STRATEGIC ENVIRONEMNTAL ASSESSMENT FOR TOURISM DEVELOPMENT ON THE RED SEA COAST

Abstract

Red Sea coastal zones are among the most productive areas in the

world, offering a wide variety of valuable habitats and ecosystems services

that have always attracted humans and human activities. The beauty and

richness of coastal zones have made them popular settlement areas and

tourist destinations, important business zones and transit points.

Tourism, one of the key industries in Egypt, has developed

satisfactorily during the last 30 years. It is a major contributor to the national

economy owing to its increasing foreign currency earnings and employment

opportunities. The development of marine tourism, which is a new tourism

product to Egyptian tourism, brings about a rapid increase of tourists in the

Red Sea coast This is in turn give rise to increase in employment of tourism-

related service industries and population in the urban areas .

Unfortunately, in some parts of the region ( such in Hurghada -

Marsa Alam ) , most of the natural resources are over-exploited and the

fragile coastal and marine systems severely degraded by unregulated

human activities. As a result, the productivity and usefulness of these coastal

and marine areas have dramatically diminished and the prospects for

sustainable development are greatly jeopardized.

There are a number of reasons for this serious situation. In general

there is lack of knowledge and understanding of the coastal and marine

resources and their interaction with terrestrial processes. This lack of n

information and awareness, together with ineffective coastal and marine

planning and management further aggravated the situation.

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In this study, the present status and trends of coastal development in

the western bank of the Red Sea coast are examined , in order to find out the

gaps in the processes for the development of such coastal tourist centers

and then overcome such gaps achieve sustainable development, maximize

the benefits provided by the coastal zone and minimize conflicts and harmful

effects of activities upon each other, resources and the environment. The study comes in details in 6 chapters.

Chapter1: comes in two parts, the first one : discuss the general

characteristics of the red sea, geological evolution and coastal

geomorphology of the red sea, and the second part : discuss the Egyptian

coastal zone and some important characteristics of the red sea ends with the

Egyptian coastal problems.

Chapter 2: discuss the strategic environmental assessment definition,

an overview of the SEA Literature, aims and principals of SEA, the relation

between SEA and decision- making, steps and stages of SEA and ends with

the importance of SEA as which it is the process by which environmental

considerations are required to be fully integrated into the preparation of Plans

and Programmes and prior to their final adoption. The objectives of the SEA

process are to provide for a high level of protection of the environment and to

promote sustainable development by contributing to the integration of

environmental considerations into the preparation and adoption of specified

Plans and Programmes.

Chapter 3: discuss the importance of the environmental planning

through giving an overview about the concept of environmental planning,

giving some definitions of environmental planning, describe the methods and

process of ecological planning, as Environmental planning focuses on the

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critical ways in which human actions affect the natural environment and the

ways by which communities and regions can best integrate human and

natural environments.

Chapter 4: in this chapter, the red sea development plan were

examined, the Tourism Development Authority (TDA) prepared regional and

sector developments plans for the Red Sea Coast to use the unlimited potential of this region. These plans aimed to create new growth poles areas and new potentials for tourism investment. The regional development plan of the Red Sea Coast has defined five primary sectors: