Tourism has become one of Egypt’s main sources of income and has undergone rapid privatization and subsequent growth. This has resulted in numerous policy and implementation gaps including those in environmental policy. Egypt’s natural resources are thus threatened by this unsustainable tourism growth. This study analyses the impact of the tourism privatization movement in Egypt on the distribution of environmental responsibility between the private and public sectors and the environmental consequences. Changes in the roles of the private and public sectors in tourism and other roles, priorities, and agendas that each stakeholder may have are considered in this thesis. In order to gather information for this study, Egyptian laws and legislations pertaining to the areas of the environment, tourism and investment were examined. Secondary data from government sources about tourist numbers and characteristics, and about investment trends in Egypt were also obtained and examined. A series of interviews of key informants from the public sector, private sector, and NGOs were also conducted in the Egyptian capital city, Cairo, and on the Red Sea. Two Red Sea cities, Hurghada and El Gouna were visited and environmental initiatives in them were observed and made note of. This study finds that the Egyptian private sector is more successful than the public sector at planning and managing environmental initiatives, and that Egypt’s tourism pricing policy is a key influence on the level of environmental degradation. In terms of laws and regulations, it was found that Egypt has a sufficient number of environmental regulations and institutions; but that the challenge lies in their functioning and efficiency, and that the government’s environmental initiatives are largely symbolic and designed to attract foreign aid. These findings suggest that Egypt should focus on improving the quality rather than increasing the quantity of tourism. Accordingly, the marketing competitive advantage should be the quality and uniqueness of the destination rather than its low price. In terms of private-public sector interactions, governmental institutions should assume a more active role in environmental protection and should employ experts and knowledgeable professionals as decision makers, while the private sector should be encouraged to undertake large-scale tourism projects. It is found that sustainable tourism cannot be achieved without the contribution and collaboration of both parties in tourism planning and development.

Tourism has become one of Egypt’s main sources of income and has undergone rapid privatization and subsequent growth. This has resulted in numerous policy and implementation gaps including those in environmental policy. Egypt’s natural resources are thus threatened by this unsustainable tourism growth. This study analyses the impact of the tourism privatization movement in Egypt on the distribution of environmental responsibility between the private and public sectors and the environmental consequences. Changes in the roles of the private and public sectors in tourism and other roles, priorities, and agendas that each stakeholder may have are considered in this thesis. In order to gather information for this study, Egyptian laws and legislations pertaining to the areas of the environment, tourism and investment were examined. Secondary data from government sources about tourist numbers and characteristics, and about investment trends in Egypt were also obtained and examined. A series of interviews of key informants from the public sector, private sector, and NGOs were also conducted in the Egyptian capital city, Cairo, and on the Red Sea. Two Red Sea cities, Hurghada and El Gouna were visited and environmental initiatives in them were observed and made note of. This study finds that the Egyptian private sector is more successful than the public sector at planning and managing environmental initiatives, and that Egypt’s tourism pricing policy is a key influence on the level of environmental degradation. In terms of laws and regulations, it was found that Egypt has a sufficient number of environmental regulations and institutions; but that the challenge lies in their functioning and efficiency, and that the government’s environmental initiatives are largely symbolic and designed to attract foreign aid. These findings suggest that Egypt should focus on improving the quality rather than increasing the quantity of tourism. Accordingly, the marketing competitive advantage should be the quality and uniqueness of the destination rather than its low price. In terms of private-public sector interactions, governmental institutions should assume a more active role in environmental protection and should employ experts and knowledgeable professionals as decision makers, while the private sector should be encouraged to undertake large-scale tourism projects. It is found that sustainable tourism cannot be achieved without the contribution and collaboration of both parties in tourism planning and development.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv., 2004. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Alors qu'elles n'intervenaient jusqu'ici que marginalement dans l'économie du pèlerinage à La Mecque (hajj), la catastrophe humanitaire constituée par l'épidémie de choléra de 1865-66 a conduit certaines puissances coloniales comme la France et la Grande-Bretagne, bientôt rejointes par l'Italie, à se saisir directement de la question de l'organisation des déplacements et du séjour de leurs sujets musulmans dans les Villes Saintes du Hedjaz. Pour la première fois dans l'histoire de l'Islam, le hajj a ainsi été supervisé par des puissances non-musulmanes. Si l'objectif affiché de l'intrusion européenne dans l'économie du hajj reste la protection sanitaire des pèlerins et partant du continent européen, il n'en cache pas moins des préoccupations plus politiques. L'enjeu est alors de rendre le hajj « gouvernable ». A cet égard, la Grande Guerre et l'annexion du Hedjaz par le gouvernement saoudien en 1925 constituent des étapes importantes en donnant aux puissances coloniales les moyens de construire de véritables « politiques du pèlerinage ». La décennie 1930 marque ainsi l'apogée de l'intrusion des puissances coloniales européennes dans l'organisation du pèlerinage à La Mecque qu'elles ont contribué à transformer en un instrument d'influence diplomatique et coloniale / While they intervened until then only marginally in the hajj affairs, the humanitarian disaster constituted by the epidemic of cholera of 1865-66 led colonial powers, such as France and Great Britain, soon joined by Italy, to deal directly with the question of the organization of the travels and the stay of their Moslem subjects in the Holy Cities of the Hijaz. For the first time in the history of Islam, the hajj was so overseen by not Moslem powers. If the official aim of european intervention remained the sanitary protection of the pilgrims - and, to a certain extent, the protection of the European continent - it hides not less more political concerns from it. Here the stake consists in making the hajj « governable ». In this respect, the Great War and the Hijjaz annexation by Saudi government in 1925 constitute important stages providing colonial powers the means to build of real « pilgrimage policies ». For the european colonial powers, the 1930's represent the peak of their intrusion in pilgrimage to Mecca organization they have contributed to turn into an instrument of diplomatic and colonial influence

