With 75 percent of its country comprised of desert, it’s not easy for Tunisia to grow food. But the Sahara Forest Project aims to change that with a $30 million facility funded by the Norwegian Foreign Ministry. Building on their first projects in Qatar and Jordan, the group will use solar energy and desalination technology […]

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By MICHELLE MALKA GROSSMAN 03/09/2016 Involved in the project as well are EcoPeace/Friends of the Earth Middle East and the Hashemite kingdom’s Jordan Valley Authority. Swarms of pesky flies may hold the key to improving Jordanian- Israeli relations. Seeking to end the insect infestation that has plagued farmers in the lower Jordan Valley and Dead […]

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With the problem of power outages seemingly unsolvable, Palestinians have begun adopting solar technology, with more and more public institutions and private residents are getting cheaper, abundant energy. Reuters 03.12.16 Faced with power blackouts lasting anything from eight to 12 hours a day, residents and businesses in Gaza are increasingly turning to the sun to […]

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AMMAN — The Cabinet on Sunday approved delivering electricity to single-detached dwellings in poverty pockets using solar power units, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. The solar power units will not be part of the electricity grid and will cost a maximum of JD6,000 for each house. The decision will reduce financial burdens for the […]

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By MICHELLE MALKA GROSSMAN 03/08/2016 The chief scientist at the National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources Ministry says the base of power production in Israel “will always come from fossil fuels.” Following a day of talks about oil and gas at the first Kinneret Oil, Energy and Gas Conference on Tuesday at Kinneret College, Israeli […]

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Salam Requests Security Forces to Monitor Implementation of Trash Plan to Avoid Unrest – NAHARNET by Naharnet Newsdesk Prime Minister Tammam Salam chaired on Monday a ministerial security meeting to address the latest developments in Lebanon, as well as the implementation of the trash disposal plan that was adopted by cabinet over the weekend. Salam […]

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Fahd Al Rasheed The Red Sea has played a pivotal role in global trade for millennia. In the time of the pharaohs, it was at the heart of the global spice trade. Today, it is an essential global artery, feeding Western demand for hydrocarbons and facilitating the flow of goods between Europe and booming Asian […]

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By MICHELLE MALKA GROSSMAN 03/10/2016 The ministry’s Haifa director, Shlomo Katz, said that the two new units were intentionally placed to compare the amount of pollution from petrochemical facilities to the amount from vehicles. The Environmental Protection Ministry is stepping up its efforts to fight air pollution in the Haifa Bay by installing new mobile […]

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by Hana Namrouqa – Mar 08,2016 AMMAN — Construction on a project to convey and collect treated wastewater for the irrigation of 5,000 dunums of fodder has started south of the capital, according to a senior government official. Under the project’s first phase, a total of 1,200 dunums of land will be planted with fodder […]

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By Hana Namrouqa – Mar 13,2016 AMMAN — Jordan’s first experiment in artificial rainmaking is scheduled to take place during spring in the Jordan Valley over the catchment area of King Talal Dam, a government official said on Sunday. The first experiment will be implemented after Jordan and Thailand sign a memorandum of understanding on […]

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By MICHELLE MALKA GROSSMAN 03/14/2016 Forecaster from IMS says that pollution warning is expected to stay in effect for the central and southern regions of the country through Tuesday. The pollution was high today as a mix of dust from Egypt and high winds blew into Israel, forcing the Environmental Protection Ministry to issue a […]

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Palestinian village ‘will be like a prison’ A planned Israeli national park will cut deep into the agricultural land of the Palestinian village of Wallajeh. Nigel Wilson | 04 Mar 2016 11:33 GMT | Human Rights, Middle East, War & Conflict, Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israel Occupied East Jerusalem – Imad leaned over the Ein Haniya spring […]

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By MICHELLE MALKA GROSSMAN 03/03/2016 The company that wins tender will be in charge of designing, constructing and operating the photovoltaic power plant in the western Negev community of Ashalim for a period of 25 years. Bidding opened on Thursday for companies wishing to build and operate a new solar power plant in the Negev. […]

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By Hana Namrouqa – Mar 05,2016 Photo released by the Water Ministry show areas in Um Al Amad alongside the airport road, where authorities removed illegal fixtures that were diverting 8,000 cubic metres of water every day from an 800-millimetre conveyor (Photo courtesy of Water Ministry) AMMAN — Authorities late last week removed 11 illegal […]

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By Hana Namrouqa – Mar 06,2016 Since the launch of a campaign to crack down on water theft in 2013, the Water Ministry has dismantled 21,698 illegal fixtures on water mains and resources (File photo) AMMAN — The Water Ministry on Sunday urged the public to report violations on the water network, underscoring that the […]

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By AP Baghdad Wednesday, 2 March 2016 Iraq has signed a deal with an Italian company to repair and maintain the country’s largest dam near the northern, ISIS-held city of Mosul. The Mosul dam is in danger of a possibly catastrophic collapse. Government spokesman, Saad al-Hadithi, says the contract worth € 275-million, or about $296 […]

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By MICHELLE MALKA GROSSMAN 03/07/2016 The monitoring station, which was installed in 2001 and updated over the years, measures water quality 24 hours a day based on a number of parameters. The notoriously polluted Kishon River is going online – at least, its water quality results are. Starting on Monday, the Kishon River Authority mad […]

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By MICHELLE MALKA GROSSMAN 03/03/2016 Government to spend NIS 1 billion for better recycling, waste services. The city of Tel Aviv was given the distinctive title of “Recycler of the Year,” after it came ahead of all other cities in Israel in terms of recycling per capita in 2015. The award, given by the ELA […]

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Salam Mum as Waste Crisis Tests his Patience – Naharnet Prime Minister Tammam Salam shied away over the weekend from revealing details of a plan to resolve Lebanon’s seven-month-long waste crisis after several hurdles on establishing landfills in certain areas were not removed. Al-Liwaa daily said Monday that Salam refused to discuss with his visitors […]

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Financial Prosecutor Ali Ibrahim has filed a lawsuit against the Sukleen and Sukomi firms on charges of “squandering public funds” in their handling of waste management in the country in the past two decades, media reports said on Wednesday. Ibrahim’s move is based on the lawsuit that has been filed by Kataeb Party chief MP […]

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