아프리카ㆍ중동

In Egypt, thousands of known and unknown archaeological sites are at risk of destruction from urban sprawl and expanding development. Population growth is the main factor driven urban sprawl, Egypt’s population has witnessed a remarkable increase over the previous decades. The population rose from 35.3 million in 1970 to around 90 million today, doubling in less than 40 years. Hence, population issues are of the highest priority to the Government of Egypt. El Minya Governorate have a high population growth (i.e., 3.1% per year) and hence the urban sprawl over the archeological sites in the desert fringes of the Nile valley is expected. Remote sensing and GIS are now providing new tools for advanced ecosystem management. The collection of remotely sensed data facilitates the synoptic analysis of earth’s system function patterning and change at local, regional and global scales. Overtime such data also provide an important link between intensive localized ecological research and regional, conservation and management of archeological areas. The basic premise in using remote sensing data and GIS for change detection is that the process can identify change between two or more dates that is uncharacteristic of normal variation. This research aims to assess the extent of urban sprawl and its impact on archeological sites in El Minya Governorate, Egypt.