In February, the Tanin gas reserve had been estimated at 1.2 TCF by Noble, which is doing the drilling. By Lior Zeno Israel’s newest offshore natural gas find contains 1.1 trillion cubic feet of gas, announced Delek Drilling and Avner Oil Exploration on Friday – offering a slightly lower estimate than their partner Noble Energy. […]

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video report: http://www.aljazeera.com/video/middleeast/2012/04/201247142331543939.html Some argue protected lands should be used for parks, while others say they should be located outside city. Politicians and environmentalists in Jerusalem are debating the future of the city’s green spaces. Some people say they believe protected lands should be built on, while others argue construction should take place outside the […]

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GAZA, April 5, 2012 (WAFA) – More than 14,000 new born babies were registered in the Gaza Strip in the first three months of this year, or an average of 150 babies a day, a little bit more than half of them were males, according to figures provided Thursday by a Hamas-run department. Gaza City […]

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Thought to have disappeared from Israel, the Galilee fumitory was last seen in the 1940s. By Zafrir Rinat An extremely rare flower was found for the first time in over 60 years in the Hanita Forest, near the Lebanese border. The Galilee fumitory (Fumaria thuretii Boiss ) was seen only once before in Israel, in […]

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Jewish National Fund reported over 220,000 visits on Sunday to its forests, and thousands of Christians gathered in Jerusalem for Easter celebrations. By Zohar Blumenkrantz, Zafrir Rinat and Revital Hovel An estimated 450,000 visitors filled Israel’s forests, nature reserves and national parks on Sunday, even as the country was struck by exceptionally warm weather. Temperatures […]

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A committee chaired by the director general of the Energy and Water Resources Ministry Shaul Tzemach, decided that Israel needs to have some 400 billion cubic meters of gas as a strategic reserve at any one time; the rest may be exported to foreign countries. By Itai Trilnick The Tzemach Committee on Energy Policy has […]

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Panel: Save 400bcm of natural gas for domestic use – Jerusalem Post By NADAV SHEMER, SHARON UDASIN 04/05/2012 18:43 Environment Ministry says domestic needs are much higher than the gov’t appointed committee suggests. Israel must retain at least 400 billion cubic meters (bcm) of its offshore natural gas reserves for domestic use between now and […]

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Palestinians say settlers are taking over their springs and using them to develop tourist sites;settlers say they are merely preserving nature after decades of neglect. By Zafrir Rinat The settlers have been investing special efforts of late to persuade the Israeli public to make its way to numerous tourism sites on the other side of […]

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By Amiram Cohen The Mekorot water company will invest half a billion shekels to bring large quantities of treated wastewater to Negev farmers. In order to do that, Mekorot will put back into service a pipeline to the eastern Negev that has not been used since the 1970s. The old pipeline was used to carry […]

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Environmental protection ministry plan calls for dredging sledge pools along several kilometers of the Kishon river contaminated by run-off from nearby oil refineries, chemical plants and factories. By Zafrir Rinat Israeli scientists question need to clean up contaminated river Environmental protection ministry plan calls for dredging sledge pools along several kilometers of the Kishon river […]

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Lawyers and activists from the Idku Workers Union accuse a company contracted by the Rashid Petroleum Company (Rashpetco), a joint venture between a state-owned petroleum firm and multinationals, of dumping waste in their waters and fields. Their claims against the company in question, Green Valley Oil Service, are supported by the Idku-based representative of the […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 04/04/2012 02:54 The Environment Ministry accused a Kfar Nahum restaurant of leaking large amounts of raw sewage into the lake. The Environmental Protection Ministry has accused the Capernaum restaurant in Kfar Nahum of leaking copious amounts of raw sewage through a concealed pipe system into the northern part of Lake Kinneret, a […]

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Solar deep freeze may grace Egypt’s sands A Dutch artist intends to create a glacier in the Egyptian desert to inspire solar powered solutions to climate change. Working from a climate controlled cube in The Hague in the Netherlands, Ap Verheggen and the company Cofely Refrigeration say they have completed tests that show it is […]

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The construction of what is to become Africa’s biggest wind farm will start by June in an arid region of northern Kenya, the project’s officials said on Saturday. A total of 365 wind turbines will be erected near Lake Turkana, where winds blow predictably and regularly, averaging speeds of 11 metres per second. After seven […]

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Opponents say none of the land should be transferred to private hands in a neighborhood suffering from a severe shortage of public space. By Ilan Lior Environmentalists and local people fear that Tel Aviv will push through a plan to put up residential and commercial buildings at a former market in the south of the […]

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Louise Sarant Wed, 28/03/2012 Egypt’s Medicinal Plants Conservation Project (MPCP) has been awarded the 2012 Equator Prize for its work to preserve genetic heritage, along with 25 other local community groups across the world that were honored for their sustainable development programs. The Equator Initiative is a partnership that brings together the UN, governments, civil […]

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Megan Detrie Fri, 23/03/2012 The proposed causeway linking Saudi Arabia to Egypt could seriously damage the Red Sea’s marine life and disrupt communities in South Sinai, say environmental experts, who are calling for an independent body to conduct an environmental impact assessment before the project goes ahead. While the project is hailed as a much-needed […]

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National Planning and Building Council due to authorize policy paper calling for the establishment of stations producing electricity on a scale of 800 megawatts. By Zafrir Rinat Green movements around the world consider use of wind power to produce electricity a viable way to reduce dependence on pollutant fuels. But the Israel Nature and Parks […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 04/02/2012 03:18 Decade-long multilateral Jordan Valley program that promoted regional cooperation comes to an end. Adhering to the “resources know no borders” concept, experts involved in a multinational, decade-long Jordan Valley hydrological project hope that their research will not only help preserve the area’s ecosystem but also promote future regional cooperation through […]

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Most experts and environmental groups support the policy, but Jerusalem-area residents used to a green landscape outside their windows, were not convinced. By Nir Hasson and Zafrir Rinat The Jerusalem Municipality and the Jewish National Fund last week cut down several dozen healthy trees in the Jerusalem Forest, to create fire breaks as buffers between […]

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