Environmental Performance Indicators as a Tool to Evaluate Urban Development Priorities in Fayoum Governorate.

Environmental performance assessment, especially EPI (Environmental Performance Indicators), is a quantifiable environmental management tool that provides guidance to improve the efficiency of development processes from an environmental perspective. It relies on two main policies: environmental health and ecosystem vitality. The study aims to evaluate the environmental performance indicators of the Fayoum governorate according to the specificity of its condition. The goal is to achieve a balance between urban development processes and the vitality of its ecosystem. The problem of research is the absence of tools and indicators of environmental performance suitable for the specificity of each region and system separately. This can be addressed by selecting environmental performance indicators appropriate for the study area based on the methodology of internationally recognized Environmental Performance Indicators (EPI). These selected indicators are then applied in the governorate to develop a set of policies and strategies that are appropriate to the issues they face from an environmental performance perspective.


Introduction
Biodiversity worldwide is under pressure due to human activities, including population growth and associated unsustainable consumption patterns.This has led to the emergence of many negative impacts and environmental problems, which directly affect environmental health and ecosystem vitality [1][2].Furthermore, integrating biodiversity conservation into developmental sectors is one of the crucial challenges in addressing the pressures on biodiversity.Therefore, preserving biodiversity and ecosystems is essential for the sustainability of life on Earth [3] [4].Moreover, the efforts made to reduce or slow down the rate of change are weak and do not align with the speed and rates of change [5].Maintaining a sustainable level of resource use and preserving environmental impacts within acceptable limits is one of the greatest challenges of today [1][6].The cities of the world also aspire to economic growth that provides the quality of life without harming the environment, and therefore they need indicators and tools to measure the performance of the environment, which aims to reduce the impact on the environment and take measures to protect it [7].As a result, countries have recently been encouraged to integrate environmental performance measures into their key indicators and actions for sustainable development.
In the context of rapid urbanization, Egypt aspires to achieve economic growth that provides a good quality of life without harming the environment.Egypt faces enormous pressure on its natural resources due to multiple factors, including growing development needs.This requires a new approach to address these challenges.Despite efforts made in recent years to develop various regions, they have often been ineffective due to significant developmental disparities between different regions within Egypt.As a result, Egypt is in urgent need of indicators and tools to assess environmental performance specific to its regional systems, which aim to reduce the impact on the environment, enhance environmental conditions, and take steps to protect the environment [8].The example of Fayoum governorate is a vivid example of the diverse environment in Egypt.The Fayoum governorate enjoys a vast diversity in its environment, which is considered a representative sample of Egypt's diverse environments, reflected in different activities and cultures.These environments include desert, rural (agricultural), and coastal environments [20].In addition, there has been increasing interest in the governorate of Fayoum from the Ministry of Environment in recent years due to its containing areas of environmental importance.This is evident in the Whale Valley site, which received the best rating in the world and was placed on the green list of protected areas in 2018.Wadi Rayan reserve was also selected as one of the important areas for wild plants, as well as Mount Qatarani in Qaroun Reserve, which was developed by the Ministry.Finally, both Wadi Rayan and Qaroun reserves are subject to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands..[3][4] However, the governorate suffers from environmental problems resulting from continuous urban and industrial growth, which affects its various environmental systems directly.This requires a set of indicators that work on the continuous measurement of these problems and the implementation of a set of procedures and mechanisms that work on maintaining environmental health, and ecosystem vitality.
Therefore, we need to use precise and suitable indicators and tools for measurement to improve decision-making in environmental protection policies and enhance the quality of water, air, soil, and biodiversity [21][12].Therefore, choosing and developing indicators is one of the most effective ways to protect and promote the vitality of environmental systems as well as to maintain environmental and human health [21].
The performance index provides a path for improvement, as it is primarily directed toward improving knowledge for policymaking.It has become a reference to environmental status in global competitiveness reports, and countries also use it at the regional level to analyze environmental sustainability in different areas and identify environments that need intervention to achieve development while preserving the environment.Environmental performance indicators rely on two main policy goals: • Environmental health, which measures the pressures on the environment and human health.
• Ecosystem vitality measures the health of environmental systems and natural resource management [21].The importance of research lies in identifying the most suitable indicators for the Egyptian context to evaluate the priorities of urban development at the regional level in the Fayoum governorate and to identify weaknesses in its different environments.Accordingly, achieving a balance between development and the environment and making it more sustainable in all sectors can be achieved.

