see http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2014/09/pictures-lebanon-dying-fishing-in-2014989111054837.html for visuals Plagued by pollution, over-fishing and rapid development along the coast, Lebanon’s fishermen struggle to make a living. David Shaw | 20 Sep 2014 09:45 GMT | Environment, Middle East, Lebanon Beirut, Lebanon – For thousands of years, Lebanon’s coastline has been a vital source of sustenance for local residents. But privatisation […]

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Although sharks can be found in the Gulf of Aqaba, they are not an indigenous species and thus are not supposed to be hunted, Aqaba Marine Park (AMP) Director Abdullah Abu Awali said on Wednesday. A local fisherman in Aqaba, 330km south of Amman, reportedly caught an over three-metre-long shark this week and displayed it […]

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8/5/2015 More than 100 ‘natural disasters’ could strike in the Arab region in the next four years because of climate change, according to a new report. The Arab Sustainable Development Report 2015 predicts that disasters such as earthquakes, floods and storms will affect more than 210 million people in urban centers between 2010 and 2019. […]

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Amman, 13/05/2015 The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) organized a regional consultation in Amman on the Arab content of the Global Environment Outlook (GEO). Over 800 experts are working on GEO-6, the sixth edition of the periodic report on the state of the world environment, to be released in 2018. Government and stakeholder representatives discussed […]

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By ARIEL BEN SOLOMON,SHARON UDASIN 05/11/2015 Daniel Pipes to ‘Post’: Only Israel, with its cutting-edge scientific prowess, can offer assistance to the region. War, chaos and terrorism may be rampant in the Middle East, but the situation could become much worse as a catastrophe looms out of the regional water crisis. “The Middle East suffers […]

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GAZA CITY (AFP) — With Gaza’s supply of drinking water expected to dry up by 2020, a Palestinian engineer is pioneering a machine to make seawater potable for residents of the coastal territory. Diaa Abu Assi, a 29-year-old father-of-two, has spent much of his spare time in the past 18 months developing the system, which […]

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Government corporation was responsible for leak in December that caused massive damage to the Evrona Nature Reserve in southern Israel. By Zafrir Rinat | May 13, 2015 The Environmental Protection Ministry intends to demand compensation of 111 million shekels ($28.8 million) from the Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company for the damage caused to the Evrona Nature […]

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Government pushing plan to build thousands of housing units on Mitzpeh Nafto’ah hill, currently home to a forest, ancient agricultural terraces and areas of natural plant growth. By Zafrir Rinat | May 12, 2015 The battle for one of the most important green spaces in Jerusalem is reaching its final stages. Jerusalem’s Planning and Building […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 05/10/2015 Mayor Yona Yahav orders special bus to shuttle activists from Haifa to Jerusalem to protest in capital’s municipal plaza on Sunday. Calling for the freeze of the Northern Lands Program, which would see rearrangement of oil infrastructure in the Haifa Bay, the city’s mayor Yona Yahav petitioned the National Council for […]

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Ned Whalley| The Daily Star BEIRUT: Scientists from the American University of Beirut have released the results of a three-year study on the potential commercial uses of Lebanon’s coastal microalgae, citing possible applications in medicine, agriculture, nutrition and as renewable source of biofuel. Part of EU-backed project entitled “Production of biofuels from microalgae in selected […]

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BEIRUT: The Energy and Water Ministry and Electricite du Liban Friday rebuffed complaints about the level of pollution produced by the Zouk power plant, saying emissions had been reduced by 80 percent since the authorities installed a filtration system in the smoke stacks. Speaking at a news conference at Zouk plant, Energy Minister Arthur Nazarian […]

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BEIRUT: The Naameh waste landfill, long reviled by locals and the environmental community, will shut down on July 17, about 18 years after it opened, the environment minister announced Tuesday. “The Naameh landfill will close July 17,” Mohammad Machnouk told the mayors of Al-Shahar and Al-Gharbi municipalities in Mount Lebanon, adding that the dump would […]

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BEIRUT: Environment Minister Mohammad Machnouk and Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas signed Monday a memorandum of understanding that will see their ministries collaborate on tackling the environmentalimpact of the refugee crisis. The presence of around 1.1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon has brought unprecedented environmental problems to the country and overwhelmed infrastructure. The refugee population, […]

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by Hana Namrouqa | May 03, 2015 AMMAN — Random pumping of underground water has exceeded the safe yield, particularly after 2011 when the Syria crisis started, according to recent studies on aquifers in Jordan. The studies, carried out by the Water Ministry in cooperation with international institutions, indicated that levels of underground water in […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 05/05/2015 Joseph Shapira criticized the office for failing to both update regulations on the subject and finish classifying factories according to potential damage level. State Comptroller Joseph Shapira slammed the Environmental Protection Ministry’s handling of stationary air pollution sources – such as power plants, quarries and industrial sites – in his latest […]

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Ministry rarely uses legal means at its disposal to enforce compliance with Israel’s anti-pollution laws, according to state comptroller’s report. By Zafrir Rinat | May 6, 2015 Israel’s state comptroller’s office found that the Environmental Protection Ministry failed in its monitoring of industrial pollution. According to the comptroller’s report released on Tuesday, the ministry rarely […]

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Mohammed Zaatari| The Daily Star TYRE, Lebanon: Tyre Beach Nature Reserve, along the coast of the southern city, is known for being the site where, every year without fail, sea turtles come to the shore to lay their eggs. Ahead of National Sea Turtle Day, the manager of the reserve, Hasan Hamza, explained that turtles […]

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Ghinwa Obeid| The Daily Star BEIRUT: Introducing climate change education in Lebanon is key to assessing its impacts and building more sustainable communities, experts agreed Tuesday, amid a regional conference dedicated to the issue. Schools and universities are considered a starting point for climate change education, and the participants of the Regional Experts Meeting on […]

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James Denselow James Denselow is a writer on Middle East politics and security issues and a research associate at the Foreign Policy Centre. @JamesDenselow As we peer through the fog of war into the heart of the Middle East we see ISIL on the back foot in Iraq and on the front foot in Syria. […]

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by Sonia Farid | Special to Al Arabiya News Sunday, 3 May 2015 The capsizing of a ship carrying 500 tons of phosphate in the Nile has sent shockwaves across Egypt. As a state of emergency has been declared and an investigation committee established, concerns keep escalating about the impact of the spill on crops, […]

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