A sea level rise of 100 inches or eight feet in Ar Ru’ays, a city at the northern tip of Qatar, would render 100 percent of the population homeless. Considered one of the top ten developing nations that is most vulnerable to rising seas, the host of the 18th Conference of the Parties to the […]
Israel now has relations with 44 African nations, more than at any time in the country’s history. “This is the dawning of a new era in relations between Israel and African states,” according to Lynn Schler, director of the Africa Centre at Ben-Gurion University. During summer 2012, a vast array of high-profile African leaders visited Israel, […]
The Aras River basin is home to more than half of Turkey’s bird species, but a planned hydroelectric dam would alter the river’s marshy ecosystem, driving away the birds. That’s the fear of Çağan Şekercioğlu, president and founder of Turkey’s KuzeyDoğa wildlife preservation NGO. Green Prophet has written about Şekercioğlu’s groundbreaking research, teaching, and conservation work before. Now, […]
Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, who is the president of the COP18 got a thorough telling off for courting big oil executives in the lead up to the climate talks The annual UN climate talks are coming the Middle East for the first time ever. As such, climate change and environmental issues are hitting the local […]
Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz walks to the podium to speak during a ceremony marking the start of exploratory oil and gas drilling by Turkey in the breakaway Turkish Cypriot northern half of Cyprus, near Singrasi village, in April. Turkey’s onshore wells near Singrasi came as hostilities ratcheted up between Turkey and the Cyprus Republic […]
Every year it’s the same thing. Hundreds of delegates from around the world fly somewhere to agree to climate change solutions. Journalists bemoan the lack of progress, environmentalists criticize the amount of carbon emissions spewed into the atmosphere as a result and the public at large completely loses faith in the process. The UN Convention of […]
The last global climate meetings weren’t considered very successful in finding an acceptable successor to the Kyoto-protocol, one with emission targets that would include all the countries and not only developed ones. China recently became the world’s biggest emitter, and it will be hard to limit the temperature variation if the developing world, and more […]
We speak to waste management expert Salman Zafar about the region’s mounting trash problem and why it’s outpacing all efforts to deal with it A recent report by the World Bank predicts that by 2025, city dwellers could produce as much as 2.2 billion tonnes of solid waste a year – that’s a 70% increase […]
Egypt and sunshine. The two go hand in hand. Ask any tourist, or come to that, any solar panel maker pulling in the profits. Both are grateful for the sunshine. Even in December, Egypt enjoys an average 6.4 hours of sunshine a day. In June, the average jumps to an incredible 11.9 hours a day. […]
There has been a lot of fuss about Jordan’s nuclear ambitions and activists in the kingdom have been vocal about their opposition, but all this hullabaloo might be for nought according to an industry expert. Speaking with The Jordan Times, Steve Thomas from Greenwich University said that high construction costs, complicated regulatory requirements and the […]
Lebanon’s carbon emissions are relatively small compared to other Middle Eastern nations such as Qatar or the United Arab Emirates, and pale in comparison to that of China and the United States, but its environmental record is far from pristine. Heaps of burning trash and some of the world’s most disgusting waterways are just two […]
Kick off the new year with Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week to be held January 13 through 17. The world’s leading symposium committed to promoting the advancement of alternative energy and efficient, clean technologies, Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2013 is expected to attract 30,000 participants from over 150 countries. Hosted by Masdar, Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week provides a […]
This month’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP18) will be hosted by Qatar, the tiny peninsula nation in the Persian Gulf that holds the world record for per capita CO2 emissions. According to a report entitled Indicators of Sustainable Development 2011 released by Qatar’s statistics’ authority, the state has experienced a 27% annual increase in […]
Image via Tunisia Live Having met strict regulations in the United States and other developed countries that have slowed down their ambitions, Shell has sought to use less developed nations as guinea pigs […]
The logistical headaches of keeping daylight savings year-round in Jordan. Last week in Amman, the Jordanian Cabinet reversed a decision to switch to wintertime, sticking with daylight saving time for the entire year. Our extended daylight hours are good for the environment (and coveted by many Israeli neighbors), but the late decision is causing logistical […]