Poverty leads to the degradation of the environment.
Conversely, sustained development is linked with environmental preservation. The 1992 Rio de Janeiro summit emphasised the importance of the fight against pollution and the need for policies to protect land and water resources. In Egypt, great efforts have been made to make national development environmentally-friendly. The difficulty here, as elsewhere, has been balancing individual and community interests, national projects and citizens' concerns. The political leadership has launched a public awareness campaign and set up a nationwide pollution monitoring system, in the belief that protecting the environment will improve living conditions for the average citizen.