Amid their retreat from the Iraqi town, ISIL fighters lit oil wells ablaze, blanketing the area in suffocating smoke. Andrea DiCenzo | 01 Nov 2016 Qayyara, Iraq – The oil-rich town of Qayyara, about 60km south of Mosul, was retaken in August from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), whose fighters controlled […]

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Israeli travelers report foul smell from the river due to Palestinian pollution; Israeli authorities have taken action to restore the state of the river; ‘we saw dozens of dead fish, black water – it was real horror,’ visitor said. Raanan Ben Zur and Ilana Curiel|Published: 30.10.16 Israelis noticed a significant amount of pollution in the […]

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Industrial waste from Palestinian-administers areas has been particularly harmful recently due to a lack of rain. Zafrir Rinat Oct 31, 2016 Sewage from West Bank areas administered by the Palestinian Authority has been polluting streams inside Israel for years. Last week the problem led for the first time to a beach being closed in the […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 10/31/2016 The regulations, which will take effect within 45 days, will require Israeli farmers to pulverize their branches themselves or pay for their disposal at authorized sites. Israeli farmers will no longer be able to ship their trimmed foliage to the Palestinian Authority, where illegal charcoal combustion has been causing severe air […]

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GAZA (Ma’an) — Israel’s Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA) to the Gaza Strip announced on Sunday that Israel would be increasing its water supplies to the besieged coastal enclave. CLA released a statement saying that with the coordination of Palestinian liaison administration in Gaza, the construction of a new water reservoir was finished a few […]

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Residents of one Palestinian village, who once had to walk for hours daily to fetch water, now have limited access to Israeli water supplies. But it’s not enough. Reuters Nov 04, 2016 A mountainous Palestinian community in the West Bank, Al Jab’a differs in many ways from surrounding Israeli settlements. But it shares one worry […]

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The Kinneret level dropped by 15 centimeters last month, reaching 71 centimeters below the lower red line. Zafrir Rinat Nov 03, 2016 The amount of water flowing from the Jordan River into Lake Kinneret in October was the lowest during that month in the past 90 years, according to a report issued last month by […]

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Contractor responsible for violation to remove waste as expert warns of possible air, water pollution By Hana Namrouqa – Oct 30,2016 AMMAN — Four years after a local contractor illegally buried tonnes of sludge in an abandoned quarry in Mafraq Governorate, the earth is emitting poisonous gases, an official and eyewitness said on Sunday. In […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 10/31/2016 Joint List MK Dov Henin on Monday called upon the Knesset State Control Committee to subpoena Prime Minister Netanyahu, after his office allegedly intervened last week to prevent the closure of the Carmel Olefins factory in Haifa Bay. Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav issued an administrative order on Wednesday to shut down […]

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Hotel may damage natural landscape in the Sasgon Valley region, activists say; ‘This is a megalomaniacal and kitschy plan,’ lawmakers say. Zafrir Rinat Nov 01, 2016 Green organizations are demanding that planning authorities enable the public to register its opposition to the construction of a hotel in the Timna Valley in the Arava desert. The […]

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Global warming is on track to disrupt the Mediterranean region more than any droughts or heatwaves in the past 10,000 years, turning parts of southern Europe into desert by the end of the century, scientists said on Thursday. Average temperatures in the region have already risen by 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.3 Fahrenheit) since the late […]

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Beirut, 27 October 2016 The Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) will hold its ninth annual conference on November 10-11, to discuss the challenges and potential for achieving the 2030 sustainable development goals (SDGs) in a turbulent Arab world. The conference will be hosted by the American University of Beirut, academic member of AFED, […]

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AMMAN — Sixty Jordanians are planning to start a march from Amman to Aqaba on Thursday to raise awareness of climate change, the organisers said on Monday. The initiative is being held ahead of the 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties, which will be hosted in November in Morocco. “[This march] is to […]

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By Mohammad Ghazal – Oct 29,2016 AMMAN — Construction is under way on an eco-project to grow vegetables, generate power form solar energy and produce freshwater in the Aqaba desert, the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) said on Saturday. “An agreement was signed on Thursday between ASEZA and the Sahara Forest Project to start […]

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Kuwait began operating its first-ever solar power plant last Wednesday at the Umm Gudair oil field, a landmark for the OPEC member country as it seeks to diversify its sources of energy to meet fast-rising local demand. The 30-million Kuwaiti dinar ($99 million) project, Sidrah 500, will produce 10 megawatts (MW) of electricity, half of […]

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The biggest man-made forest in the GCC countries is nearing completion in Qatar, some 50km from Doha, near Umm Salal Ali. “The 8.3sq km forest, which includes two lakes and four islands, is expected be completed by March 20, 2017,” Rafi Ohanian, operations manager, Nakheel Landscapes, told Gulf Times. “About 950,000 trees are being planted […]

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AMMAN — A $1.5 billion tourism project will be established on 2,000 dunums of land at the Dead Sea under an agreement signed on Sunday, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. The deal was signed by Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister of State for Investment Affairs Jawad Anani, Jordan Development Zones company […]

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Rain expected in north, scattered showers forecast in central region’ By Hana Namrouqa – Oct 31,2016 The King Talal Dam in Jerash. There are currently 10 major dams in Jordan with a capacity of 325 million cubic metres (Photo by Amjad Ghsoun) AMMAN — The capital’s drainage system is ready to manage and discharge rainwater […]

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Environment Ministry to involve private sector as partner in adapting to impact of phenomenon By Hana Namrouqa – Oct 27,2016 AMMAN — Climate change jeopardises the survival of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which make up 98 per cent of Jordan’s businesses, experts warned on Thursday, calling for strengthening the sector’s resilience to the global […]

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AFP Iran’s vice president and environment chief, Massoumeh Ebtekar, has told AFP that the West’s failure to fully implement the nuclear deal and lift sanctions are endangering her country’s efforts to meet climate targets. In an exclusive interview, Ebtekar said Iran had already seen temperatures rise by 1.5 degrees over the past 20 years, and […]

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