Monitoring the urbanization of the Nile Delta, Egypt

Comparisons of processed and coregistered digital mosaics of LANDSAT MSS and TM scenes, acquired over the Nile Delta in 1972, 1984, and 1990, indicate that urban growth is endangering Egypt's agricultural productivity. Urban areas occupied a minimum of 3.6%, 4.7%, and 5.7% of the Nile Delta in 1972, 1984, and 1990, respectively, an increase of 58% in 18 years. Approximately half of this increase occurred between 1984 and 1990. If this trend continues, Egypt could lose 12% of its total agricultural area to urbanization by 2010. Despite the fact that growth is pronounced around the cities, it is the growth around the thousands of small villages that poses the largest threat to the agricultural productivity of the Nile Delta. The cumulative growth rate for the cities and large villages between 1972 and 1990 is 37%, and that for the small villages is 77% for the same time period.