Research Aim
The research aims to identify the priorities of urban development in Egypt by applying the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) methodology to assess environmental performance.This is done to determine weak points, and to identify environments and systems that require urgent intervention.The research proposes the application of suitable indicators for the Egyptian context based on the EPI assessment to identify environments and systems that are experiencing deterioration.These indicators will be applied to the Fayoum governorate as a live example and a miniature model of the Egyptian situation, due to its vast diversity in environmental systems and unique environmental and geographical nature.This makes it one of the most important cities that must be preserved and developed in a way that is compatible with its environmental systems to achieve sustainability [20][22].
To achieve the study's objectives of applying the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) indicators, the research follows the following structure: •

Environmental performance assessment tools
Environmental performance assessment is a measurable aspect of environmental management that can assess environmental impacts and provide guidance for improving environmental efficiency [23].Environmental performance assessment is one of the most important mechanisms used to address environmental issues.It uses methodological tools and models of environmental indicators to link them to complex relationships between environmental sectors to monitor the status through analysis and monitoring of environmental changes.It then helps to assess the current situation and provide guidelines and plans for challenges [24][25].
Many organizations have turned to the establishment and application of a set of tools that work to assess environmental performance, which enables countries to understand the shortcomings and challenges they face in their environmental dimension, which affects the process of urban development.These tools vary in terms of their approach and methods of evaluating the performance of the environment.The following is an explanation of some of the tools for environmental performance assessment: • The Ecological Footprint was published by William Rees in 1992.It is a tool that measures human demand for nature to support humans and the economy.It is therefore defined as the biologically productive area needed to provide everything that humans use.The ecological footprint changes every year according to the number of humans, individual consumption, and the productivity efficiency of ecosystems [26].It is composed of several indicators, including actual land area, areas for waste disposal, and all-natural resources such as animal and fish resources, timber, agricultural land, and built-up areas.This assessment is carried out at the regional and city levels [24].The indicators are based on the PSR model for accessing these indicators, but they were not adopted due to the difficulty of accessing them.Additionally, the concept of sustainability is partially flawed as it overlooks the importance of natural resources and the ability to change pollution.As a result, the EPI program was launched with a greater focus on environmental issues and environmental sustainability [31].The results of analyzing these tools indicate that all the pillars of these models are based on performance assessment to understand the problems facing the study area.This guides decisionmakers towards policies and strategies that address these issues and challenges, identifying different development priorities in the regions, and ultimately achieving sustainable development in all sectors.The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) will be used as a tool to assess urban development priorities because of its relationship to ecological systems and environmental health through a set of interrelated indicators that affect ecological systems in all sectors.The study area has a huge diversity of ecological systems, making the EPI the most suitable tool to achieve sustainable urban development in the unique environmental nature of the study area.

Applying Environmental Performance Assessment Tools to the Egyptian Case "Case Study
of Fayoum governorate" The results of the application of tools for evaluating urban development priorities are distinguished by directing each region to its weaknesses and main issues according to the specificity of the case.The research will select the tools and indicators most appropriate to the Egyptian situation for application to the Fayoum governorate according to the specificity of its condition.Therefore, the research will present the current situation of the governorate and the orientation for choosing the optimal tool and indicators for assessing urban development priorities.

