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 August, 2021

The Age of Mega-fires: Jerusalem Blaze Is a Wake-up Call for Israel – Haaretz

With climate change and global warming, a new era of forest fires, unlike anything seen in the region before, has begun. Now, Israel must change how it fights – and thinks about them Nir Hasson Aug. 16, 2021 The Jerusalem Hills are used to forest fires – even intense, raging fires – but an official […]

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Analysis | Climate Crisis Threatens to Drown Israel, While Bureaucrats Are Busy With Petty Bickering – Haaretz

Finally, the government admits Israel is decades behind Europe in meeting its climate crisis goals. But the government’s stalemate on solar energy illustrates what a long way Israel still has to go Meirav Arlosoroff Aug. 17, 2021 5:05 PM When do members of the public know that their government is being run in a serious […]

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Spread Joy from the Rooftops: A Dream of Rooftop Gardens Across Refugee Camps across the West Bank – WAFA

RAMALLAH, Tuesday, August 17, 2021 (WAFA) – Ihab Abu Khairan lives in the heart of Arroub refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. Overcrowded and often subject to tear gas and incursions by Israeli Security Forces (ISF), Ihab’s love of agriculture and nature distracts him from the harsh reality of the circumstances of his community. […]

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Secretive Israel-UAE oil deal endangers prized Eilat corals – YNET

A year after 2 states normalized relations, new crisis has emerged as Israeli environmental groups warn of ecological disaster after clandestine deal turned Eilat into waypoint for Emirati oil headed for Western markets Associated Press | Published: 08.14.21 A symphony in splendid technicolor, the reefs are among the world’s most resilient coral colonies against warming […]

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Israel’s Energy Ministry Still Backs Natural Gas Exploration, Despite Role in Climate Crisis – Haaretz

Israel’s government continues to encourage search for more gas fields before ‘window of opportunity’ closes, as UN says a third of global warming caused by methane Lee Yaron Aug. 9, 2021 One-third of global warming is a result of the emission of methane, the main component of natural gas, according to the United Nations Intergovernmental […]

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Cabinet Approves Reforms Expected to Weaken Israel’s Environment Ministry’s Influence – Haaretz

The reforms would see the ministry lose its authority to set conditions for granting licenses to small and medium-sized businesses that may harm the environment Zafrir Rinat Aug. 3, 2021 The cabinet on Monday approved regulatory reforms that will reduce the power of the Environmental Protection Ministry and significantly impair its ability to perform its […]

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Israel Tells Teachers to Use Gas Firms’ Videos to Teach Kids About Energy – Haaretz

The videos by Noble Energy and Delek Group praise the use of natural gas without mentioning its contribution to the climate crisis Lee Yaron Aug. 13, 2021 The Education Ministry is suggesting that geography teachers teach their students about energy in Israel using videos produced by  industry powers that depict the use of oil and […]

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In First, Israel Approves Carbon Pricing on Greenhouse Gas Emissions – Haaretz

Activists praise the decision, but criticize that the money is going to the general treasury funds and not directly to solve climate change and aid its victims Lee Yaron Aug. 3, 2021 The Israeli government approved an unprecedented measure on Monday that would charge companies for the environmental and economic damage caused by their carbon […]

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Analysis | Big Oil Corporations Are Charging the Climate Change Denial Efforts – Haaretz

Oil companies knew they were destroying the planet. They decided to tackle the problem by building a huge web of disinformation and by funding politicians who would deny scientific truths Nir Hasson Aug. 11, 2021 A severe report pointing to the close relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and global warming was submitted to the president […]

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For the region, climate change is the ultimate enemy – Jordan Times

Osama Al Sharif Aug 10,2021    For decades scientists have been warning governments about the catastrophic effects of global warming, caused by greenhouse gas emissions, on climate change and calling for drastic measures to reduce man-made CO2 emissions as the only way to prevent world-wide environmental disaster. But since the signing of the Kyoto Protocol […]

