by Mahmoud Fouly
CAIRO, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- On a street near the gate of Cairo Tower in Egypt's capital city, a large old tree rises from the middle of the roadway, with its thick, aged branches stretching above passing cars.
The tree quickly caught the eye of Hazem Ismail, a senior high school student visiting the landmark. He stopped to snap a selfie with it.
"What struck me was that it stands in the middle of the street and has not been removed," he said, adding its old branches particularly drew his attention.
Scenes of ancient trees flourishing alongside modern urban life have become increasingly common in Egypt as tree preservation and planting receive growing public and official attention.
Earlier this month, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi directed authorities to expand green spaces nationwide, while Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly ordered governorates to speed up tree planting along major roads.
The Ministry of Local Development and Environment later tightened controls on cutting or uprooting trees and pushed ahead with the presidential initiative to plant 100 million trees.
Alongside the new greening drive, efforts are underway to preserve trees that have stood for decades, and in some cases centuries.
Mohamed Abu Saada, head of Egypt's National Organization for Urban Harmony, said his group is building a "national archive" of rare and long-lived trees as part of its work to document the country's natural heritage.
More than 2,000 rare and long-lived trees have been recorded in Cairo, Giza and Aswan, with work now underway in the Nile Delta city of El Qanater El Khayreya, according to Abu Saada.
The idea came after he saw people abroad celebrating and preserving a 60-year-old olive tree, he added. "I thought that Egypt is even more deserving of caring for its trees, especially since we have trees that are more than 200 years old."
Teams are using geographic information system technology to log the trees' locations and conditions, feeding the data into the organization's "Memory of the City" mobile app so users can discover rare and historic trees nearby.
The project has covered palaces and gardens so far, with plans to create tree trails where visitors can explore rare and long-lived trees and the stories behind them, Abu Saada added.
While one initiative looks to the past to safeguard Egypt's living heritage, another has spent the past decade planting new roots for the future.
Shagrha, an environmental initiative launched in April 2016, has planted over 750,000 fruit and timber trees across 22 of Egypt's 27 governorates, involving over 250,000 volunteers, founder and CEO Omar El-Deeb said.
"Sustainability is our goal. It is not about taking a picture and that is it," El-Deeb said, adding the initiative works with local authorities, schools, hospitals and other institutions to select locations where trees can receive continued care.
Egypt's presidential "100 Million Trees" initiative, launched in 2022, aims to expand green spaces nationwide and improve air quality.
Mona Kamal, an Egyptian environmental expert and former head of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, said tree-planting efforts should be measured not simply by how many trees are planted, but by whether they survive and are maintained long-term.
"Planting new trees is worthwhile, but the important thing is that the goal should not be publicity. It should be environmentally sustainable," Kamal told Xinhua.
The expert stressed that protecting mature trees is especially vital in Egypt's desert climate, where growing new ones demands scarce water.
"If you have a 200-year-old tree and it is healthy, that is heritage, and you should preserve it," she added.
