By Hana Namrouqa ZARQA – Dilapidated water and sewage networks in Zarqa Governorate will be revamped by 2015 to achieve a regular water supply and end flooding of wastewater, officials said on Monday. “Tenders for sanitation projects worth JD130 million will be floated later this year, in addition to the allocation of JD60-JD65 million for […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 04/21/2011 23:21 Plant should be completed by 2013; the natural gas to power the plant will be supplied by Egypt’s East Mediterranean Gas company. Construction of Israel’s largest privately-owned power plant has gotten under way this week, piloted by Scottish-based construction firm Wood Group GTS at an Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Co. site […]

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By Hana Namrouqa AMMAN – Eco-tourism in Jordan is expanding and attracting more visitors, with more than one million tourists visiting the Kingdom’s diverse nature reserves and protected areas last year, officials said on Tuesday. Around 975,000 tourists visited the Petra National Park in 2010, while 500,000 visited the country’s nature reserves last year, according […]

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By Hana Namrouqa AMMAN – An environment society is planning to sue the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company (JPRC) for “poisoning the Jordanian people by producing low-quality diesel”. The Energy Conservation and Sustainable Environment Society, a not-for-profit NGO that seeks to limit harmful gases emitted from fuel combustion, is in the process of filing a lawsuit […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 04/28/2011 04:12 Israel’s International Anti-Fur Coalition calls the trade a “moral atrocity,” but the government maintains that the harvest is “sustainable” and “humane.” Talkbacks (1) On the pavement outside Tel Aviv’s Canadian Embassy on Wednesday afternoon, a stuffed seal pillow with painted blood running down its face sat amid a circle of […]

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April 28, 2011 01:53 AM (Last updated: April 28, 2011 09:28 AM) By Maher Zeineddine CHOUF: Environmental professionals and activists are outraged over photos showing dozens of dead storks, which were put on Facebook by an amateur hunter who killed the birds in north Lebanon. Environmental organizations and institutions condemned the killing as a crime […]

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AMMAN (JT) – Sapling production in nurseries dropped by around 30 per cent in 2010 compared to 2009, according to the results of a survey conducted by the Department of Statistics (DoS). The results neither provided the reasons for the decline nor the expected effects. The number of fruit-bearing saplings went down from 2.9 million […]

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28-04-2011 access the news item here and the press release. Two feasibility studies are currently being prepared in Lebanon and Tunisia, while another three potential investment projects are finalising the pre-feasibility study stage in Egypt, under the Horizon 2020 initiative for de-pollution of the Mediterranean by 2020. At the same time, there is ongoing dialogue in […]

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About 1.5 million chicken carcasses were buried in the country’s north following an epidemic, including a large portion found in locations that risk contaminating ground water. By Zafrir Rinat Hundreds of thousands of chicken carcasses were concealed for months alongside chicken coops in northern Israel, creating an environmental hazard and endangering the water supply, according […]

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BEIRUT: Despite the government’s recent closure of a sand quarry in the Jabal Moussa Biosphere Reserve, the site remains under pressure from individiuals who were profiting from the quarry activities, according to an association involved in protecting the site. The Jabal Moussa site was declared a protected forest by the Agriculture Ministry in 2008 and […]

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For around a decade now, illegal trade in ancient olive trees – including uprooting, stealing and smuggling them from the West Bank into Israel – has reportedly been flourishing. Haaretz Editorial The immoral wealthy have a new and tasteless toy: ancient olive trees adorning the gardens of their villas. According to an investigative report by […]

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A few months ago, Italy took the laudable decision of getting rid of plastic bags. This southern European country used to consume about one-fifth of the plastic bags on the continent, so the move must have been more than welcome. It aimed mainly at protecting the fragile environment, knowing that scientists warn that polyethylene bags […]

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By Hana Namrouqa DANA BIOSPHERE RESERVE – Reconstruction work on Dana Village, a gateway to the Dana Biosphere Reserve, is currently under way to transform the abandoned village into an eco-tourism destination, according to conservationists. Crumbling houses built decades ago in the village, which sits on a cliff overlooking one of the Kingdom’s most scenic […]

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By Hana Namrouqa DANA BIOSPHERE RESERVE – Visitors to Dana Biosphere Reserve can now enjoy a cup of Dana’s famous herbal tea and watch cultural entrainment under the Kingdom’s first bedouin tent lit by solar energy. The clean and environment-friendly energy source has replaced traditional kerosene and gas lanterns at the reserve’s Rummana campsite after […]

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By Olivia Alabaster BEIRUT: In a country with a lack of discernible environmental policy, only a handful of recycling points across the capital, and landfills overflowing onto public beaches, Reversed Garbage has found an innovative way to turn trash into something useful, and beautiful. Chafic Abi Abdallah had been working in hospitality management for eight […]

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Plans to eliminate parking spots on Bloch Street in Tel Aviv in order to make room for new bicycle lanes have local residents up in arms. It’s all about turning this into a city for the rich, they argue. By Ilan Lior Tel Aviv residents are accustomed to wasting time every night searching for parking […]

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A group of engineering students and professors have developed an algorithm that can predict the pace and timing of bike borrowing and returns in Tel Aviv. By Lital Levin While visiting Paris a few years ago, Iris Forma rented a bicycle from the Parisian municipality, run under the same system that will soon launch in […]

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Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) Workshop June 19-24, 2011 ShareThis Israeli, Jordanian, and Palestinian water practitioners are invited to apply for the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) workshop from June 19-24, 2011 on Kibbutz Ketura, Israel. WEAP is useful microcomputer tool for integrated water resources management that goes a step beyond conventional supply-oriented water simulation […]

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On April 12, under the patronage of HRH Prince Hassan Bin Talal, a GRAND OPENING ceremony was held for the Sharhabil Bin Hassneh EcoPark in Jordan. More than six years ago, FoEME began with the development of 100 dunams for an EcoPark, fencing off the area to regulate overgrazing that had contributed to the degredation […]

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TEHRAN (AFP) – Iranians are worried by crippling air pollution as “unprecedented” sandstorms mostly originating from neighbouring Iraq hit 20 provinces, forcing the shutdown of schools and government offices. The blinding sandstorms hit western, central and southern provinces on Wednesday due to winds blowing at high speed, considerably reducing visibility to as low as 50 […]

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