Assessment of the Environmental Carrying Capacity for Protected Areas: A Study of Petrified Forest and Hassanah Dome, the Great Cairo

Abstract

The research aims to quantify the environmental carrying capacity of both Petrified Forest Protectorate in East Greater Cairo and Hassanah Dome Protectorate in West Greater Cairo, with their sustainable use and preservation. The environmental carrying capacity works as a sustainable method not to exceed the environmental limits of nature reserves or in other words, the number of visitors does not exceed the maximum allowed for visiting the reserve. The methodology used in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has been used. The elements of the methodology are at 3 levels, namely, physical carrying capacity (PCC), which depends on the optimal rate of space used per capita and open period, real carrying capacity (RCC), which depends on environmental and social factors, and effective carrying capacity (ECC), which depends on administrative and operational capacity. The results of the research found that the Petrified Forest Protectorate (East of Greater Cairo) accommodates 186,286 visitor per day, and Hassanah Dome Protectorate (West of Greater Cairo) accommodates 26,612 visitor per day. In addition to assessing the level of the ecological carrying capacity index (ECCI), which measures the extent of support for the population and its activities, and by comparing the total environmental carrying capacity of the two protectorates that reached 212,898 visitors per day with the population of Greater Cairo (Cairo Governorate and Giza Governorate), which reached 17 million (Capmas, 2017), it was found that the environmental carrying capacity of the two protectorates is not sufficient to support recreational activities and environmental tourism for people of Greater Cairo.

Study of Social Carrying Capacity in The Development of Tanjung Lesung as a Sustainable Tourist Destination

“…The behavior itself by psychologists is often referred to as an attempt to maintain a balance so that these unpleasant feelings return to balance. The environmental carrying capacity works as a sustainable method not to exceed the environmental limits of nature reserves or in other words, the number of visitors does not exceed the maximum allowed for visiting the reserve (Moukhtar, Ibrahim, Seoud, & Mostafa, 2020).…”

Fuzzy Correlation Evaluation of Forest Ecological Carrying Capacity Considering the Interaction between Attributes

“…It can be known from formula (10) that for a set N with n elements, the fuzzy measure of any subset in the set N can be obtained only by determining n values. According to the μ(N) = 1 condition of the fuzzy measure, the value of λ can be determined by formula (11), so when the value of g λ (i) is given, the value of λ can be obtained [34].…”

“…In the evaluation of the regional forest's ecological carrying capacity, Li Yan [5] calculated the index of forest's ecological carrying capacity based on the PSR model, and studied the evolution law of the trajectory of the center of gravity of forest's ecological carrying capacity in Anhui Province from 2001 to 2016; Liao [3] used the entropy weight TOPSIS method to study the evolution law and dynamic relationship of forest's ecological carrying rate; Jiang et al [6] used the literature retrieval method, Delphi method, principal component analysis method, and AHP to construct the evaluation index system of forest ecological carrying capacity; Tang [2] proposed a framework and method for constructing a forest resource carrying capacity indicator, the ideal forest ecological security indicator was simulated by the forest ecological location coefficient, and using the difference between it and the forest ecological security index as the forest resource carrying capacity index for the crosssectional data of 1086 counties constituting the Yangtze River Economic Belt in China in 2015; Mi Yun et al [7] measured the current situation of environmental pollution through the entropy weight TOPSIS method, and analyzed the temporal and spatial distribution of forest ecological carrying capacity in Shaanxi Province from 2008 to 2017; Cui et al [8] used the entropy weight TOPSIS method to calculate the forest ecological carrying capacity and environmental pollution pressure index, then studied the evolution law of the forest ecological carrying rate; Song [9] put forward the forest environmental carrying capacity evaluation system from many aspects, and used the proposed depth learning model to comprehensively evaluate and predict the forest environmental carrying capacity of 40 cities in the Yangtze River Delta region of China; Moukhtar [10] quantified the environmental carrying capacity of the petrified forest protectorate in eastern Greater Cairo from three levels: physical carrying capacity(PCC), real carrying capacity(RCC) and effective carrying capacity(ECC); Zhu and Zhang [11] used the entropy weight method to determine the indicator weight, and analyzed the change of forest ecological carrying capacity in Changbai County, Jilin Province. Liao [12] developed a "direction-speedpattern" tri-dimensional framework, and assessed ecological carrying capacity(ECC) by incorporating the resource provision capacity and environmental support capacity.…”

An Ecosystem-Enriched (EDPSEEA) Methodology for Sustainable Urban Development of Communities in Egypt

“…Therefore, it is exposed to various pressures, mainly represented in the consumption of resources. Environmental pressures are also affected by the context and human behavior of the population of the governorate, and the ecosystem can bear these pressures to a large extent, but once these pressures are exceeded, this will lead to damaging the state of the environment as well as the state of the ecosystems, so the environmental carrying capacity of development activities should be evaluated from the perspective of urban planners, where the concept indicates the maximum economic scope that can be supported by the environmental base (Moukhtar et al, 2020).…”