By Hana Namrouqa AMMAN – Winners of a competition for designing water- and energy-efficient housing units were honoured on Wednesday, amidst calls for incorporating protection of the Kingdom’s scarce resources in building codes. Mahmoud Saymeh and his wife Lama Abu Hassan took home first prize for designing an apartment building that enhances residents’ quality of […]

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By Susan Lawrence Helke AMMAN – The Aqaba Marine Park (AMP) and the Royal Marine Conservation Society of Jordan (JREDS) carried out numerous activities in Aqaba over the past week as part of the global “Clean up the World” campaign. Observed every year in Aqaba, the activities help clean up the environment while also serving […]

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Landmark strategy looks to preserve unique ecology of Mediterranean Basin By Simona Sikimic Saturday, October 02, 2010 BEIRUT: Lebanon’s mountains, deemed to be under serious threat from climate change and urbanization, have been listed as among the top conservation priorities of the first-ever comprehensive plan to preserve the unique ecology of the Mediterranean Basin. The […]

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NGO says more must be done to protect wildlife By Patrick Galey Monday, October 04, 2010 Listen to the Article – Powered by BEIRUT: A leading animal rights groups gathered activists from across the country on Sunday to plant 1,000 trees as part of Lebanon’s celebrations of World Animals Day (WAD). Animals Lebanon coordinated the […]

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Volume 15, No.151, October 2010 CONTENTS 4 The road to Cancun (editorial by Najib Saab) 16 Poisons in your cosmetics (cover story) 24 Parting the waters conflicts on Jordan River 28 Sand storms in the Arabian Peninsula ROPME Report 32 Sports for life activities of Qatar’s Olympic committee 34 Impact of global warming on water […]

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September 9, 2010 Amman, Tel Aviv, Bethlehem The European Parliament passed an historic resolution on September 9th, bringing attention to the critical state of the Lower Jordan River and calling upon the governments of Israel, Jordan and Palestine to work together to rehabilitate the Jordan River. Initiated by leaders of the Group of Socialists and […]

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By Rand Dalgamouni AMMAN – Islamic scholars on Wednesday concluded that spiritual corruption is one of the main reasons behind the environmental problems now facing humans. At the conclusion of the 15th General Conference of the Royal Al al Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought titled “Environment in Islam” yesterday, participants adopted the Islamic Declaration on […]

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By Thameen Kheetan AMMAN – Jordanian organisers of a cycling tour for environmental awareness that includes Israeli and Palestinian participants on Wednesday said they would consider cancelling the event if anti-normalisation activists continue to condemn the initiative. “It is possible, if the criticism continues, that we will cancel the event because we don’t need trouble,” […]

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Cross border Bicyling for 350.org 2010-10-08 Friends of the Earth Middle East is organizing a unique cross-border cycling event to call attention to the threatening impacts of climate change on the Lower Jordan River and the Dead Sea. The event is part of the Global Work Party 10/10/10, organized by 350.org. To achieve the objectives […]

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Production moves across separation fence, leaving Israelis coughing. By Chaim Levinson Smoke from the Palestinian charcoal industry in the northern West Bank, which has moved west of the separation fence in recent years, has become a pollution problem in Jewish communities west of the Green Line. But there may be a ray of light through […]

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By Rand Dalgamouni AMMAN – Environmental thinking leads to political maturity, according to Minister of Environment Hazem Malhas. During a seminar on environmental challenges in Jordan held by Al Rai Centre for Research on Saturday, he urged Jordanians to vote for parliamentary candidates who take the environment into consideration in their political agenda. Malhas presented […]

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By JPOST EDITORIAL 09/11/2010 21:16 We are witnessing an incomprehensible ongoing failure to conserve existing resources. At a season in which Jews everywhere pray fervently for rain in Israel, meteorologists bear bad tidings. By their learned prognostications, we are in for a very parched year – not that the previous winter, a relatively good one […]

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The number of people buying bottled water for drinking and cooking is on the rise, as proved by the increasing number of water purification and filtering shops in urban areas. The reasons more Jordanians resort to bottled water have more to do with myth than with reality, for, if there are concerns about tap water, […]

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Nature restoration work is usually a worthy endeavor; as long as we need quarries and mining, it should be done in a considered and efficient manner. The problem is that nature in Israel has turned into a major rehabilitation project. By Zafrir Rinat Officials at the Israel Lands Administration and the National Infrastructure Ministry take […]

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By Hana Namrouqa AMMAN – Four thousand dunums of land in Ruseifa piled with waste from phosphate mining will be cleaned up and turned into green spaces, parks and vocational zones, according to environment officials. The Jordan Phosphate Mines Company (JPMC) started operations in the area in the 1930s, and the plant was relocated to […]

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By Hana Namrouqa AMMAN – A United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) delegation arrived in the Kingdom on Saturday to evaluate Jordan’s nomination of Wadi Rum as a World Heritage Site. The delegation, which comprises experts and representatives of UNESCO’s consulting institutions, is scheduled to tour the southern desert and meet with local […]

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By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH 09/21/2010 22:28 Reefs discovered by Haifa University researchers using robot diving equipment only 30 km. from Tel Aviv. Coral reefs have been discovered deep off Israel’s Mediterranean coast by a team of Haifa University researchers who spent the last two-and-a-half weeks on the Nautilus ship owned by Robert Ballard, the discoverer in […]

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By EHUD ZION WALDOKS 09/20/2010 04:23 International Coastal Cleanup is the brainchild of international NGO Ocean Conservancy; highest rated: Achziv, Tel Baruch, Nordau-Metzitzim and Hilton. Israel joined the International Coastal Cleanup on Sunday for the first time, launching a week-long beach campaign that will peak Friday at Nahsholim Beach. The goal is to encourage 2,500 […]

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Wednesday, September 22, 2010 BEIRUT: Environmentalists called for saving the Bentael Nature Reserve in Jbeil on Tuesday, saying a project to build a nearby road will harm the reserve. The head of the Bentael Nature Reserve Organization Raymond Khoury held a news conference dubbed “Save the Bentael Nature Reserve” to urge officials to halt all […]

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The veteran Tel Aviv neighborhood houses two rare species of the small nocturnal mammals By Zafrir Rinat Old Ramat Aviv has a stolid image, but its otherwise serene residents morph into environmental avengers when their quality of life is under threat. They prize the neighborhood’s green spaces, and turned positively fierce when city hall’s landscaping […]

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