Introducing the study area.
Fayoum is one of the governorates of the Northern Upper Egypt region.It is characterized by its unique nature, as it has a variety of environments, from agricultural to desert and coastal, as shown in Figure 3 [33][34].Fayoum is a green natural oasis located in the Western Desert, surrounded by desert on all sides except the southwest.Fayoum governorate has a wide range of resources that are not limited to natural reserves.It also includes one of the most important fossil sites in the world (Wadi Al-Hitan), which has been listed on the World Natural Heritage List by UNESCO, as well as petrified forests and ancient basalt quarries in Gebel Qatrani.Therefore, the governorate has a diverse environmental heritage and components in all parts of the governorate.
Fayoum governorate was chosen because it is a living and miniature example of Egypt, as well as the increasing interest of the Ministry of Environment in it during the previous years.This is because it contains environmentally significant areas, but it suffers from several environmental problems resulting from the continuous urban and urban development in it, as shown in the previous study [35].This indicates the need to work on indicators to preserve the health of the environment and the vitality of its diverse ecosystems [41][42].

Choosing an EPI tool to assess urban development priorities in Fayoum governorate.
The research has chosen the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) as an assessment tool for environmental performance in the governorate, as it covers all environmental system sectors that have a direct impact on development operations and are affected by them.Moreover, Egypt has recently developed a guide for environmental sustainability standards, which relies on measurement indicators for various sectors at the national level [8].This highlights the importance of working with performance assessment indicators in the Egyptian case, while considering the region's specificities when selecting indicators Environmental performance is also a component of social and economic performance in the overall performance assessment.The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) is an index that is issued every two years and was launched by the World Economic Forum in 2002 as an indicator of environmental sustainability in partnership with the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and the Center for International Earth Science Information Network at Columbia University [16][17].This tool consists of a set of sub-indicators, which are organized within a group of main indicators, which clearly appear in two main objectives of environmental policies, namely environmental health, reducing environmental pressures on human health, enhancing the vitality of the ecosystem and sound management of natural resources [1].Each edition of the EPI tool may add or subtract the number of sub-indicators within the main indicators, depending on the relevant variables.It is released every two years, and in the latest edition in 2022, the tool addressed two main issues: 1) Ecosystem vitality, 2) environmental health.It consists of 11 main indicators that contain 40 subindicators, highlighting the importance of environmental measurements and indicators.
It is also important to consider that the indicator system proposed by Yale and Columbia University is only suitable for comparing countries and requires a more accurate selection of indicators to suit the study area when used at the regional level [43].Therefore, the appropriate environmental performance indicators for the Egyptian case will be applied at the regional level based on comparative analysis.The relative advantage of environmental performance indicators is their ability to classify the provinces that make up the governorate and thus determine the environments that are experiencing deterioration and reach the priorities of urban development for each of them [43][44].

Evaluating urban development priorities using environmental performance assessment indicators.
In this part of the research, appropriate indicators will be identified and applied in the governorate of Fayoum, which will be divided into indicators related to the vitality of the environmental systems and indicators related to environmental and population health.This will be done through the following steps: • Identifying sector-specific indicators that are suitable for the nature of the study area by understanding the current situation in the study area, as well as the level of application of the indicator and the possibility of obtaining data.Additionally, proposed indicators from the tool will be identified, as shown in Table 3.

