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 March, 2014

Israel’s legal chaos makes West Bank a paradise for polluters – Haaretz

Israel needs to update its laws and apply this legislation across the Green Line, experts say. By Zafrir Rinat | Mar. 22, 2014 Israel’s environmental laws have begun to resemble those in the West, but the legal snafu in the West Bank leaves its inhabitants exposed to hazards. Burning trash, leaking sewage and illegal charcoal […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Court asked to restore water to Arab parts of Jerusalem – Jerusalem Post / Haaretz

JERUSALEM POST East Jerusalem residents petition High Court over lack of water By SHARON UDASIN 03/26/2014 Tens of thousands go dry for three weeks, Water Ministry, Water Authority, municipality and Hagihon utility trade blame. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel and east Jerusalem residents appealed to the High Court of Justice on Tuesday, petitioning […]

Read the rest of this entry »

EU, UNICEF to build desalination plant in Gaza – YNET / Jerusalem Post

10 million euro project will help provide good quality water to 75,000 Palestinians in the Strip. AFP Published: 03.23.14, 01:05 GAZA CITY – The European Union and UNICEF launched a project Thursday to build a desalination plant in the Gaza Strip to provide 75,000 Palestinians with drinking water. A joint statement said the project will […]

Read the rest of this entry »

‘Authorities remove illegal water pipe in south Amman’ – Jordan Times

AMMAN — Authorities on Wednesday discovered a violation on a water main in Jiza that supplies one of the capital’s largest reservoirs, according to a government official. A 75-millimetre pipe was installed on a 600-millimetre main that conveys water from the Qastal pumping station in south Amman to the Abu Alanda reservoir in east Amman, […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Settlers destroy solar panels in south Hebron hills – Maan – WAFA

HEBRON (Ma’an) — A group of settlers from the illegal outpost of Mitzpe Yair on Thursday attacked and destroyed solar panels belonging to a Palestinian community in the south Hebron hills, locals said. Witnesses told Ma’an that the settlers destroyed three out of five solar panels providing electricity to the small village of Khirbet Bir […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Opposition grows to routing Tel Aviv-area river into Mediterranean Sea – Haaretz

Highway company’s flood-control scheme for Ayalon River widely seen as expensive, wasteful, ecologically harmful. By Zafrir Rinat | Mar. 24, 2014 There is growing opposition to a plan to direct the waters of the Ayalon River into the Mediterranean Sea, as a way to curb flooding. The Israel Water Authority, the Environmental Protection Ministry and […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Plan to build homes in Rehovot’s last green spaces may be test case for Israel – Haaretz

Similar plans are in the works for Rishon Letzion, Tel Aviv, Modi’in and Kfar Saba. By Zafrir Rinat | Mar. 24, 2014 Residents of Rehovot don’t have to go far to reach the “country.” Only a short distance from the city’s eastern neighborhoods is a rural area with red loam hills, some of the area’s […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Local stork hunting sparks outrage abroad – DAILY STAR

March 21, 2014 12:29 AM By Rayane Abou Jaoude BEIRUT: Every year, white storks make their spring migration from Africa to Europe, flying hundreds of kilometers across the Lebanese coast, a key migratory corridor for many birds. This year, however, some of them will not make it home, but will instead fall prey to Lebanese […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Where to Go Bird Watching in Palestine – This Week in Palestine

From www.VisitPalestine.ps Most people do not realise that Palestine’s location at the crossroads of Africa, Europe, and Asia makes it a birdwatchers’ paradise. In fact, Palestine is considered one of the most important places for monitoring bird migration in the world. Each year, between March and April, over half a billion birds soar above our […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Mediterranean cleanup targets will not be met, says expert – Haaretz

Much of the garbage along Israel’s shoreline originated in Egypt and Lebanon. By Zafrir Rinat | Mar. 17, 2014 The countries of the European Union and the Mediterranean will not succeed in carrying out their ambitious task of treating the main concentrations of pollutants in the sea by the end of the decade. When 2020 […]

