By Hana Namrouqa – Nov 23,2016 AMMAN — Over 1,500 forest trees, some of which were centennial, were destroyed in a fire that erupted on Wednesday morning in Ajloun Governorate, according to the authorities. The fire started at 7:30am and was extinguished five hours later, destroying 70 dunums of forest trees and dry grass, the […]

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November 24, 2016 A huge wildfire erupted Thursday in the Mimes area in the southern region of Hasbaya, state-run National News Agency reported. “The flames are gutting forestlands and olive trees,” NNA said. Civil Defense firefighters assisted by residents are trying to douse the blaze, the agency added. Raging bushfires have forced the evacuation of […]

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Last week’s fires were about 80 percent as bad with a similar problem: Pine forests might now expand at the expense of natural woodlands. Zafrir Rinat Nov 27, 2016 Israel’s five days of fires have burned more than 20,000 dunams (5,000 acres) of forest, brushland and other open space, a similar scope as the record […]

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Tehran officials shut schools on Monday as the first of the winter’s heavy pollution hit the Iranian capital. A blanket of choking brown-white smog descended on the city on Sunday, blocking out the view of the mountains that line its northern edge and leading many of its 14 million residents to retreat indoors or don […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 11/17/2016 As part of the operation, officials seized tools, equipment and 160 tons of wood, which is used for charcoal production, a statement from COGAT said. In an effort to curb air pollution levels in the northern West Bank, the Civil Administration conducted an enforcement operation to shut down charcoal production in […]

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11/22/2016 Blaze spreads northwestward due to high winds and dry weather conditions. Residents of various communities in central and northern Israel were evacuated from their homes Tuesday as a forest fire that broke out Monday night in the country’s center spread due to high winds and unseasonably high temperatures. Authorities evacuated residents from the northern […]

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5,000 vehicles have been towed away since campaign was launched in 2011 By Hana Namrouqa – Nov 12,2016 AMMAN — More than 1,300 abandoned cars have been removed from the streets of the capital since the start of this year, according to a municipal official. Under an ongoing effort to rid the streets of Amman […]

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Residents of the al-Sfira town in North Lebanon blocked the major road to the village protesting a decision to establish a landfill in the area, the National News Agency reported on Saturday. The locals blocked the road with burning tires and protested the municipality’s performance and a decision to establish a waste sorting plant in […]

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Desalinated water low on magnesium is creating a stealthy public health crisis in Israel and the government is settling for a committee. Peretz Darr Nov 15, 2016 Drought has always been a threat of existential proportions in the Middle East. The path Israel chose to mitigate its impact was discussed in the New York Times […]

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Area in heavily congested central region will be left as green lung for the public, even though it will remain open land rather than nature reserve. Zafrir Rinat Nov 13, 2016 The National Planning and Building Council decided last week to advance a plan to turn a large area of central Israel’s Sharon Plain into […]

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Greenpeace Israel hails cabinet decision, but declares that new master plan to exploit renewable energy options must be drawn up. Zafrir Rinat Nov 15, 2016 read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.753297

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By Linda Gradstein | The Media Line November 10, 2016 Country hopes to reduce dependence on oil by 60 percent Tel Aviv, Israel – The motorized scooter, with chrome gleaming in the sun, is mounted on a turning platform. Visitors to the fourth annual Fuel Choices Summit stop and take selfies with the gleaming futuristic-looking […]

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According to a recent report, Israel has the highest percentage of students studying social and environmental science in the OECD; meanwhile, the Jewish state comes in dead last in terms of students studying architecture. Gad Lior|Published: 12.11.16 Israel has come in first place amongst all 32 OECD countries in the percentage of people who study […]

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It is hard to imagine life without access to sufficient quantities of fresh water, but in some parts of the world, particularly the Middle East, that is becoming more than a theoretically disturbing possibility, as climate change, mass migration, environmental degradation, drought and political instability – among other issues – make the use and management […]

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COGAT head Maj. Gen. Mordechai writes letter imploring international community to help before an impending water crisis hits the Palestinians, who refuse to sit with the Israelis to talk about a long term water management program. Itamar Eichner|Published: 08.11.16 , 11:49 The IDF has warned the international community that the water infrastructure in the West […]

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Moha Ennaji The United Nations World Water Development Report confirms what many already know: hundreds of thousands of people in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) — especially in Algeria, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — have faced the worst water shortages in decades in 2016. This is the last thing […]

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HAARETZ Israeli activist Alon Tal warns that U.S. environmental groups may be powerless to prevent President-elect Donald Trump’s pro-business outlook. Zafrir Rinat Nov 13, 2016 The election of Donald Trump to the White House cast a giant shadow over the United Nations conference on climate change, which began in Marrakesh this week. As voters in […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 11/10/2016 Trump threatened in May that as president he would cancel the agreement, describing the accord as “bad for US business” and previously calling climate change a “hoax.” As world leaders gather in Morocco for this year’s United Nations Conference on Climate Change, European Union Ambassador Lars Faaborg-Andersen called upon Israel to […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 11/13/2016 This year, the five projects focus on solar energy, biomass, fuel cells and energy efficiency. In hopes of bolstering the global clean energy sector, the energy arm of the US-Israel Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation will grant $4 million to five new American-Israeli partnerships in the field. BIRD Energy is […]

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Recommendations for Green Economy and Sustainability in Rebuilding Beirut, 11/11/2016 The Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) concluded its ninth annual conference, held at the American University of Beirut. The conference brought together about 500 delegates from 58 countries, representing 160 institutions from public and private sectors, universities, research centers and civil society. AFED’s […]

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