Determine the appropriate indicators for the study area and its relative weight:
In this section, the main and sub-indicators that are suitable for the environmental condition of the governorate and province of Fayoum will be identified.It is not suitable for the nature of the study area, but it will be replaced with indicators of productive, cultural, supportive, and regulatory system services for each province in the governorate * 3  Difficulty in accessing data, but is being replaced with indicators of fish production * 4  Difficulty in accessing data, but it is being replaced with indicators of agricultural production.
From the above, it is evident that the suitable environmental performance indicators for the governorate consist of two main policies: • Environmental health comprises three issues: air quality, safe sewage, safe drinking water, and solid waste management.• Ecosystem Vitality, which consists of 5 main issues: biodiversity and habitats, ecosystem services, fisheries, agriculture, and water resources, as shown in Figure 4.The indicators that were excluded due to difficulty in obtaining data, but their relative weight will be distributed among the other indicators The relative weight of the indicators is affected by the specificity of the study area.The previous study showed the importance of the diversity of ecological systems in the governorate and the dependence of economic activities and urban development on them.However, ecological systems are suffering from environmental degradation due to development processes and human activities.Pollutant levels resulting from industrial activities, mining, and agriculture are increasing, and ecological systems are deteriorating, such as the decline in fish production and agricultural production due to the high salinity of agricultural lands.This has led to an imbalance in the environmental equilibrium in the governorate, resulting in exposure to environmental pollutants, a decrease in human well-being, an increase in disease rates, and a decrease in the quality of life [35].Thus, a higher relative weight was assigned to the vitality of the environmental system than to the health of ecological systems, with a ratio of 55% to 45%, respectively.Within the environmental health sector, the weights of the performance indicators were adopted as they are suitable for the study area.However, within the vitality of the environmental system sector, there were changes in the relative weights to fit the study area.The weight was increased for both agriculture and ecosystem services indicators, as they represent key elements and issues for the study area.

Measuring and evaluating the priorities of urban development in the environmental health sector
in the province of Al Fayoum governorate At this stage, the main and sub-indicators related to the environmental health sector and issues will be identified and evaluated.The following table represents these indicators, their source of measurement, and the methods of measurement for each indicator.The following are the appropriate indicators for Al Fayoum governorate The total amount of recycled waste divided by the total amount of generated waste.

Methodology for calculating the categories of the issue specific to each policy.
Each indicator of the component indicators of the issues is calculated through the calculation of the previous mathematical equation for each indicator individually.It is calculated through the central tendency of the indicators, and based on that, an evaluation is made for the categories of the issue within the main policies, aiming to make the policies more oriented towards improving environmental performance and achieving sustainability.This is done by calculating each indicator individually and according to the relative weight specific to each indicator.The categories of the issue are obtained, and then the main policy is evaluated based on the evaluation of its specific issue categories.
As an example, the indicators related to the sanitation and drinking water issue are calculated.The indicator for unsafe sanitation is calculated using its specific equation, which is (total population not connected to safe sanitation services / total population) for each province individually.For example, in the city and provinces of Youssef Al-Siddiq, the calculation was performed, and it was found that 74% of the population is not connected to safe sanitation.Similarly, the indicator for unsafe drinking water is calculated.After applying the equation, it was found that 40% of the population in Youssef Al-Siddiq is not connected to safe drinking water.These calculations are performed for all the previous indicators.Then, the arithmetic mean method is used to calculate the categories of the issue.The sanitation and drinking water indicators are calculated based on the previous indicators.For example, the evaluation for the sanitation and drinking water issue in the city and provinces of Youssef Al-Siddiq resulted in a score of 5, calculated with its specific weight of 16%.The evaluation for that category was found to be 0.8). the environmental health status of the governorate, its provinces, and the sustainability or deterioration of the environment, it is evident that Youssef Al-Siddiq City and Province obtained the highest rating.This is attributed to the province's distance from the areas causing air pollution, such as the industrial areas in Kom Oshim.Not only does it not suffer from solid waste management issues, but it also has a low percentage of safe sanitation, reaching only 74%.This is due to the overall weakness of infrastructure services in the governorate, where 71.27% of the population does not have access to sanitation services [35][46].
The assessment also reveals that Tamia City and Province obtained the lowest rating with a total of 5.90.The most influential factor in the province is poor air quality due to the presence of an industrial area in Kom Oshim that includes heavy industries.This has led to an increase in pollutant levels above the allowed limit for total suspended particles, reaching 275 micrograms/m3 [35].
Furthermore, Sinoris City and Province received a score of 7.40, indicating the need to identify mechanisms to improve the environmental health performance in the provinces of the governorate.From the analysis of the indicator values, it was found that the factors contributing to the deterioration of environmental health in the province vary from one province to another.However, it can be said IOP Publishing doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1283/1/01200113 that air pollution resulting from industrial activity in the governorate is the most influential factor, especially in Tamia City and Province.Additionally, the low percentage of the population connected to basic services such as drinking water and safe sanitation, as well as the weak management of solid waste, contribute to the deterioration of environmental health in the Province of Al Fayoum governorate.

