As world experts grapple with ways to contain global warming, researchers gathered in Egypt are seeking answers from the country’s pharaonic past to help tackle environmental problems of the present.

Blessed with incomparable archaeological wealth, Egypt is the most populous Arab nation and the number of inhabitants is expected to more than double by 2050 to 160 million, according to estimates.

The effects of climate change have long been neglected in this large North African country which largely depends on the fertile Nile Delta to feed its growing population amid concerns about land erosion.

A three-day conference is being attended by experts hoping to understand how the ancient Egyptians, who were capable of erecting the famous Giza pyramids, dealt with climate change.

“It’s time we try to learn from the past so as to make better decisions for our future,” said Shawkat Yahia, a researcher from the prestigious American University in Cairo.

He told the conference that answers were needed quickly, noting that the lives of millions of people are at risk if precious arable land disappears.

“By understanding more about how societies adapted to... their environment, we would be better prepared to plan and adapt to the current as well as the future challenges that face the Nile Delta,” he said.

Mr Yahia is among some 200 archaeologists, geographers, historians, geologists and palaeontologists from 25 countries who hope geoarchaeology – the union between archaeology and geology – will provide the key.