June 12, 2014 04:48 PM The Daily Star BEIRUT: Agriculture Minister Akram Chehayeb said Thursday that he would allocate some $330,000 to clean forests most vulnerable to fires after the country saw one of its worst fires earlier this year. “I will assign LL500 million ($330,000) from the ministry’s budget to clean forests most susceptible […]

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By SHARON UDASIN, DANIEL K. EISENBUD 06/11/2014 Authorities have yet to clarify who will be responsible for restoring resource in the neighborhoods of Ras Hamis, Ras Shahada, Dahyat a-Salam and the Shuafat refugee camp. Despite months of unstable water supplies in several east Jerusalem neighborhoods beyond the security barrier, authorities have yet to clarify who […]

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June 13, 2014 12:11 AM By Rakan al-Fakih BAALBEK, Lebanon: “One of Lebanon’s most significant tourist sites is now a source of repulsive odors,” Mohammad sighs. Lost in thought as he looks down at the Ras al-Ain River, which flows through downtown Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley, he forgets to take the order of a […]

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Ministry says no despite approval of committee to extend use of gray water for gardening, toilets, other uses. By Zafrir Rinat | Jun. 10, 2014 The Health Ministry has demanded that the Standards Institute of Israel not approve a new standard that would broaden the use of gray water. Although the standard was already approved […]

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Israelis use an estimated 2.2 billion bags each year, costing retailers $23.1 million. Many bags end up in urban areas, nature reserves and at beaches. By Avi Bar-Eli | Jun. 8, 2014 The Environmental Protection Ministry is pushing to curb the use of disposable plastic bags in Israel with legislation that would make consumers pay […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 06/12/2014 Small, medium local authorities out-perform large cities in waste separation. More Israeli municipalities are launching waste separation-at-source programs, encouraging residents to separate their trash into wet and dry streams at home. There has been a 63 percent rise in number of households participating in the effort between 2013 and 2014, according […]

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But plastic still clogs landfills due to liberal laws. By Zafrir Rinat | Jun. 12, 2014 Over 300,000 Israeli households currently separate dry and wet waste, representing a 400 percent increase in two years. This encouraging statistic was presented today at the Tel Hai Academic College, as part of a conference on recycling and waste […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 06/17/2014 Interested birding amateurs and other volunteers can log in to a portal on SPNI’s Israeli Ornithological Center’s website. The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel is calling upon the country’s bird enthusiasts to take part in a national effort to build an avian database. The new project, named Citizen […]

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y SHARON UDASIN 06/08/2014 The government approved on Sunday an additional budget of NIS 42 million for environmental improvements in Beduin communities, to supplement the existing NIS 40m. budget already allocated for this purpose in July. Environmental Protection Minister Amir Peretz requested the funds in order to advanced waste treatment systems for the Beduin sector, […]

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Social media has again proved to be a powerful tool in Tunisia, where a group of people started a Facebook page that turns the ubiquitous ‘selfie’ into an opportunity to express disgust with the country’s stinking trash problem. SelfiPoubella, which joined Facebook on May 16, 2014, aims to keep people from ignoring the problem. The […]

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une 06, 2014 12:15 AM By Kareem Shaheen BEIRUT: Lebanese officials announced Thursday an ambitious seven-year plan that will cost hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up what they described as the “catastrophe” of pollution at the Litani River and Qaraoun Lake. The $730 million proposal will expand sewage treatment networks, manage solid waste […]

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United Utilities installs Mapal Green Energy’s Floating Fine Bubble Aeration system, to achieve energy, cost savings. Aryeh Savir, Tazpit Published: 06.06.14 United Utilities, the UK‘s largest listed water company supplying around 7 million homes in the North West of England, is the latest water utility to discover the merits of floating fine bubble aeration technology, […]

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Meeting minutes reveal fears that oversight a post-Zionist threat to the organization’s most sacred goals. The board of directors of the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael) convened a few weeks ago to discuss an unprecedented challenge: two separate initiatives to impose outside supervision on the group, after years in which it operated with no […]

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Legacies of carrier are many, with system serving as model for less developed countries at risk of drought, offering possibilities for positive points of contact with Palestinians. Seth M. Siegel Published: 06.09.14 In a small private ceremony, the National Water Carrier was opened fifty years ago today. Despite the enormous cost of the system and […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 06/05/2014 The organization 15 Minutes finds an unacceptable gap in Israel in favor of traveling by private car. Israeli public transportation services fail to abide by scheduled timetables and are rife with poor planning, the organization 15 Minutes claims. The public transportation optimization NGO collected the 2013 complaints of its members – […]

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Robert Kennedy Doha, Qatar – Qatar has unveiled a first-of-its-kind solar-panel factory, saying it was now the largest solar-power producer in the region with the ability to generate 300mw of energy a year. On Sunday, the Qatar Solar Energy company also announced a three-phase plan to eventually produce 2.5gw of solar energy annually, though QSE […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 06/05/2014 Canadian-Jewish entrepreneur Sam Goldman, who is bringing clean and affordable solar light to remote communities in Africa and Asia, received the Charles Bronfman Prize and an accompanying $100,000 award during a ceremony in New York on Tuesday. Goldman, the founder and chief customer officer of d.light design, received the prize for […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 06/02/2014 Environmentalist says although a third of the springs are dried up, they are important to showing the area’s 3,000-year-old history. Residents of the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council, Beit Shemesh and Abu Ghosh areas are calling for the establishment of a national body to coordinate the plethora of institutions involved with spring […]

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by Hana Namrouqa | Jun 03, 2014 AMMAN — Authorities sealed 34 illegal wells in May under an ongoing campaign to end all violations on water networks and resources, according to an official at the Ministry of Water and Irrigation. Also during last month, they dismantled more than 500 illegal pipes installed on water mains […]

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Agressive desalination program has transformed perennially parched land into perhaps the most well-hydrated country in the region. Associated Press 05.30.14, After experiencing its driest winter on record, Israel is responding as never before – by doing nothing. While previous droughts have been accompanied by impassioned public service advertisements to conserve, this time around it has […]

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