Measuring and evaluating the priorities of urban development in the Ecosystem vitality sector in
the province of Al Fayoum governorate At this stage, the major and sub-indicators related to the issues of ecosystem vitality will be identified and evaluated.The following table represents these indicators, their measurement sources, and the methods of measurement for each indicator.The appropriate indicators for Al Fayoum governorate are presented below.Figure 8. Ecosystem vitality rank in Fayoum governorate, Source: Author After evaluating the policy of ecosystem vitality in Fayoum governorate through measuring the subindicators, which indicate the status of the environmental system in the governorate and its provinces, and the sustainability or deterioration of the system, the previous figure shows that Youssef Al-Siddiq City and Province obtained the highest rating.Additionally, the figure also shows that Atsa City and Province received the lowest rating, with a total of 1.85.This is due to low agricultural productivity, which leads to a decrease in first-and second-degree agricultural land, representing only 29% [35].Moreover, the low percentage of treated sewage water in the provinces, where 78.8% of sewage water is untreated, and the decrease in fish production also contribute to the low rating of Atsa City and province.The next lowest rating was obtained by Al Fayoum City and Province, with a total of 2.00.This indicates the need to identify mechanisms to improve the performance of the environmental system in the provinces of the governorate.
After analyzing the values of the indicators, a significant diversity was found in the ecosystem services in the provinces due to the diversity of the environments in the governorate, ranging from desert and agricultural environments to aquatic environments.This leads to an increase in the value of all ecosystem services.However, there is a decrease in fish production in the provinces due to the overlap of sewage and lake waters, as well as the water used to feed fish farms.Additionally, there is a decrease in the percentage of agricultural production, with the fifth and sixth-degree agricultural lands representing 70% of the total agricultural land in most provinces, due to the high salinity of the agricultural land, which exceeds 6 milliohms/cm [35][33].Furthermore, the provinces suffer from weak sewage water treatment, which contributes to the decline in the environmental system in the provinces and cities of the governorate.

