The Parliament passed on Wednesday amendments necessary to implement an ambitious plan to restructure the country’s crumbling electricity sector. Restructuring the power sector, dysfunctional since Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war, has been among key demands for reforms by the World Bank and international donors. Lawmakers have turned down a proposal submitted by Lebanese Forces MP George […]

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Clean-up efforts to target parks, tourist attractions and sites along Jordan Trail By JT – Apr 17,2019 AMMAN — The Ministry of Environment is preparing to launch a nationwide cleaning campaign on Saturday, to mark the 25th anniversary of His Majesty King Abdullah’s Ascension to the Throne. The campaign, aside from the clean-up effort, will […]

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Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has approved drawing up to $2 billion from the country’s sovereign wealth fund for relief and reconstruction after devastating floods, state media reported on Monday. On Sunday, Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said the weeks of heavy rain across the country had caused an estimated $2.5 billion in damage […]

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Water levels in Iraq’s reservoirs and dams have reached historic heights, officials have told AFP, with thousands of families facing possible displacement by more flooding. Weeks of rain compounded by melting snowcaps in neighboring Turkey and Iran have almost filled Iraq’s four main reservoirs and swelled the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In Samarra, north of […]

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By REUTERS 04/18/2019 “The last time this migration happened in this way was back in 1917,” said Magda Bou Dagher Kharrat, a professor in plant genetics in Lebanon. ZAAROUR, Lebanon (Reuters) – A vast number of migrating butterflies have swarmed across Lebanon this year after heavy winter rain in the Middle East led to an […]

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JT – Apr 15,2019 AMMAN — The Arab Group for the Protection of Nature (APN) on Friday sent a convoy to the south of Jordan to plant trees and support farmers through various agricultural activities. The initiative brought together 150 volunteers of all ages, an APN statement said. The convoy operated under the banner of […]

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The extensive flooding in Iran shows that climate change is real and wreaks real economic havoc, too, even if Trump doesn’t believe in it. And, it’s going to grow worse David Rosenberg | Apr. 8, 2019 Donald Trump doesn’t believe in climate change, but he can thank his lucky stars that he’s wrong. Just as […]

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Arab states are facing a water supply emergency they need to coordinate an urgent response to, with per capita resources expected to fall by 50 percent by 2050, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Thursday. The Middle East and North Africa have suffered more than any other region from water scarcity and […]

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NAJIB SAAB In an attempt to reduce pollution caused by the transport sector, the Lebanese government recently announced incentives to promote electric and hybrid cars. The measures comprised full tax and tariff exemption for vehicles fully running on electric motors, and a slightly lower reduction in fees on hybrid cars running on both electricity and […]

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Gaza animals find new home following deaths at zoo – Environment and Development Five lions, five monkeys, four ostriches, three peacocks, two wolves and a hyena departed Gaza for Jordan on Sunday, after being rescued from a Gaza zoo where many animals died of starvation and lack of care. The animal welfare group Four Paws […]

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In its centennial year, Israel will have 17 million residents. According to the current distribution, most of them will live in the center of the country, and the overcrowding will be unbearable. The “Israel 2048 – Shared Future” Initiative promotes a national campaign to eventually turn the Negev and the Galilee into independent, prosperous and […]

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The Southern District Planning Committee is supporting a plan to have the hotel built at a nearby site adjacent to the southern entrance to Timna Park Zafrir Rinat | Apr. 8, 2019 The Southern District Planning Committee decided last week to advance a plan that would deny approval for construction of a hotel in the […]

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Environmental activists pushing for clean water, restrictions on poaching, and action on climate change have faced prison—or worse. Peter Schwartzstein Mar 30, 2019 Amirhossein Khaleghi thought he knew danger. For much of the past 12 years, he had tracked Persian leopards and Asiatic cheetahs across the rugged splendor of Iran’s national parks. He would spend […]

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NAJIB SAAB 27/3/2019 “A victim of its own success? Jordan re-evaluates its power generation strategy,” was the title of an article in The National Law Review, following the Jordanian government’s decision to withhold licenses for new renewable energy projects. The sudden move came at a time when the Jordanian renewable energy sector had reached advanced […]

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EcoPeace International Advisory Committee Member Presents at the Vatican Rabbi Frank Dabba Smith, a member of EcoPeace’s International Advisory Committee (IAC), recently represented EcoPeace Middle East at the March 7-9, 2019, Vatican conference in Rome on “Religions and the Sustainable Development Goals: Listening to the cry of the earth and of the poor.” Rabbi Dabba […]

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AMMAN — Iraq on Thursday announced the completion of the technical preparations of the extension of the Iraqi oil pipeline, to run through the Kingdom with a capacity of 1 million barrels per day. Iraqi Oil Minister Thamir Ghadhban voiced his country’s hope that 1 million barrels would be exported per day through the Basra-Aqaba […]

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AMMAN — Acting secretary general of the Ministry of Environment Issa Shboul on Tuesday inaugurated the regional workshop on black carbon emissions and its impact on health and climate change, according to an Environment Ministry statement sent to The Jordan Times. Black carbon is considered as one of the short-term climate pollutants that come as […]

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Experts say parks play role in reducing population’s stress, combating mild depression By Abdul Rahman Bazian – Apr 01,2019 AMMAN — There are currently some 4.32 million people residing in Amman, of which 1.32 million are 18 years of age or younger, head of the Population Statistics Division Ahmad Momani has recently said. “Urban parks […]

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Iran Orders Evacuation of Flood-Hit Western Cities by Naharnet Newsdesk Iranian authorities on Monday ordered the immediate evacuation of flood-stricken cities in a western province as rivers burst their banks, dams overflowed and vast areas were cut off from communication. The highest level of alert was declared in Lorestan province with four or five cities […]

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[editor’s note: fanack.com in general is a useful resource on the Middle East, unusual in the extent to which it covers water, pollution and other environmental issues] March 4th, 2019 These past few years, climate change has impacted Jordan with a rise of temperatures that has decreased the water resources, while sudden heavy rainfalls have […]

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