Volunteers remove plastic waste from Egypt's beach ahead of COP27

Volunteers cleaned up the sea floor and parts of the beach in the popular Egyptian tourist spot of Sharm el-Sheikh on Friday, collecting several bags of plastic waste.

Dozens of volunteers came from all over the city to remove plastic waste that had been piling up.

Diving trainer Marwa Wasim said everything from single-use plastic materials to metals and tires was collected from the sea floor.

The cleanup campaign in Sharm el-Sheikh was led by the Chamber of Diving and Water Sports and was organized in coordination with the Egyptian Environment Ministry.

The campaign comes weeks ahead of the U.N.'s COP-27 conference in the Red Sea resort in November.

Building on the outcomes and momentum of COP-26 in Glasgow, nations are expected to step up and fulfil their commitments under the Paris Agreement.

Egyptian Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad said the upcoming conference needs to be about "active participation", not just "slogans".

In recent years, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's government has taken steps to convert to renewables, seizing the advantage of the country's optimal solar and wind conditions for energy harvesting.

In 2017, Egypt also launched an EU-funded initiative to encourage people to limit their use of plastic bags and to shift to more environment-friendly alternatives.

But the government has faced criticism from environmental activists for razing green spaces and cutting down tens of thousands of trees for infrastructure projects, especially in Cairo where a gigantic cloud of air pollution often hovers.