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Heatwave sweeping Mediterranean latest sign of climate change impacts – Al Arabiya

A dangerous heatwave is sweeping across the Mediterranean, the latest in a series of recent extreme weather events that underscore the real-world impacts of climate change. The Italian island of Sicily may have smashed continental Europe’s heat record when thermometers hit 48.8 degrees Celsius (119.8 Fahrenheit) on Wednesday. While residents in the region are used […]

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Disaster-struck Turkey Faces Toll of Climate Change – Naharnet

From flash floods to forest fires, drought to “sea snot”, Turkey is bearing the brunt of increasingly frequent disasters blamed on climate change, putting pressure on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to act. Wildfires that have killed eight people since late July across southern coastal regions, ravaging forests and turning villages to ash, followed the growth […]

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With fuel scarce, Yemen’s forests are next casualty of war – Al Jazeera

Fuel shortages force people to turn to firewood to cook food, and logging as a source of work in a ravaged economy. 12 Aug 2021 Yemeni lumberjack Ali al-Emadi spends hours chopping down an acacia tree with an axe as his 12-year-old nephew helps out splitting logs. In a country blighted by war, al-Emadi had […]

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Mid East’s largest wind farm in Saudi Arabia starts electricity production – Al Arabiya

Tamara Abueish, Published: 08 August ,2021: Dumat Al Jandal, the Middle East’s largest wind farm and the first in Saudi Arabia, is now connected to the power grid and has begun producing carbon-free electricity. The wind farm consists of 99 wind turbines, each with the capacity to generate electricity for up to 70,000 homes in […]

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This Scientist Isn’t Warning of Impending Disaster. She’s Proving It’s Already Here – Haaretz

For years powerful entities with vested interests, whether petroleum giants or conservative politicians, tried to deny a connection between human activity and extreme weather events. Dr. Friederike Otto, a trailblazing scientist from Oxford, provides the missing link Yarden Michaeli Aug. 12, 2021 8:20 PM When the water reached chest level and inched up worrisomely to […]

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Editorial | The Burning Issue of Climate Change – Haaretz

Haaretz Editorial Aug. 8, 2021 The floods and fires in Europe and the Mediterranean in recent weeks have been unprecedented in extent, causing heavy losses to life and property. Lessons must be learned from these events to improve preparedness for a future in which the climate crisis and increased construction will worsen the damage. Such […]

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Israel urges action following UN ‘code red’ climate change report _ Jerusalem Post

A statement from the Foreign Ministry urges international cooperation in order to combat climate change. By JERUSALEM POST STAFF   AUGUST 10, 2021 Climate change is believed by scientists to affect millions of people (photo credit: REUTERS) The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published a report on Monday, warning that climate change […]

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Analysis | Israel Must Prepare for the Regional Effects of the Climate Crisis – Haaretz

Real change in lifestyle and habits are needed to mitigate climate change, and Israel needs to recognize the importance of regional cooperation Zafrir Rinat Aug. 9, 2021 Humanity was deluged by a flood of gloomy predictions with Monday’s publication of a new report by a team of United Nations climate scientists. The report contains important […]

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Analysis | The Pattern of Wildfires Is Changing, and Experts Are Worried – Haaretz

Climate change is exacerbating conditions conducive to fires, but in the Levant – including Greece, Turkey and Israel – at least we don’t have dry lightning; we have fools and firebugs instead Ruth Schuster Aug. 9, 2021 4:46 PM As of Sunday, Athens was surrounded by flames. Thousands upon thousands had to be evacuated as […]

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Hundreds Evacuated by Sea as Wildfire Reaches Turkish Power Plant n – Naharnet

Turkish rescuers on Thursday began evacuating hundreds of villagers by sea after a deadly wildfire engulfed the outer edges of a thermal power plant storing thousands of tons of coal. An AFP team saw firefighters and police fleeing the 35-year-old Kemerkoy plant in the Aegean province of Mugla as bright balls of orange flame tore […]

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