Read the rest of this entry »

JNF to receive greater state oversight – Haaretz

Despite avoiding criticism of the Jewish National Fund, Deputy Attorney General Avi Licht directs registrar of companies to list it as company for the public benefit. By Nimrod Bousso | Mar. 17, 2014 Deputy Attorney General Avi Licht has directed the registrar of companies to register the Jewish National Fund as a company for the […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Teen environmentalists to embark on 6-day trek to protest Eilat rail link – Jerusalem Post

By SHARON UDASIN 03/16/2014 A group of 20 activists from the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel will make the 200-kilometer trip on March 27. A group of 20 teenagers will take to their bicycles and walking shoes for a sixday trek from Dimona to Eilat next week, in protest of the railroad […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Palestinians seek to drill for oil in West Bank – YNET

Project to explore and develop oil in northern West Bank initiated by Mideast envoy Tony Blair and US Secretary of state John Kerry to help Palestinian economy. 03.18.14, 21:04 The Palestinian Authority has announced plans to explore for oil in the West Bank, throwing a new element of uncertainty into troubled US-backed peace efforts. Mohammed […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Gov’t buys sun-generated electricity for first time – Jordan Times

AMMAN — The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry and Shams Maan Company on Monday signed an agreement by which the former would buy from the latter electricity generated from solar energy with a capacity of 50 megawatts at the Maan Development Area (MDA). Energy Minister Mohammad Hamed said that this project is the first of […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Depoliticize Lebanon’s gas and oil – Daily Star

March 18, 2014 12:07 AM By Carole Nakhle As Lebanon is added to the global oil and gas map, there is a perception that the nation may have finally hit the jackpot. Potential oil and gas wealth, however, may take some time to materialize, and there is a danger that it may be squandered long […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Experts: Natural gas sovereign wealth fund merits further discussion – Jerusalem Post

By SHARON UDASIN 03/18/2014 Natural gas revenues should be invested in domestic causes rather than foreign markets, experts argue. Israel should not invest its natural gas revenues in foreign markets as planned, but in domestic “social-environmental causes,” lawyer-businessman Shraga Biran argued on Tuesday. Biran, who heads the Institute for Structural Reform – a nonprofit that […]

Read the rest of this entry »

State comptroller: Offshore gas facilities remain at risk – Jerusalem Post

by SHARON UDASIN 03/12/2014 IDF protection of vital energy sites “incomplete,” says latest report from Joseph Shapira. Excellence Slow progress on the part of national security authorities to legislate measures for protecting Israel’s offshore gas facilities have left existing sites vulnerable to risk, the State Comptroller Joseph Shapira determined in his latest report. “The discoveries […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Israeli gas could benefit EU, but won’t eliminate dependence on Russia, experts say – Jerusalem Post

By SHARON UDASIN 03/06/2014 Israel has approximately 400 billion cu.m. worth of proven gas reserves that are eligible for export. Although a Europe seeking to diversify its natural gas sources could potentially benefit from turning to the Eastern Mediterranean reservoirs, the continent’s dependency on Russian supplies will remain for the foreseeable future, experts say. Gas […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Tamar partners sign $1.85 billion in natural gas deals in just a week – Haaretz

Second big contract in a week is 15-year agreement to supply more than $1 billion of natural gas to two private power plants. By Eran Azran | Mar. 13, 2014 The Tamar natural gas field partners on Wednesday announced their second big contract in a week, a 15-year agreement to supply more than $1 billion […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Jordan should move away from unsustainable agriculture — report – Jordan Times

by Hana Namrouqa | Mar 12, 2014 AMMAN — Jordan should move away from unsustainable agriculture, food processing activities and water-inefficient sub-sectors, a report released on Wednesday recommended. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report said investments should mainly, if not exclusively, target profitable food chains that have made clear efforts to improve their water […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Page 1 of 2:1 2 »