Rotem Amfert has decided to rehabilitate the landscape during actual phosphate mining, under the watchful eye of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority; to be sure, the company is also being forced by regulation. By Zafrir Rinat | Mar.27, 2013 The large area known as Hatzeva B is located close to a phosphate factory in […]

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Thursday, 28 March 2013 Randa Takieddine The first solar power plant in the Arab world “Shams 1” was launched in Abu Dhabi by the Emirati company “Masdr.” Launching the plant was an occasion to look into the future of this renewable energy to produce electricity in the Arab world. It is undoubted that Middle Eastern […]

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JT | Mar 26, 2013 | 21:10 AMMAN — The Jordan Biogas Company on Tuesday signed an agreement with Finland’s government to purchase carbon credit from the Ruseifa Landfill under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). As defined in the Kyoto Protocol, the CDM allows a country with an emission reduction or limitation commitment to implement […]

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Israel becomes world’s largest Jewish center, with six million Jews; United States in second place, France third. ‘World’s Jews on decline,’ expert says Gad Lior Published: 03.28.13 Israel’s population has crossed the eight million threshold over Passover, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported Thursday. With six million Jews, Israel has become the world’s largest Jewish center. […]

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Family health survey says 95% of women know about HIV/AIDS by Khetam Malkawi | Mar 27, 2013 AMMAN — The fertility rate saw a 50 per cent drop in Jordan between the years 1976 and 2012, according to a nationwide survey announced on Wednesday. The Jordan Population and Family Health Survey (JPFHS) for the year […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 03/19/2013 04:41 Two experts present ‘road map’ on using natural resource as way to jump-start Israeli-Palestinian talks. In an effort to support the possibility of achieving regional peace by beginning with cooperation on a shared natural resource, representatives of two local organizations sent US President Barack Obama a “road map” to Middle […]

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RAMALLAH, March 21, 2013 (WAFA) – Israel controls the renewable water resources, restricts access to it and imposes obstacles on the drilling of new water wells, Palestinian central bureau of statistics (PCBS) and the Palestinian water authority (PWA) said Thursday. PCBC and PWA, in a press release issued on the occasion of the world water […]

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by Charlotta Sparre | Mar 21, 2013 In Jordan, we experience on daily basis the realities of living in one of the world’s most water-poor countries. The challenges ahead are immense: increased population pressure, urbanisation, pollution, climate change. Water resources are predicted to be even scarcer in the future. Access to safe water is increasingly […]

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Louise Sarant Around St. Catherine’s Monastery, encircled by the high South Sinai mountains, lie hundreds of Bedouin gardens nested in the nearby wadis, or valleys. These gardens, which were initially built during the Byzantine period by monks, hermits and settlers from around the Mediterranean, have been the responsibility of the Jabaleya Bedouins for more than […]

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A new facility in the West Bank, built with World Bank funding and operated by Palestinian entrepreneurs, will likely serve both Palestinians and Jewish settlers. By Zafrir Rinat | Mar.21, 2013 Local Jewish and Arab leaders in the Nazareth region and Jezreel Valley said this week they intend to work together to protect the environment. […]

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Mar 21, 2013 AMMAN — Egypt has not taken a decision to reduce gas supplies to Jordan, a diplomat said on Thursday. Khaled Thawrat, Egyptian Ambassador to Jordan, was responding to reports claiming that Cairo intends to cut down the amount of gas it exports to Jordan and halt the supply completely in June, describing […]

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March 19, 2013 12:30 AM By Bassam Fattouh The East Mediterranean has in the recent past experienced what could be described as the beginnings of a small gas revolution. The discovery of large gas deposits in the East Mediterranean since 2009 has spurred a flurry of exploration activity, leading the Financial Times to comment that […]

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One of country’s largest holding companies reports sharply wider loss in fourth quarter due to steeper losses at its shipping and electric car divisions, smaller profit at its chemicals subsidiary Reuters Published: 03.22.13 Israel Business Israel Corp, one of Israel’s largest holding companies, reported a sharply wider loss in the fourth quarter due to steeper […]

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While a power-hungry population demands more and more energy, the Israel Electric Corporation, burdened by debts, is cutting investment in its transmission network. By Itai Trilnick | Mar.21, 2013 sraelis are hungrier than ever for electricity and the Israel Electric Corporation would like to supply that demand. But there’s a snag. The Israel Electric Corporation […]

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by Hana Namrouqa | Mar 21, 2013 | 21:18 AMMAN — Environmentalists on Thursday urged the public to turn off their lights for one hour on Saturday evening under an international initiative that calls for reducing electricity consumption. A candlelight march down Rainbow Street will set off at 8:30pm from Wild Jordan, as public and […]

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While The Guardian has expanded its environmental reporting through corporate partnerships that might raise ethical issues, The New York Times has simply disbanded its environmental desk. By Zafrir Rinat | Mar.13, 2013 It can be said that global media coverage of environmental topics entered into a decline just at the time that they were really […]

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John Waterbury, 2013. download from http://www.arab-hdr.org/resources/paperseries.aspx Executive Summary The policy process in the Arab world is poorly understood. That observation is even more pertinent with respect to policies aimed at adapting to climate change. Nonetheless, we can draw lessons from the literature on policy-making with respect to economic reform in the Arab world that bear […]

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March 15, 2013 04:49 PM By Emma Farge GENEVA: U.N. agencies want to strengthen national drought policies after warnings that climate change would increase their frequency and severity. Droughts cause more deaths and displacement than floods or earthquakes, making them the world’s most destructive natural hazard, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, one of […]

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Louise Sarant Climate change, a fast growing population, ill-designed infrastructure, high levels of pollution and lack of law enforcement have made Egypt a country thirsty for water — both in terms of quantity and quality. The River Nile, which is considered poor by many experts and hydrologists, lies at lower altitude than the rest of […]

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The Israeli-Palestinian political process has been stalled for too long. It could soon be replaced by a third Intifada or a Palestinian version of the Arab Spring. If the renewed Obama Administration wants to try and avoid this possible turn of events, it has to change the paradigm that has guided all previous efforts to […]

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