Much of the garbage along Israel’s shoreline originated in Egypt and Lebanon. By Zafrir Rinat | Mar. 17, 2014 The countries of the European Union and the Mediterranean will not succeed in carrying out their ambitious task of treating the main concentrations of pollutants in the sea by the end of the decade. When 2020 […]

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Despite avoiding criticism of the Jewish National Fund, Deputy Attorney General Avi Licht directs registrar of companies to list it as company for the public benefit. By Nimrod Bousso | Mar. 17, 2014 Deputy Attorney General Avi Licht has directed the registrar of companies to register the Jewish National Fund as a company for the […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 03/16/2014 A group of 20 activists from the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel will make the 200-kilometer trip on March 27. A group of 20 teenagers will take to their bicycles and walking shoes for a sixday trek from Dimona to Eilat next week, in protest of the railroad […]

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Project to explore and develop oil in northern West Bank initiated by Mideast envoy Tony Blair and US Secretary of state John Kerry to help Palestinian economy. 03.18.14, 21:04 The Palestinian Authority has announced plans to explore for oil in the West Bank, throwing a new element of uncertainty into troubled US-backed peace efforts. Mohammed […]

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AMMAN — The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry and Shams Maan Company on Monday signed an agreement by which the former would buy from the latter electricity generated from solar energy with a capacity of 50 megawatts at the Maan Development Area (MDA). Energy Minister Mohammad Hamed said that this project is the first of […]

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March 18, 2014 12:07 AM By Carole Nakhle As Lebanon is added to the global oil and gas map, there is a perception that the nation may have finally hit the jackpot. Potential oil and gas wealth, however, may take some time to materialize, and there is a danger that it may be squandered long […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 03/18/2014 Natural gas revenues should be invested in domestic causes rather than foreign markets, experts argue. Israel should not invest its natural gas revenues in foreign markets as planned, but in domestic “social-environmental causes,” lawyer-businessman Shraga Biran argued on Tuesday. Biran, who heads the Institute for Structural Reform – a nonprofit that […]

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by SHARON UDASIN 03/12/2014 IDF protection of vital energy sites “incomplete,” says latest report from Joseph Shapira. Excellence Slow progress on the part of national security authorities to legislate measures for protecting Israel’s offshore gas facilities have left existing sites vulnerable to risk, the State Comptroller Joseph Shapira determined in his latest report. “The discoveries […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 03/06/2014 Israel has approximately 400 billion cu.m. worth of proven gas reserves that are eligible for export. Although a Europe seeking to diversify its natural gas sources could potentially benefit from turning to the Eastern Mediterranean reservoirs, the continent’s dependency on Russian supplies will remain for the foreseeable future, experts say. Gas […]

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Second big contract in a week is 15-year agreement to supply more than $1 billion of natural gas to two private power plants. By Eran Azran | Mar. 13, 2014 The Tamar natural gas field partners on Wednesday announced their second big contract in a week, a 15-year agreement to supply more than $1 billion […]

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by Hana Namrouqa | Mar 12, 2014 AMMAN — Jordan should move away from unsustainable agriculture, food processing activities and water-inefficient sub-sectors, a report released on Wednesday recommended. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report said investments should mainly, if not exclusively, target profitable food chains that have made clear efforts to improve their water […]

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Egypt’s military has begun pumping wastewater into Gaza’s tunnels with deadly effect in order to wipe out smuggling. Mohammed Omer Last Modified: 09 Mar 2013 09:47 Gaza Strip – Gazans are crying foul after Egypt stepped up its campaign to wipe out an underground network of transportation tunnels by blasting raw sewage down them, sometimes […]

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WEDO / Friends of the Earth Middle East finalize Baseline Report for the Regional NGO Master Plan for the Lower Jordan River Valley Submitted to WEDO / FoEME by Royal HaskoningDHV (RHDHV) in partnership with CORE Associates (Palestine), MASAR (Jordan) and DHVMED (Israel), the now completed Baseline Report describes the current situation in the Lower […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 03/12/2014 Air force base in Lod and Rafael defense institute near Acre cited for inaction by report. Citing issues of possible land and groundwater contamination, State Comptroller Joseph Shapira criticized the inaction of various government bodies at a former air force base in Lod and on the grounds of Rafael Advanced Defense […]

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Environmentalists win dispute over two 44-story buildings planned for Ahdod. By Zafrir Rinat | Mar. 9, 2014 High-rise residential towers will not be allowed to be built in every urban residential neighborhood, according to a decision last month by the southern district Regional Planning and Building Committee. The committee made the decision after accepting objections […]

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by SHARON UDASIN 03/11/2014 Israel’s first internal green building competition launches in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund, in collaboration with the Israeli Council for Green Building, launched the country’s first internal green building competition in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. The object of the competition is to increase awareness about green building […]

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March 13, 2014 BEIRUT: The Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute sent text messages via mobile phones to farmers Wednesday informing them that the country had seen 20 millimeters of rainfall over the last three days, bringing the total this year to 181 millimeters. Last year between Jan. 1 and mid-March, Lebanon had already had 650 millimeters […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 03/11/2014 Reforms in tax rates according to vehicle pollution rankings have prompted consumers to purchase more environmentally-friendly cars. Charging higher tax on cars that pollute more has prompted consumers to buy greener cars, the Bank of Israel says. Environmental reforms in tax rates on vehicle purchases have revealed that “economic incentives have […]

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March 03, 2014 By Elias Sakr BEIRUT: The nearly rainless months of January and February have hit Lebanese farmers hard, and if the drought persists, experts warn it could further dry up groundwater wells and reservoirs increasing the water deficit for both household and agricultural use. While the government has done little except to warn […]

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Despite a major storm in mid-December, the amount of rainfall and the number of rainy days since have been unprecedentedly low. By Zafrir Rinat | Feb. 28, 2014 This winter is one of the driest Israel has known since meteorologists first began measuring local rainfall, the Israel Meteorological Service announced on Thursday, a day before […]

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