The Middle East’s first factory to suck carbon dioxide out of the air has begun operating in the United Arab Emirates, developers and a minister said Saturday. The plant — said to be the first of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa — is to capture up to 800,000 tons of CO2 […]

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Process to be implemented in cooperation with air force By Hana Namrouqa – Nov 03,2016 AMMAN — Jordan will resume during this month its artificial rainmaking attempts to increase precipitation for the 2016-2017 wet season, a government official said on Thursday. “Cloud seeding agents will be distributed over the King Talal Dam’s catchment area starting […]

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‘Owner of farm identified, search under way for rig’s owner’ By Hana Namrouqa – Nov 09,2016 A combo photo of the drilling rig confiscated by the authorities recently near the border with Syria (Photo courtesy of Ministry of Water) AMMAN — Authorities have seized and confiscated a drilling rig that was used to dig an […]

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The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through the Lebanon Reforestation Initiative (LRI), in partnership with the Shouf Biosphere Reserve and in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Byblos Bank, and Radio One, organized a planting day in Maaser El Chouf as part of the #لتضل_عالعلم national awareness campaign for this year. The […]

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The planned construciton of a cement plant in the Judaean desert has angered Bedouin residents of the area as well as Israeli NGOs who fear that severe environmental damage and pollution may be caused. Elisha Ben Kimon|Published: 05.11.16 Conflict between Palestinian Police and Bedouin residents broke out this week in the Rashaida area of the […]

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On Sunday, October 30th, UN-Habitat hosted a day-long Cleaning Campaign Event in the neighborhood of Haddadine, Tripoli in Lebanon. In partnership with the Municipality of Tripoli, the Ahal El Ataa Scouts, LaVajet Cleaning Company, the Development for People and Nature Association (DPNA) and Utopia, the cleaning event aimed to spread awareness about the importance of […]

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Municipality says plan answers urban renewal need, maintaining Nir Barkat seeking a balance between resident and environmental needs. Nir Hasson Nov 09, 2016 The Jerusalem municipality has begun advancing a plan to construct 4,000 housing units in a green space in western Jerusalem. The area, known as White Ridge, expands between the Ir Ganim neighborhood […]

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And Jerusalem ‘mountain air as clear as wine’? Not along Bar-Ilan Road, judging by the Environmental Protection Ministry’s report for 2015. Zafrir Rinat Nov 07, 2016 The air quality near major traffic arteries in Israel continues to be poor and often deviates from the targets set by the Environmental Protection Ministry as suitable for preventing […]

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Amid their retreat from the Iraqi town, ISIL fighters lit oil wells ablaze, blanketing the area in suffocating smoke. Andrea DiCenzo | 01 Nov 2016 Qayyara, Iraq – The oil-rich town of Qayyara, about 60km south of Mosul, was retaken in August from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), whose fighters controlled […]

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Israeli travelers report foul smell from the river due to Palestinian pollution; Israeli authorities have taken action to restore the state of the river; ‘we saw dozens of dead fish, black water – it was real horror,’ visitor said. Raanan Ben Zur and Ilana Curiel|Published: 30.10.16 Israelis noticed a significant amount of pollution in the […]

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Industrial waste from Palestinian-administers areas has been particularly harmful recently due to a lack of rain. Zafrir Rinat Oct 31, 2016 Sewage from West Bank areas administered by the Palestinian Authority has been polluting streams inside Israel for years. Last week the problem led for the first time to a beach being closed in the […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 10/31/2016 The regulations, which will take effect within 45 days, will require Israeli farmers to pulverize their branches themselves or pay for their disposal at authorized sites. Israeli farmers will no longer be able to ship their trimmed foliage to the Palestinian Authority, where illegal charcoal combustion has been causing severe air […]

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GAZA (Ma’an) — Israel’s Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA) to the Gaza Strip announced on Sunday that Israel would be increasing its water supplies to the besieged coastal enclave. CLA released a statement saying that with the coordination of Palestinian liaison administration in Gaza, the construction of a new water reservoir was finished a few […]

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Residents of one Palestinian village, who once had to walk for hours daily to fetch water, now have limited access to Israeli water supplies. But it’s not enough. Reuters Nov 04, 2016 A mountainous Palestinian community in the West Bank, Al Jab’a differs in many ways from surrounding Israeli settlements. But it shares one worry […]

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The Kinneret level dropped by 15 centimeters last month, reaching 71 centimeters below the lower red line. Zafrir Rinat Nov 03, 2016 The amount of water flowing from the Jordan River into Lake Kinneret in October was the lowest during that month in the past 90 years, according to a report issued last month by […]

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Contractor responsible for violation to remove waste as expert warns of possible air, water pollution By Hana Namrouqa – Oct 30,2016 AMMAN — Four years after a local contractor illegally buried tonnes of sludge in an abandoned quarry in Mafraq Governorate, the earth is emitting poisonous gases, an official and eyewitness said on Sunday. In […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 10/31/2016 Joint List MK Dov Henin on Monday called upon the Knesset State Control Committee to subpoena Prime Minister Netanyahu, after his office allegedly intervened last week to prevent the closure of the Carmel Olefins factory in Haifa Bay. Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav issued an administrative order on Wednesday to shut down […]

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Hotel may damage natural landscape in the Sasgon Valley region, activists say; ‘This is a megalomaniacal and kitschy plan,’ lawmakers say. Zafrir Rinat Nov 01, 2016 Green organizations are demanding that planning authorities enable the public to register its opposition to the construction of a hotel in the Timna Valley in the Arava desert. The […]

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Global warming is on track to disrupt the Mediterranean region more than any droughts or heatwaves in the past 10,000 years, turning parts of southern Europe into desert by the end of the century, scientists said on Thursday. Average temperatures in the region have already risen by 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.3 Fahrenheit) since the late […]

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Beirut, 27 October 2016 The Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) will hold its ninth annual conference on November 10-11, to discuss the challenges and potential for achieving the 2030 sustainable development goals (SDGs) in a turbulent Arab world. The conference will be hosted by the American University of Beirut, academic member of AFED, […]

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