can be potentially useful for animal feed, but according to Hesham Khamis, a professor emeritus at the Department of Timber Trees Research at the Horticultural Research Institute in Cairo, more research is needed to study their palatability and effects on animal digestion.

Khamis supports the critical need for expanding tree cover to combat global warming and environmental pollution, in an effort to achieve sustainable development. But, there are concerns that Paulownia might not be as efficient in combating desertification.