Environment and Climate in the Middle East

news, conferences, policy discussions and academic publications on environmental issues and climate change in the Eastern Mediterranean

Environment and Climate in the Middle East

New book: The New Arab Urban: Gulf Cities of Wealth, Ambition, and Distress

Harvey Molotch NYU/UCSB and Davide Ponzini Politecnico di Milano, have published The New Arab Urban: Gulf Cities of Wealth, Ambition, and Distress (NYU Press, 2019). abstract: Thanks in part to their spectacle and authoritarian rule, cities of the Arabian Peninsula reveal contradictions of contemporary urbanization. When money is plentiful, regulation weak, and labor conditions severe, […]

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EBRD and Green Climate Fund join forces to support major renewable energy project in Egypt

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF) are teaming up to make a major contribution to a US$ 1 billion renewable energy project in Egypt. The funding supports the Egyptian government’s Sustainable Energy Strategy, which aims to source 20 per cent of Egypt’s energy from low-emission renewable sources […]

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ClimaSouth project surveys progress on climate change in each Mediterranean partner country

The EU-funded ClimaSouth project has published a series of interviews with its National Focal Points (NFPs) in the Mediterranean partner countries. The main focus of the interviews is on the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) process in each country, what is being done to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and how targets set out in the […]

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New Publication: Hussein, H. (2017) Whose ‘reality’? Discourses and hydropolitics along the Yarmouk River

ABSTRACT: This article investigates Jordanian and Syrian hydropolitical discourses around the bilateral relations along the Yarmouk River, with a focus on the decreased flow of the Yarmouk River reaching the Wahda Dam. The article examines the bilateral agreements, the hydropolitical discourses they generate, and the competing solutions they open. By situating the analysis in the […]

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Commentary: Water as a basic human right within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict [by Erika Weinthal]

October 2017 Source: American Diplomacy http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/item/2017/0712/ca/weinthal_water.html In the Middle East, water often crosses political borders; because water is a shared resource, its effective management demands cooperation among different users. In the absence of cooperation, conflict is likely. Indeed, conflict and cooperation over shared water has defined Israeli-Palestinian relations since 1967 when Israel gained full control […]

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New Publication: Of Trees and People: The Changing Entanglement in the Israeli Desert by Liron Shani

Source: Ethnos: Journal of Anthropology Abstract: This article portrays the shift experienced in the role of acacia trees during environmental–political struggles as the entanglement of trees and people. Drawing on a four-year ethnographic study around Israel’s Arava desert valley, the article narrates human interactions with these trees amid an environmental conflict fraught with personal and […]

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New Publication: Dynamic political contexts and power asymmetries: the cases of the Blue Nile and the Yarmouk Rivers by Hussam Hussein & Mattia Grandi

Source and link: International Environmental Agreements Abstract: This paper explores the evolving patterns of hydropolitical relations in the dynamic contexts of Yarmouk and Blue Nile Rivers in comparison. The analysis aims at shedding light over the complex implications that recent political and social changes have aroused for the water disputes between Jordan and Syria on […]

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1.7 million people in Jordan are water vulnerable — report [The Jordan Times]

by Hana Namrouqa | Mar 21, 2015 | source: The Jordan Times AMMAN — More than 40 million people in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey are water vulnerable, 3 per cent or 1.7 million of whom are in the Kingdom, according to a report on violence and water shortage. “The Hydro-Insecure: Crisis of Survival […]

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Refugees exacerbate water crisis in Middle East [GulfNews]

Influx of people displaced by conflicts across borders has led to an increase in the number of water-insecure areas. by JUMANA KHAMIS || MARCH 22, 2015 || Source: Gulf News Amman: The number of Syrian refugees arriving in Jordan is 1.5 million. This is equivalent to the volume of people arriving from Canada to the […]

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Fresh hope that 2,000-year old seed could restore extinct biblical Judean palm [Haaretz]

Methuselah the 10-foot tall date palm tree is a boy, researchers say, and think a female may be found. By Shira Rubin  and Ruth Schuster     | Mar. 31, 2015 | source: Haaretz Methuselah, the Judean date palm grown from a 2,000-year old seed, has turned out to be male, and there’s fresh hope he […]