Climate change poses a serious threat to species that demonstrate temperature dependent sex determination (TDS), including marine turtles. Increased temperatures can result in highly female skewed sex ratios and decreased hatchling success. In situ sand temperature data was collected from the nesting depth of hawksbill and green turtles at five study sites along the coast of the Red Sea. The sand temperature profile at four of the sites exceeded the pivotal temperature of 29.2°C (commonly cited in literature) throughout the study duration, which suggests feminization of turtles could be occurring, but further studies need to identify the pivotal temperature in this region. The percentage of days exceeding the commonly cited maximum thermal threshold (33 and 35°C) was calculated for each site at 30 and 50 cm. Sand temperature recordings were as high as 36.0°C at 30 cm depth, and 35.3°C at 50 cm. This suggests that the turtle hatchlings in some areas of the Red Sea could already have high mortality rates due to high temperatures, unless they are locally adapted to these high temperatures. The Red Sea is home to five out of the seven extant species of marine turtles in the world, but not much is known about these populations. The Red Sea is an understudied region of the world, but it has the potential to provide insight on how species might adapt to future climate change due to its high and variable water temperatures (range of 20°C to 35°C) and high salinity (40 PSU). Sites with lower sand temperatures (and lower risk of feminization) may represent priority areas for conservation efforts, particularly in regions facing imminent coastal development.

Masters of Science / A chemical study on the total extract of the zoanthid Palythoa tuberculosa, collected from the Red Sea, resulted in the isolation of seven polyhydroxylated sterols viz: palysterols A-G, six of which are new. Their chemical structures were elucidated on the basis of their 1D and 2D NMR and MS spectroscopic data. Palysterols B and G demonstrated cytotoxic activity on three human cancer cell lines (MCF-7, HeLa, and HT- 29). Palysterol G, in particular, was able to induce apoptosis in breast adenocarcinoma(MCF-7) cells

In 1938 Dr. Eugene Gudger concluded of the Red Sea that "whale sharks must surely abound in this region." Seventy years later, multi-method research began on a whale shark (Rhincodon typus) aggregation at Shib Habil, a reef near Al Lith, Saudi Arabia. However, in 2017 and 2018, a dramatic decline in encounters at this site drew questions about the aggregation's future and overall whale shark population trends in the region. In this dissertation, I describe and discuss the two-year decline in encounters and show that neither remotely sensed sea surface temperature nor chlorophyll-a concentrations were significantly different in seasons with or without sharks. Citizen science-based photo identification was used to characterize the northern Red Sea population, the Red Sea population as a whole, show limited crossover within the basin, and connections with another aggregation in Djibouti. Scarring rates within the Red Sea are compared to recent global studies, and the Red Sea uniquely had no predator bites observed, suggesting boat collisions are likely the leading cause of major scars. Finally, building upon previous genetic work comparing Red Sea and Tanzanian sharks using microsatellites, the mitochondrial control region was sequenced, and two global haplotype networks were produced and compared to each other and previous work. The stability of genetic diversity within the Shib Habil aggregation is compared to declines previously measured in Australia. As tourism develops along the northern Saudi Arabian coast and citizen science increases in the Red Sea, population dynamics within the region could be better understood. The genetic connectivity of Red Sea whale sharks to the Indo-Pacific population exemplifies the need for continued collaborative research beyond local aggregations and multinational conservation measures.

