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 June, 2014

Hamdallah Calls on UN to Implement Desalination and Water Treatment Projects – WAFA

RAMALLAH, June 12, 2014 (WAFA) – Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah received, in his office on Thursday, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Monique Barbut, where he urged to increase the UN support to the Palestinian people, especially in water desalination and wastewater reclamation projects aimed at developing the field of […]

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Forest fire threatens gas company – Daily Star

June 15, 2014 08:13 PM BEIRUT: A forest fire threatened a local gas company in Akkar Sunday, after erupting in the local village of Machha. Officials expressed concern that the fire would spread from the fields to the Chabaan Gas Company. The Internal Security Forces dispatched three fire trucks and two bulldozers to the scene, […]

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Minister to allocate $330,000 to combat forest fires – Daily Star

June 12, 2014 04:48 PM The Daily Star BEIRUT: Agriculture Minister Akram Chehayeb said Thursday that he would allocate some $330,000 to clean forests most vulnerable to fires after the country saw one of its worst fires earlier this year. “I will assign LL500 million ($330,000) from the ministry’s budget to clean forests most susceptible […]

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Responsibility for unstable water supply in east Jerusalem still unclear – Jerusalem Post

By SHARON UDASIN, DANIEL K. EISENBUD 06/11/2014 Authorities have yet to clarify who will be responsible for restoring resource in the neighborhoods of Ras Hamis, Ras Shahada, Dahyat a-Salam and the Shuafat refugee camp. Despite months of unstable water supplies in several east Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the security barrier, authorities have yet to clarify who […]

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Drought and construction reveal extent of Baalbek river pollution – Daily Star

June 13, 2014 12:11 AM By Rakan al-Fakih BAALBEK, Lebanon: “One of Lebanon’s most significant tourist sites is now a source of repulsive odors,” Mohammad sighs. Lost in thought as he looks down at the Ras al-Ain River, which flows through downtown Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley, he forgets to take the order of a […]

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Health Ministry opposes gray water plan for households – Haaretz

Ministry says no despite approval of committee to extend use of gray water for gardening, toilets, other uses. By Zafrir Rinat | Jun. 10, 2014 The Health Ministry has demanded that the Standards Institute of Israel not approve a new standard that would broaden the use of gray water. Although the standard was already approved […]

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Ministry pushing for law to curb use of plastic bags in Israel – Haaretz

Israelis use an estimated 2.2 billion bags each year, costing retailers $23.1 million. Many bags end up in urban areas, nature reserves and at beaches. By Avi Bar-Eli | Jun. 8, 2014 The Environmental Protection Ministry is pushing to curb the use of disposable plastic bags in Israel with legislation that would make consumers pay […]

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Adam Teva V’Din: 63% rise in separation-at-source in 2014 – Jerusalem Post

By SHARON UDASIN 06/12/2014 Small, medium local authorities out-perform large cities in waste separation. More Israeli municipalities are launching waste separation-at-source programs, encouraging residents to separate their trash into wet and dry streams at home. There has been a 63 percent rise in number of households participating in the effort between 2013 and 2014, according […]

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Israelis make major strides in recycling waste – Haaretz

But plastic still clogs landfills due to liberal laws. By Zafrir Rinat | Jun. 12, 2014 Over 300,000 Israeli households currently separate dry and wet waste, representing a 400 percent increase in two years. This encouraging statistic was presented today at the Tel Hai Academic College, as part of a conference on recycling and waste […]

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SPNI enlists public’s help in building bird observation database – Jerusalem Post

By SHARON UDASIN 06/17/2014 Interested birding amateurs and other volunteers can log in to a portal on SPNI’s Israeli Ornithological Center’s website. The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel is calling upon the country’s bird enthusiasts to take part in a national effort to build an avian database. The new project, named Citizen […]

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Gov’t approves Beduin environmental aid – Jerusalem Post

y SHARON UDASIN 06/08/2014 The government approved on Sunday an additional budget of NIS 42 million for environmental improvements in Beduin communities, to supplement the existing NIS 40m. budget already allocated for this purpose in July. Environmental Protection Minister Amir Peretz requested the funds in order to advanced waste treatment systems for the Beduin sector, […]

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Trash selfies to shame Tunisia’s government – Al Bia wal Tanmia

Social media has again proved to be a powerful tool in Tunisia, where a group of people started a Facebook page that turns the ubiquitous ‘selfie’ into an opportunity to express disgust with the country’s stinking trash problem. SelfiPoubella, which joined Facebook on May 16, 2014, aims to keep people from ignoring the problem. The […]

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$730M plan to clean up the Litani unveiled – Daily Star

une 06, 2014 12:15 AM By Kareem Shaheen BEIRUT: Lebanese officials announced Thursday an ambitious seven-year plan that will cost hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up what they described as the “catastrophe” of pollution at the Litani River and Qaraoun Lake. The $730 million proposal will expand sewage treatment networks, manage solid waste […]

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Britain’s largest water company uses Israeli water technology – YNET

United Utilities installs Mapal Green Energy’s Floating Fine Bubble Aeration system, to achieve energy, cost savings. Aryeh Savir, Tazpit Published: 06.06.14 United Utilities, the UK‘s largest listed water company supplying around 7 million homes in the North West of England, is the latest water utility to discover the merits of floating fine bubble aeration technology, […]

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JNF agrees reluctantly to limited transparency – Haaretz

Meeting minutes reveal fears that oversight a post-Zionist threat to the organization’s most sacred goals. The board of directors of the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael) convened a few weeks ago to discuss an unprecedented challenge: two separate initiatives to impose outside supervision on the group, after years in which it operated with no […]

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50 years later, National Water Carrier still an inspiration – YNET

Legacies of carrier are many, with system serving as model for less developed countries at risk of drought, offering possibilities for positive points of contact with Palestinians. Seth M. Siegel Published: 06.09.14 In a small private ceremony, the National Water Carrier was opened fifty years ago today. Despite the enormous cost of the system and […]

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NGO: Israel’s public transport failing to meet passenger needs – Jerusalem Post

By SHARON UDASIN 06/05/2014 The organization 15 Minutes finds an unacceptable gap in Israel in favor of traveling by private car. Israeli public transportation services fail to abide by scheduled timetables and are rife with poor planning, the organization 15 Minutes claims. The public transportation optimization NGO collected the 2013 complaints of its members – […]

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Qatar sheds light on its solar-power future – Al Jazeera

Robert Kennedy Doha, Qatar – Qatar has unveiled a first-of-its-kind solar-panel factory, saying it was now the largest solar-power producer in the region with the ability to generate 300mw of energy a year. On Sunday, the Qatar Solar Energy company also announced a three-phase plan to eventually produce 2.5gw of solar energy annually, though QSE […]

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Jewish solar entrepreneur wins coveted $100K Bronfman Prize – Jerusalem Post

By SHARON UDASIN 06/05/2014 Canadian-Jewish entrepreneur Sam Goldman, who is bringing clean and affordable solar light to remote communities in Africa and Asia, received the Charles Bronfman Prize and an accompanying $100,000 award during a ceremony in New York on Tuesday. Goldman, the founder and chief customer officer of d.light design, received the prize for […]

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Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians agree: Gov’t protection needed for region’s springs – Jerusalem Post

By SHARON UDASIN 06/02/2014 Environmentalist says although a third of the springs are dried up, they are important to showing the area’s 3,000-year-old history. Residents of the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council, Beit Shemesh and Abu Ghosh areas are calling for the establishment of a national body to coordinate the plethora of institutions involved with spring […]

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