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

Archives for September, 2010

Editorial: Prepare for the drought – Jerusalem Post

By JPOST EDITORIAL 09/11/2010 21:16 We are witnessing an incomprehensible ongoing failure to conserve existing resources. At a season in which Jews everywhere pray fervently for rain in Israel, meteorologists bear bad tidings. By their learned prognostications, we are in for a very parched year – not that the previous winter, a relatively good one […]

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Until accepted – Jordan Times

The number of people buying bottled water for drinking and cooking is on the rise, as proved by the increasing number of water purification and filtering shops in urban areas. The reasons more Jordanians resort to bottled water have more to do with myth than with reality, for, if there are concerns about tap water, […]

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The sand belongs to the dune – Haaretz

Nature restoration work is usually a worthy endeavor; as long as we need quarries and mining, it should be done in a considered and efficient manner. The problem is that nature in Israel has turned into a major rehabilitation project. By Zafrir Rinat Officials at the Israel Lands Administration and the National Infrastructure Ministry take […]

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‘Phosphate hills’ to undergo facelift – Jordan Times

By Hana Namrouqa AMMAN – Four thousand dunums of land in Ruseifa piled with waste from phosphate mining will be cleaned up and turned into green spaces, parks and vocational zones, according to environment officials. The Jordan Phosphate Mines Company (JPMC) started operations in the area in the 1930s, and the plant was relocated to […]

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Delegation vetting Wadi Rum as World Heritage Site – Jordan Times

By Hana Namrouqa AMMAN – A United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) delegation arrived in the Kingdom on Saturday to evaluate Jordan’s nomination of Wadi Rum as a World Heritage Site. The delegation, which comprises experts and representatives of UNESCO’s consulting institutions, is scheduled to tour the southern desert and meet with local […]

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Coral colonies found 700 meters under Mediterranean – Jerusalem Post

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH 09/21/2010 22:28 Reefs discovered by Haifa University researchers using robot diving equipment only 30 km. from Tel Aviv. Coral reefs have been discovered deep off Israel’s Mediterranean coast by a team of Haifa University researchers who spent the last two-and-a-half weeks on the Nautilus ship owned by Robert Ballard, the discoverer in […]

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Weeklong beach clean-up begins as part of campaign – Jerusalem Post

By EHUD ZION WALDOKS 09/20/2010 04:23 International Coastal Cleanup is the brainchild of international NGO Ocean Conservancy; highest rated: Achziv, Tel Baruch, Nordau-Metzitzim and Hilton. Israel joined the International Coastal Cleanup on Sunday for the first time, launching a week-long beach campaign that will peak Friday at Nahsholim Beach. The goal is to encourage 2,500 […]

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Campaigners urge halt on road works to protect reserve – Daily Star

Wednesday, September 22, 2010 BEIRUT: Environmentalists called for saving the Bentael Nature Reserve in Jbeil on Tuesday, saying a project to build a nearby road will harm the reserve. The head of the Bentael Nature Reserve Organization Raymond Khoury held a news conference dubbed “Save the Bentael Nature Reserve” to urge officials to halt all […]

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Spines don’t deter Ramat Aviv’s hedgehog heroes – Haaretz

The veteran Tel Aviv neighborhood houses two rare species of the small nocturnal mammals By Zafrir Rinat Old Ramat Aviv has a stolid image, but its otherwise serene residents morph into environmental avengers when their quality of life is under threat. They prize the neighborhood’s green spaces, and turned positively fierce when city hall’s landscaping […]

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Kingdom exploring new sources of natural gas supply – Jordan Times

By Taylor Luck AMMAN – A drop in the amount of natural gas supplied by Egypt is forcing the Kingdom to explore new energy sources, according to a senior official. Natural gas, which the Kingdom receives from Egypt at preferential prices, fuelled 90 per cent of electricity generation last year, but the amount of gas […]

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Large Golan wind farm to be nat’l infrastructure priority – Jerusalem Post

By EHUD ZION WALDOKS 09/21/2010 22:12 155-megawatt wind turbine farm awarded priority planning status this week by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. A 155-megawatt wind turbine farm set to be constructed in the Golan Heights was awarded priority planning status this week by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the urging of the Ministry of National Infrastructures. […]

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Sudan, Spanish agricultural projects shelved – Jordan Times

By Hani Hazaimeh AMMAN – The Kingdom’s stalled Sudan agricultural investment project is no longer feasible. Meanwhile a proposal by Spanish investors to market the Kingdom’s olive oil in Europe has also failed to take off, the government said on Monday. The Sudan project started in 1998 when Jordan signed a 70-year agricultural protocol with […]

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Take out your trash on time, GAM tells Amman residents – Jordan Times

The Greater Amman Municipality will enter into a dialogue with the capital’s residents this week to get their feedback on a garbage disposal By Rand Dalgamouni AMMAN – The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) will launch an awareness campaign this week to inform the capital’s residents about assigned times to take out their trash. Residents will […]

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Billion dollar baby – Jerusalem Post

By GERARD HEUMANN 09/19/2010 22:46 Jerusalemites are not likely to forgive or forget the trauma of the 10 years of construction and endless disruptions to traffic caused by the Jerusalem Light Rail project The long-awaited inauguration of the Jerusalem Light Rail line, the first of its type in the country, is scheduled, barring further delays, […]

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Experts call for switching to green culture, economy – Jordan Times

By Hana Namrouqa AMMAN – HRH Prince Asem Bin Nayef on Monday announced the launch of the Arab Council for Renewable Energy, which seeks to promote renewable energy use and appliances in the Arab region. During the Green Techies Forum and Exhibition (GTFEX 2010), which opened yesterday with the participation of over 350 sector representatives […]

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Cabinet mulls 10-year plan for replacing car fossil fuels – Jerusalem Post

By EHUD ZION WALDOKS 09/20/2010 04:29 Plan calls for an NIS 200 million annual project budget to encourage research, support companies in the field and foster international cooperation. The cabinet discussed on Sunday a proposed ten-year national plan to fund research into alternative fuels in the hopes of reducing world dependence on oil. The plan […]

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PM pushes NIS 4b. alternative energy R&D drive – Jerusalem Post

By EHUD ZION WALDOKS 09/17/2010 03:48 A national plan for developing alternatives to oil will be proposed by the prime minister to the cabinet; calls for the government money to be supplemented by private sector. Netanyahu grandiosely declared at last year’s President’s Conference in October that Israel would find a substitute for oil in the […]

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Israel bids to end global oil dependency by 2020 – Haaretz

Government plan, to be reviewed Sunday, will make Israel a global center for alternative energy technology. By Avi Bar-Eli An interministerial committee charged with finding ways of turning Israel into an international hub for technology to reduce global oil consumption will present its findings to the cabinet today. The government plans to invest NIS 2 […]

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All that glitters / Are the natural gas discoveries inflating the shekel? – Haaretz

Gas barons will profit while traditional exporters may suffer. By Eytan Avriel This has gone widely unnoticed, but underneath the surface, a drama has been unfolding in the forex market. After almost three months during which the dollar stayed above NIS 3.80, if not far above that level, in recent weeks speculators have begun buying […]

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Oil Refineries gives NIS 90M for Kishon cleanup – YNET

Haifa Oil Refineries agrees to fund nearly half of polluted river’s cleanup project, after Environmental Protection Ministry says it’s responsible for 87% of contamination Amir Ben-David, Yedioth Ahronoth Published: 09.14.10, 16:24 Israel’s Haifa Oil Refineries Ltd (ORL) have, for the first time, assumed responsibility for their part in the sorry state of the Kishon River […]

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