Evaluating the priorities of urban development using environmental performance indicators for
the whole province of Al Fayoum governorate In this stage, the main environmental indicators will be evaluated for both the health of the environmental system and the vitality of the ecosystem to determine the priorities of urban development in the provinces based on environmental performance indicators.The following table represents the final evaluation for the provinces.The relative weight of the ecosystems' vitality was set at 55%, because the governorate and its provinces enjoy an enormous variety of natural environments, but also suffer from a 45% deterioration in environmental health.The following analysis also showed: • Indicators of ecosystem services and indicators of agricultural production are the most influential in the sector of the vitality of ecosystems in the governorate.• The indicators of air quality, water, and sanitation services are the most influential in the environmental health sector in the governorate.The environmental performance evaluation of the governorate showed that the province and city of Youssef Al-Siddiq obtained the highest overall rating of 7.10 due to the high values of both the vitality of the environmental systems and environmental health in that province.It was followed by the province and city of Abshaway with a total rating of 6.20.On other hand, the province and city of Tamiya obtained the lowest rating due to several factors, such as the low value of environmental health, which reached 3.80.This is due to air pollution resulting from industrial activities, especially in the Kom Oshim area.Additionally, the vitality of the environmental systems also has a low value of 1.1 due to the low productivity of agricultural land, where the percentage of first-and second-degree agricultural land represents only 24% of the total value of agricultural land in the province.Therefore, the province and city of Tamiya require urgent intervention and the implementation of a set of mechanisms to achieve sustainable urban development.Similarly, other provinces also need a set of mechanisms that work to improve the current environmental situation and promote the achievement of sustainability.
4.9 Policies and plans for achieving sustainable urban development in the governorate and its provinces.Policies and plans are essential tools to address the challenges and obstacles that hinder sustainable and equitable urban development, and they are also tailored for each sector of environmental performance indicators, which include the vitality of the ecosystem and environmental health, each on its own.Al Fayoum governorate and its provinces face a range of key challenges in these sectors, which differ in importance for each province.Therefore, mechanisms should be divided into two categories: those that address the challenges faced by the governorate, and those that are specific to each province.All policies should be implemented, but priorities may differ depending on the nature and challenges of each province, to achieve sustainable and equitable urban development.Thus, according to the previous assessment, as well as previous studies and literature, the need to achieve these public policies, strategies, and plans for the governorate was found: [35][33][24][5][4][50][51] • Maintain ecosystems' balance, biodiversity, good governance, and sustainable development.
• Balancing development and environment processes • Pollution reduction and integrated waste management These policies and procedures are also applied, but in detail, for each province according to its priorities and according to each sector.These mechanisms are: The following policies will be put to achieve the province's urban development by their respective priorities in terms of the sector as well as its sub-indicators.

Result
Based on the above, the priorities for intervention policies for each province have been identified.These priorities were determined according to the evaluation of each province's environmental performance, as well as the weaknesses and challenges that each province faces.
The results of the previous evaluation confirmed that the provinces of Fayoum are suffering from degradation.However, the severity of the degradation varies from province to province.The sectors that are most affected by the degradation also vary from province to province.
The evaluation of the environmental performance provides a clear indicator of the priority of urban development for the provinces.This information can be used to guide policies and strategies for each province.
• The priorities for intervention for the provinces can be determined as follows: • Tamiya province is the top priority, with a total of 3.8 points.
• Etsa province is the second priority, with 4.4 points.
• Fayoum province is the third priority, with 4.7 points.
• Sennoures province is the fourth priority, with 5.3 points.
• Abshway province is the fifth priority, with 6.2 points.
• Yousef El-Siddiq province is the sixth priority, with 7.1 points.We note that the province of Tamiya suffers from weak environmental health, with the lowest evaluation in the province, 2.7.This is attributed to the high levels of pollutants due to industrial activities, which directly affects the air quality index.Therefore, when directing the priorities of policies to achieve urban development, policies for air quality indicators will be directed to the province of Tamiya as a priority.
Similarly, there are other provinces that suffer from the degradation of the vitality of the ecosystems, such as Etsa province.This is due to the decline in agricultural production, which is a result of the high levels of salinity in agricultural lands.The services of the ecosystems are also declining, with a decline in agricultural production, fisheries, and fish production, as well as a decline in cultural and organizational values.Therefore, when directing the priorities of policies to achieve urban development, policies for indicators related to agricultural production and fish production will be directed to the Etsa province as a priority.