A sequence of autonomous underwater glider deployments were used to characterize the spatial-temporal variability of the region over an eight month period from late September to May. Strongly stratified system was found in early fall with significant gradients in both temperature (T) and salinity (S), during winter T < 23°C and minimum S of 40.3 psu was observed and resulting in weakened stratification that enables deep convective mixing and upwelling of deep water by cyclonic circulations in the region leading to significant biomass increase. Throughout the entire observational period the slope of the 28 and 28.5 kg/m3 isopycnals remained sloping downward from offshore toward the coast reflected a persistent northward geostrophic flow. The depth of the 180 μmol/kg isopleth of oxygen, indicative of the top of the nutricline, paralleled the depth of the 28 kg/m3, but remained slightly deeper than the isopycnal. The deep winter mixing did not penetrate the nutricline where the mixed layer was deeper near the coast. However, because of the cyclonic signature the 28 kg/m3 rose to the surface offshore, injecting nutrients into the surface layer and promoting increased biomass in the central Red Sea. With the presence of cyclonic eddies, there was evidence of subduction associated with the cross-eddy circulation. This subducted flow was toward the coast within the domain of the glider observations. During this period, increases in the particulate backscatter were associated with increased chlorophyll indicating that the suspended particles were primarily phytoplankton particles. Within the mean northward flow there is a cross-basin flow wherein water is upwelled near the center of the Red Sea, there is a eastward component to the northward flow, and subsequent downwelling near the coasts. Within the surface flow subductive processes lead not only to a horizontal flow, but also a downward component toward the coast. Overall transport is very 3-dimensional in the northern Red Sea, such that northward transport and its associated embedded circulations are northward, while southward transport occurs on the western side of the Red Sea, in contrast to some of the descriptions of flow provided in earlier papers.

Coral reef ecosystems are in rapid decline due to global and local anthropogenic factors. Being among the most diverse ecosystems on Earth, a loss will decrease species diversity, and remove food source for people along the coast. The coral together with its symbionts (i.e. Symbiodinium, bacteria, and other microorganisms) is called the ‘coral holobiont’. The coral host offers its associated symbionts suitable habitats and nutrients, while Symbiodinium and coral-associated bacteria provide the host with photosynthates and vital nutrients. Association of corals with certain types of Symbiodinium and bacteria confer coral stress tolerance, and lack or loss of these symbionts coincides with diseased or bleached corals. However, a detailed understanding of the coral holobiont diversity and structure in regard to diseases and health states or across global scales is missing. This dissertation addressed coral-associated symbiont diversity, specifically of Symbiodinium and bacteria, in various coral species from different geographic locations and different health states. The main aims were (1) to expand the scope of existing technologies, (2) to establish a standardized framework to facilitate comparison of symbiont assemblages over coral species and sites, (3) to assess Symbiodinium diversity in the Arabian Seas, and (4) to elucidate whether coral health states have conserved bacterial footprints. In summary, a next generation sequencing pipeline for Symbiodinium diversity typing of the ITS2 marker is developed and applied to describe Symbiodinium diversity in corals around the Arabian Peninsula. The data show that corals in the Arabian Seas are dominated by a single Symbiodinium type, but harbor a rich variety of types in low abundant. Further, association with different Symbiodinium types is structured according to geographic locations. In addition, the application of 16S rRNA gene microarrays to investigate how differences in microbiome structure relate to differences in health and disease demonstrate that coral species share common microbial footprints in phenotypically similar diseases that are conserved between regional seas. Moreover, corals harbor bacteria that are species-specific and distinct from the diseased microbial footprints. The existence of conserved coral disease microbiomes allows for cataloging diseases based on bacterial assemblage over coral species boundaries and will greatly facilitate future comparative analyses.

Deep-sea corals have long been regarded as cold-water coral; however a reevaluation of their habitat limitations has been suggested after the discovery of deep-sea coral in the Red Sea where temperatures exceed 20˚C. To gain further insight into the biology of deep-sea corals at these temperatures, the work in this PhD employed a holotranscriptomic approach, looking at coral animal host and bacterial symbiont gene expression in Dendrophyllia sp., Eguchipsammia fistula, and Rhizotrochus sp. sampled from the deep Red Sea. Bacterial community composition was analyzed via amplicon-based 16S surveys and cultured bacterial strains were subjected to bioprospecting in order to gauge the pharmaceutical potential of coralassociated microbes. Coral host transcriptome data suggest that coral can employ mitochondrial hypometabolism, anaerobic glycolysis, and surface cilia to enhance mass transport rates to manage the low oxygen and highly oligotrophic Red Sea waters. In the microbial community associated with these corals, ribokinases and retron-type reverse transcriptases are abundantly expressed. In its first application to deep-sea coral associated microbial communities, 16S-based next-generation sequencing found that a single operational taxonomic unit can comprise the majority of sequence reads and that a large number of low abundance populations are present, which cannot be visualized with first generation sequencing. Bioactivity testing of selected bacterial isolates was surveyed over 100 cytological parameters with high content screening, covering several major organelles and key proteins involved in a variety of signaling cascades. Some of these cytological profiles were similar to those of several reference pharmacologically active compounds, which suggest that the bacteria isolates produce compounds with similar mechanisms of action as the reference compounds. The sum of this work offers several mechanisms by which Red Sea deep-sea corals cope with environmental conditions in which no other deep-sea corals have yet to be reported. These deep-sea coral are associated with rich microbial communities, which produce molecules that induce bioactivity. The aggregate of this work provides direction for future research of Red Sea deep-sea coral and highlights the potential pharmacological benefit of conserving these species and their unique ecosystem.