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Conference: Great Lakes, Middle East leaders gather for water summit

by Brian Flood, NewsWire. Source: http://www.newswise.com/articles/great-lakes-middle-east-leaders-to-gather-for-water-summit Government officials, organization leaders and environmental experts from the U.S., Canada and the Middle East will convene April 23-24 for a University of Illinois at Chicago summit addressing water issues in the Great Lakes and Jordan River Valley. “Water After Borders: Global Stakes, Local Politics,” at UIC’s Student Center […]

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Israel’s fountain of youth

An entrepreneurial shift among Israeli youth is helping to create a green oasis in a country worried about dependence on oil. by Naomi Buck, March 23, 2015. Source: Corporate Knights: The magazine for clean capitalism   EILAT, ISRAEL – Sagi Giat and Michael Harel are sitting on poolside chaise longues, gushing about the low-friction motor […]

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‘Israel’s decision to double water supplies to Gaza is an improvement but still inadequate’ – Jerusalem Post

While water experts and environmental activists are widely praising Israel’s decision, many argue the increase is simply not enough. Source (click) By SHARON UDASIN ,  06/03/2015 Israel’s decision to double its water allocations to Gaza is a positive step forward, environmental experts said Thursday, but agreed that it is still far from sufficient to satisfy […]

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Israeli and Palestinian Farmers Unite Over Olive Oil – Good Magazine

Can an Agricultural Project Really Overcome Years of Bitter Tribalism? by Assaf Dudai, February 15, 2015 Source: http://magazine.good.is/features/olive-oil-without-borders-israel-palestine “There is no real border between Israel and Palestine,” says Muhammad Hamudi, an olive farmer and olive oil producer from Asira al-Shamaliya, near Nablus in the West Bank. He has been working with the ongoing USAID-funded project […]

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New publications – Israel Studies, special section Landscapes

The academic Journal Israel Studies has published a new Issue with a special section on Landscapes. It contains the following articles: Special Section: Landscapes Tal Alon-Mozes, Matanya Maya: “Zippori National Park as a Composite Narrative” pp. 1-30 Maoz Azaryahu, Yitzhak Reiter: “The Geopolitics of Interment: An Inquiry into the Burial of Muhammad Ali in Jerusalem, […]

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Capacity Building for Climate Action in Palestine

A National Seminar on Climate Change was organised on January 26, 27 and 28 by the ClimaSouth project in Ramallah under the Patronage of H. E. Chairperson of the Environmental Quality Authority, Eng. Adalah Al Attirah. This event was aiming at enabling the Palestinian Authority to improve the management of the climate changes issues by […]

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A Sister Cities Coalition Builds Peace Through Water in the Lower Jordan Valley

December 4, 2014, By Moses Jackson, The Wilson Center Source: New Security Beat Water is a key ingredient for peace, especially in the Middle East. The Jordan River, which forms the border between Israel, the Palestinian West Bank, and Jordan, is central to the interrelated political and environmental challenges facing the region. Addressing these challenges […]

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Israel’s West Bank barrier will not run through Palestinian world heritage site

But the Vatican is concerned that the planned barrier will still encroach on nearby Bethlehem properties By Lauren Gelfond Feldinger. Published online: 25 January 2015. Source: The ART Newspaper Israel’s Supreme Court earlier this month dismissed a landmark case thereby preventing Israel’s West Bank barrier from running through an ancient Palestinian site. Battir, a farming […]

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The 5 R go to school

THE 5 R GO TO SCHOOL Wednesday, January 14, 2015 The youth of today will be the main consumers of goods of the future. It is, therefore, crucial to guide the new generation towards a “conscious consumption”, to train them in the Reduce, Reuse, Rethink, Recycle of waste and Recovery of energy. The improper waste […]

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Environmental conservation in regions engulfed by conflict [SBS]

How challenging is it to protect the environment in a region affected by conflict? By Peggy Giakoumelos,  13 JAN 2015 With necessities such as access to clean water and food at the forefront, maintaining other aspects of the natural environment can take second or even third place. A group calling itself “EcoPeace Middle East” brings […]

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