Mega-droughts caused by long-term climate cycles devastated the Levant 120,000 and 10,000 years ago, research shows. Now scientists predict it’s going to happen again By Ruth Schuster Jan 21, 2018 Around 120,000 years ago, droughts began to strike the eastern Mediterranean. They would last for thousands of years. Storms from the tropics would briefly flood […]

Read the rest of this entry »

By YOSEF I. ABRAMOWITZ 01/28/2018 ‘Sustainability is a Jewish value.’ When God created Adam, He led him around all of the trees in the Garden of Eden and told him, “See how beautiful and praiseworthy all of my works are. Everything I have created has been created for your sake. Think of this and do […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Kingdom obtains best results in its performance on SDG No. 1: No poverty By Ana V. Ibáñez Prieto – Jan 25,2018 AMMAN — Jordan has ranked 80th worldwide and 5th in the Arab world in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Index and Dashboards Report recently issued by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, which analyses the […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Kingdom has highest photovoltaic capacity in region By Ana V. Ibáñez Prieto – Jan 23,2018 AMMAN — Jordan is the 3rd country in the Arab world in renewable energy capacity, according to an infographic on the state of sustainable energy capacities in the region recently issued by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES). The Kingdom showed […]

Read the rest of this entry »

By Hana Namrouqa – Jan 24,2018 AMMAN — Lab tests showed that water of the Lahtha spring in Tafileh does not contain “worrying pollutants”, dismissing local residents’ claims that “the poisonous water killed their sheep.” Results of lab tests conducted by the Royal Scientific Society and the Ministry of Health on samples from the spring […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Under the supervision of the High Relief Committee and at PM Saad Hariri’s orders, trucks have started Tuesday removing the trash that accumulated on the Keserewan shore after rough waves broke down a faulty retaining wall around a coastal dump just east of Beirut, spilling the trash into the sea. Maj. Gen Mohammed Kheir, the […]

Read the rest of this entry »

By PHILIP ISSA Associated Press Jan 23, 2018 ZOUQ MOSBEH, Lebanon (AP) — Lebanon’s festering trash crisis came crashing ashore this week, after residents woke up to find a powerful winter storm had laid a mantle of waste at a beach just a few minutes’ drive north of the capital, Beirut. The scenes were a […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Storm carries massive rubbish pile to shores of Lebanon – Al Jazeera 23 Jan 2018 Large amounts of rubbish have washed ashore on beaches north of the Lebanese capital as a result of a heavy storm, reigniting debate about the rubbish crisis that has for years plagued the country. According to local media, the rubbish […]

Read the rest of this entry »

To bird lovers, the scenes are upsetting. Dozens of dead buzzards lie on a carpet of feathers on a rocky hill in northern Lebanon. Hunters pose with their catch — scores of calandra larks, known for their melodious birdsong, arranged neatly on the hoods of their Land Rovers. Great white pelicans, protected both in Europe […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Abu Dhabi has completed the construction of the world’s largest reserve of high-quality desalinated water, officials announced on Monday during the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week. The reservoir, costing Dh 1.6 billion and located in Liwa in Al Dhadra region of Abu Dhabi, has 5.6 billion gallons of water stored in it, which is sufficient to […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Gazans are forced to buy water at six times the standard rate from private enterprises Zafrir Rinat Jan 21, 2018 Almost all of the drinking water in the Gaza Strip is impotable because of sewage pollution or high salinity levels, according to data presented last week by a hydrologist who advises the Palestinian Water Authority. […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Reuven Rivlin says many residents in Gaza Strip will be left without sanitary conditions and clean drinking water, rejects accusations that Israel is responsible for situation Almog Ben Zikri Jan 21, 2018 Israeli president Reuven Rivlin warned Sunday that the Gaza Strip is on the verge of collapse and blamed Hamas for the dire situation […]

Read the rest of this entry »

By JTA 12/19/2017 With Israel apparently approaching a fifth-consecutive dry year, the Kinneret has dropped to dangerously low levels. JERUSALEM — Israel is preparing to pump desalinated water into the Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). The state’s Water Authority recently started work on the $300 million project, which will take about two years to complete, […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Yihui Wang January 2, 2018 The Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) has published a report titled, ‘Arab Environment in 10 Years,’ which synthesizes a decade worth of AFED annual reports on the state of the Arab environment. Highlighting developments across six priority areas (water, energy, air, food, green economy, and environmental scientific research), […]

Read the rest of this entry »

January 22, 2018 Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel on Monday blasted the government anew over the waste management crisis, announcing that he will take it to “international courts” for polluting the sea with garbage. “Words cannot describe this scene. Today we are present at Keserwan’s shore but the entire shore of Mount Lebanon is […]

Read the rest of this entry »

By Hana Namrouqa – Jan 17,2018 AMMAN — With rain forecast for this weekend, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation on Wednesday urged the public to collect rainwater off rooftops for future use during the hot season. By simply cleaning up the roofs of the buildings ahead of winter to clear dirt and pollutants, people […]

Read the rest of this entry »

By Ana V. Ibáñez Prieto – Jan 22,2018 AMMAN — The rooftops of Karak are being turned into new agricultural spaces with “Be a Friend to the Environment”, an initiative founded by 30-year-old entrepreneur Faten Al Rahaife, which aims at creating new spaces for composting within rural communities. “We create new spaces for cultivation on […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Saudi Arabia expects to begin eight renewable energy projects this year that could total more than 4.1 gigawatts of capacity. Solar will lead the pack with 3.3 GW, and wind projects could account for 800 megawatts, said Turki al-Shehri, head of the kingdom’s Renewable Energy Project Development Office. Winning bidders will cover the financing — […]

Read the rest of this entry »

The share of renewables in the Middle East energy mix is forecast to triple over the next 17 years — but natural gas will remain the dominant power source in the region. That’s one of the key findings of a new report published this week by Siemens. It predicts that by 2035 the Middle East […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Oded Eran, INSS, Gidon Bromberg and Giulia Giordano, EcoPeace Middle East January 2018 full report: http://ecopeaceme.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Water_Diplomacy.pdf Introduction: This paper reflects on the concepts of water security and water diplomacy, describes the state of water security in Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Territories, and presents a set of recommendations to decision makers designed to advance Israeli […]

Read the rest of this entry »