Sep 09,2015 The Greater Amman Municipality does not seem to run out of new ideas to make the capital a more beautiful, functional and liveable place. The latest plan is to make Amman a green metropolis by 2020. The intention to make Jordan’s cities green is quite old, but it never really materialised. Hopefully this […]

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Aug 25,2015 AMMAN — HRH Prince Hassan, president of the West Asia-North Africa Institute, on Tuesday stressed the importance of resilience, adaptation and readjustment as necessary tools for Jordan to address pressing challenges. Delivering a speech at the Jordan Strategy Forum (JSF), the prince addressed the economic resilience of countries hosting Syrian refugees, noting that […]

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Environmental problems across the Middle East contrast harshly with a forgotten past. 04 Sep 2015 With thousands of tonnes of rubbish piling up on the streets and no place to go, Beirut has become a place for political confrontation. The rubbish created a suffocating stink in the summer heat, resulting in a serious health hazard […]

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40 portable digester generators designed by HomeBioGas start-up are in use in pilot project at Palestinian village of al-Awja in West Bank; start-up’s CEO says digesters could save many lives in rural areas across the world where smoke from cooking on an open fire causes severe respiratory illness and death. Reuters 08.24.15, 22:38 Palestinian villagers […]

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TUBAS, August 26, 2015 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Wednesday notified a nature reserve to the East of Tubas, in the northern Jordan Valley, of their intentions to uproot its forest trees, according to a local official. Motaz Bisharat, in charge of the Jordan Valley settlements file in the Palestinian Authority, said that forces notified ‘Enoun’ […]

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CAIRO (AFP) — Italian energy giant Eni on Sunday announced the discovery of the “largest ever” offshore natural gas field in the Mediterranean inside Egypt’s territorial waters. The discovery, confirmed by Egypt’s oil ministry, could hold a potential 30 trillion cubic feet of lean gas in an area of about 100 square kilometers (40 square […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 08/31/2015 Following a meeting with representatives of Greenpeace Israel, Finance Ministry officials pledged on Sunday to reevaluate certain barriers blocking the solar energy industry’s advancement. Finance Ministry director- general Shai Babad held the meeting with Greenpeace representatives, who presented reforms they felt could revolutionize the field and generate profits to private citizens, […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 08/27/2015 A variety of Israeli, German and Jordanian ornithology and climate experts will meet for the 2nd German-Israeli Climate Talks As climate change continues to influence bird migration behaviors, a team of Israeli and German researchers aims to find ways of coping with these ever-evolving patterns. “The climate is a key factor […]

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Slaughter greatest in Egypt, Italy; Israel gets high marks for enforcing no-hunting laws. Zafrir Rinat Aug 23, 2015 About 25 million birds are illegally hunted and killed or captured every year in countries bordering the Mediterranean, and many of these countries have adopted a policy of looking the other way when it comes to the […]

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Hana Namrouqa – Aug 26,2015 AMMAN — The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) launched on Wednesday the graduate level Protected Area Distance Education Programme to qualify professionals in ecosystem protection and the management of the region’s biodiversity. The programme was designed in partnership with the US Forest Service and the University of […]

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Study finds that contaminants are spreading under several sites around Tel Aviv. Zafrir Rinat Aug 23, 2015 Many areas of the Greater Tel Aviv Dan region are still suffering from soil and groundwater contamination whose source is industrial activity that took place decades ago and threatens drinking-water sources and buildings, a new report from the […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 08/26/2015 Jerusalem lags behind other major cities in recycling sector. While most Israelis tend to recycle their plastic bottles, only about half the population recycles paper and cardboard, a Central Bureau of Statistics survey revealed on Wednesday. All in all, about 67 percent of Israelis recycle their plastic bottles, as opposed to […]

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Aug 25,2015 Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour is greeted by his Swedish counterpart Stefan Löfven ahead of talks in Stockholm on Tuesday (Petra photo) AMMAN — Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Tuesday said Jordan is among the poorest three countries in the world when it comes to water. The situation is aggravated by the huge influxes […]

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News that 50,000 citrus trees will be sold at subsidised prices to those wishing to plant them in their garden is an innovative initiative. Citrus trees need a warm environment, soft damp soil, plenty of water and protection from freezing gusts. However, regulation requires 10 per cent of a plot of land to be planted […]

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Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq refused on Monday to participate in the meetings of the ministerial committee tasked with studying the waste management crisis. Al-Mashnouq asked Prime Minister Tammam Salam to appoint another minister in his place. An Nahar daily said Monday that the committee has expanded to include 11 ministers from all political parties. But […]

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BEIRUT (AFP) — Thousands of protesters from across Lebanon converged Saturday on downtown Beirut for a mass rally against a political class seen as corrupt and incapable of providing basic services. Najah Wakim, head of the popular movement told al-Manar channel said that “what is happening is a start of popular revolution against the Lebanese […]

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Nicolas Lupo, Special to Al Arabiya News, Beirut Sunday, 23 August 2015 Thousands of Lebanese rallied on Saturday afternoon in central Beirut to denounce the government’s mismanagement of the city’s waste disposal. Organized by the #YouStink movement and joined by several different groups of society, the protest showed the deep dissatisfaction of the city’s inhabitants […]

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Associated Press | Beirut Monday, 17 August 2015 Lebanon’s health minister says the country is on the brink of a “major health disaster” unless an immediate solution is found for its mounting trash problem. Garbage has been collecting on the streets in Lebanon for the past month amid government paralysis and inability to agree on […]

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15 August 2015 BEIRUT: Economy Minister Alain Hakim warned that garbage was polluting vital Karantina industries Friday, after touring the area and visiting a major flour mill there. The capital has been piling bales of treated municipal waste in lots in the isolated, industrial quarter since late July. The ongoing disposal operations pose a hazard […]

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Yaron Friedman Analysis: Lebanon and Iraq, home to Iranian puppet- regimes, are now paying the price for being the spearhead in the Islamic Republic’s battle against Sunnis; poverty and corruption in these countries raises potential of descent into anarchy 8.31.15 August 2015 was the month in which riots in Lebanon and Iraq broke out in […]

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