conclusions and recommendations
The research is based on the adaptation of internationally recognized environmental performance indicators to the current situation of Fayoum governorate, which suffers from environmental degradation because of development processes and human activities, to identify the priorities of urban development according to the strengths and weaknesses that the program and indicators show, as well as to achieve a balance between urban development processes and environmental degradation.As shown by the EPI indicators that were obtained for Fayoum governorate and its provinces by combining them, the best environmental performance is achieved when natural potential is evaluated sustainably.On the other hand, the provinces that work with industrial activities and rural areas that suffer from weak infrastructure are the most vulnerable to environmental degradation.
Since the evaluation of the environmental performance of the provinces of Fayoum governorate shows that each province has obtained a different value of performance indicators, which shows the difference in their challenges, there are priorities for development processes and priorities for policies directed to each province individually.Therefore, the provinces that need priority for rapid intervention have been reached, and the sectors that are suffering from degradation have also been identified, which have directly and fundamentally affected the vitality of the ecosystems and environmental health within them, as well as putting in place a set of policies that must be applied to the governorate as a whole in general to ensure the protection of the environmental systems within it, as well as directing a set of internal policies for each sector according to the evaluation of each province.To achieve sustainable urban development.
From the study and evaluation of the environmental performance indicators for Fayoum governorate using EPI, the importance of evaluation tools as a tool that works to clarify the sectors that need intervention, not only the sectors, but also the areas that suffer from degradation in those sectors, is evident.This, in turn, works to continuously understand all the issues and problems that exist, and thus quickly put in place the appropriate mechanisms to achieve sustainable development.
The research also aims to clarify the importance of indicators for evaluating and comparing environmental performance at the governorate and province levels.However, the research faced several constraints and challenges in accessing appropriate indicators and, on the other hand, the difficulty of accessing up-to-date data.Due to these difficulties, the research considers the application of environmental performance indicators to be an initial evaluation for the identification of development priorities.The researcher also recommends that concerned parties and experts use this tool and evaluate environmental performance indicators in all future development processes, as they work to identify sectors and areas that suffer from issues.Therefore, they work to achieve all elements of sustainability.

•
Giving a relative weight to the tool's sectors and their sub-indicators by adapting to the current situation and understanding the strengths and weaknesses in the governorate • Measuring and evaluating the environmental performance indicators for the study area by relying on both: o Digital indicators, which can be obtained from secondary sources such as the census conducted by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, as well as the governorate and provinces' strategic plans.o Descriptive and ordinal indicators, which the research relied on through questionnaires that express the sub-objectives and then converting those answers into a digital variable that can be relied upon.• Evaluating the environmental performance of each issue separately by calculating a relative weight for both the sub-indicators and the main indicators and calculating each sub-variable, then evaluating the main indicators based on the sub-indicators by aggregating the average of the sub-indicators and obtaining the value of the indicators.• Then evaluating the overall environmental performance by calculating the main issues by aggregating the relative weight of each issue and calculating the average of the main indicators to obtain the final evaluation.• Developing a set of strategies and policies to preserve ecological systems and human health.

Figure 4 .
Figure 4.The main and sub-indicators of the environmental performance assessment tool in Fayoum governorate, Source: Author based on [16]

Figure 7 .
Figure 7. Ecosystem vitality rank in Fayoum governorate, source author by Microsoft Excel.

Table 3 .
Relevance of the indicator to the Egyptian case, source Author based on[16]

Table 4 .
The relative weight of the indicators in the study area, Source:

Table 5 .
Environmental performance indicators for evaluating the priorities of urban development in the environmental health sector in Al Fayoum governorate, Source: Author.

Table 6 .
Evaluating the priorities of urban development in the environmental health sector in Al Fayoum governorate, source: Author.
Figure 5. Environmental health rank in Fayoum governorate, source: Author by Microsoft Excel Figure 6.Environmental health rank in Fayoum governorate, source: Author After evaluating the environmental health policy in Al Fayoum governorate by measuring the subindicators that indicate

Table 7 .
Environmental performance indicators for assessing priorities of urban development in ecosystem vitality in Al Fayoum governorate, source Author.

Table 8 .
Evaluating the priorities of urban development in the ecosystem vitality sector in Al Fayoum governorate, source Author.

Table 9 .
Evaluation of environmental performance indicators in the governorate provinces, source author.

Table 10 .
Policies and plans for achieving sustainable urban development in the governorate and its provinces, source author.According to the results of the Environmental Performance Indicators Assessment of the Fayoum governorate provinces, the priorities for the implementation of these policies vary because each of them faces challenges.

Table 11 .
Priorities for implementing policies and plans to achieve urban development in Fayoum governorate, source author.