JERUSALEM POST Palestinians hail Dutch firm’s decision to pull out of east Jerusalem sewage project A Dutch engineering firm that was slated to participate in the construction of a sewage treatment facility in east Jerusalem announced on Friday that it was pulling out of the project. In a move that drew praise from the Palestinians, […]

Read the rest of this entry »

September 06, 2013 BEIRUT: Firefighters and locals spent five hours containing a blaze that destroyed olive groves in rural Akkar Thursday. The National News Agency said the fire raged near the village of Talil and spread to almond, olive and fig orchards, vineyards and a poultry farm and approached a local church and cemetery. Residents […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Israeli marine scientists find Eilat’s reef able to resist higher sea temperatures, meaning it would lend itself to becoming a nature reserve in future years. By Zafrir Rinat | 08:29 28.08.13 The coral reef in the Gulf of Eilat can function as a nature reserve for coral over the next century since it is relatively […]

Read the rest of this entry »

By SHARON UDASIN Land Enforcement Division of the State Attorney’s Office takes tough stand on discharged wastewater from Oil Refineries Ltd.. The Land Enforcement Division of the State Attorney’s Office submitted an indictment to the Haifa Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday against Oil Refineries Ltd. for discharging wastewater into the Kishon River and the Mediterranean Sea. […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Environmental Protection Ministry officials say the use of less polluting gasoline is the main way to reduce pollution. By Zafrir Rinat | Aug. 26, 2013 The government approved on Sunday a plan to sharply reduce air pollution over the next decade, mainly by getting older, heavily-polluting cars off the roads and inducing commuters to take […]

Read the rest of this entry »

By SHARON UDASIN Environmental Protection Ministry says the new plan will save about 700 lives each year. The cabinet on Sunday approved a national program to prevent air pollution, a plan that the Environmental Protection Ministry said can save about 700 lives each year. Now that the plans – more than a year and a […]

Read the rest of this entry »

by Hana Namrouqa | Aug 25, 2013 | 22:43 AMMAN — Authorities have removed seven illegal waterpipes in the east Amman suburb of Marka over the past week under an ongoing campaign to end violations on the capital’s water network, a government official said on Sunday. Teams from the Ministry of Water and Irrigation and […]

Read the rest of this entry »

by Hana Namrouqa | Aug 29, 2013 | 22:56 AMMAN — A total of 72.9 per cent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the Kingdom are generated by the energy sector, with carbon dioxide constituting 83.58 per cent of the sector’s emissions, according to a report released on Thursday. The report categorised the waste sector […]

Read the rest of this entry »

By SHARON UDASIN 08/28/2013 Secretary-general of the Bonn-based World Wind Energy Association tells companies to reinvest in green energy. As Israel gears up to get its wind energy sector going, it will be crucial for the government to create an investment framework defined by stability and predictability, an international industry expert stressed on Tuesday night. […]

Read the rest of this entry »

AL-BIREH, August 19, 2013 (WAFA) – A decision by the Israeli military to close the waste disposal site the municipality of al-Bireh, Ramallah’s twin city, has been using for over 30 years, has caused serious concern among city and state officials who spoke on this subject on Monday. The military ordered the site located near […]

Read the rest of this entry »

by Hana Namrouqa | Aug 21, 2013 AMMAN — A total of 350,000 cubic metres of water is being lost in the capital each day due to violations on water resources and networks, according to a senior government official. The violators are illegally pumping water from main networks to either fill their private pools or […]

Read the rest of this entry »

YNET: Jordan, Israel in advanced talks on water deal Hashemite Kingdom, thirsty for water due to huge influx of Syrian refugees, to get Kinneret water in return for desalinated water from Aqaba plant Roi Kais Published: 08.22.13 Israel and Jordan are holding advanced negotiations over water exchanges between the two sides, Ynet has learned. According […]

Read the rest of this entry »

By SHARON UDASIN 08/20/2013 00:21 For a group of Palestinian and Israeli researchers investigating methods to completely purify water from medicinal materials, working together is nothing short of critical. “It is a must,” Dr. Rafik Karaman, of Al-Quds University’s College of Pharmacy in Abu Dis, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday. The joint Palestinian-Israeli research […]

Read the rest of this entry »

August 20, 2013 12:20 AM By Mohammed Zaatari SIDON, Lebanon: From the way officials in charge of clearing a notorious landfill in Sidon talk about the task ahead of them, the operation sounds like a sick man undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous tumor. The landfill, which contains some 2 million cubic meters of waste, […]

Read the rest of this entry »

August 22, 2013 12:15 AM By Misbah al-Ali TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Residents of the northern city of Tripoli are opposing a new building project on the city’s public waterfront, saying it would rob locals of access to the free coastal strip. The project, as presented by one of its financiers, Youssef Fattal, seeks to reclaim land […]

Read the rest of this entry »

By SHARON UDASIN 08/11/2013 Zalul warns bathers that there is no proper emergency equipment or personnel, and no sufficient insurance for potential disasters. Wearing black bathing suits and covered in black skin paint, a group of activists took to several Tel Aviv beaches on Saturday, in attempt to convince the public that the government is […]

Read the rest of this entry »

By SHARON UDASIN 08/21/2013 Even more gas than previously thought is likely lurking in the Levant basin, following a Wednesday announcement of a small but significant additional prospect just next to the Tamar reservoir. The new reservoir, called Tamar Southwest, is expected to contain about 0.7 trillion cubic feet, or about 19 billion cubic meters, […]

Read the rest of this entry »

BEIRUT: Lebanon could potentially mitigate the disastrous impacts of climate change on food resources by exploiting the near relatives of crop species that are already cultivated, experts and policymakers said Monday. “We are all in the middle of grappling with a challenge which is going to get harder and harder in the future, as resources […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Humeyra Pamuk, Reuters/Ankara Turkey has quietly built up a large presence in Kurdistan’s oil and gas industry, teaming up with U.S. major Exxon Mobil, as Ankara bets on Iraq’s semi-autonomous republic to help wean it off costly Russian and Iranian energy imports. A state-backed Turkish firm was also set up in the second quarter of […]

Read the rest of this entry »

An update from WordPress has created problems for our mailings. It will likely take a couple of weeks until we have this fixed. Our main site: http://mideastenvironment.apps01.yorku.ca/ is still up and running. Environment and Climate in the Middle East

Read the rest of this entry »