Think of truffles, a gourmet wild food. The European tuber commands astronomical prices because of its inimitable flavor, rarity, and difficult harvesting. Oregano-like za’atar herb and thorny akub (Gundelia tournefortii) are desired in the Middle East in the same way. Read our post on the delicious truffles that grow in the desert.

Akoub and za’atar grow wild in the arid hills of Cyprus, Lebanon, Israel, the Sinai Peninsula (Egypt), Syria, and Turkey. In Israel both za’atar and akoub are protected species. Both can be cultivated. Both may be collected from the wild for personal use, in moderate amounts. We even have a recipe for za’atar pesto from chef Moshe Basson.

But traders illegally picking them for sale collect them by hundreds of kilos. Often they uproot the whole za’atar plant. With akoub, taking the edible flower head means no seed left for the next year. As a result, wild za’atar and akub are on the brink of extinction.

I myself grow za’atar in a container on my balcony; it’s a hardy Mediterranean herb that flourishes from year to year in the same spot. I bought the seedling from a plant nursery. I’ve also seen contraband sacks of the herb in Arab open-air markets.

But admittedly you need to be a farmer to grow akoub, because propagation is tricky, the season is short, and the sharp thorns surrounding the delicious leaves and flowers make harvesting hard.

When living in northern Israel, I’d buy fresh akoub from a Beduin vendor in the local open-air market. It was expensive because of the labor involved in harvesting – I’ve seen robed Beduin slowly walking over the hills, stooping to pry the akoub away from the earth with a knife, then stripping the thorns off the edible stems.

I cooked both the flower and the stem. And yes, it was delicious, with its artichoke-like flavor. But now I wonder where that delicious akoub came from, and if I’d contributed to its overharvesting.

The Israel Nature and Parks Authority in the Golan have confiscated hundreds of kilos of za’atar and akoub. Some were meant to be sold in local markets, but much of this illegal produce makes its way across the border to Jordan.

Yaron Maderchi, head of the Investigations Department at the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, states that the fight against the illegal picking of wild plants is first and foremost a struggle to preserve them for future generations.

“We focus on strict enforcement against traders, not on picking for personal use,” said Maderchi. “There’s room for tradition and for responsible use of natural resources, but when picking is carried out on a commercial scale and without oversight, it leads to severe damage and even local extinction of species.”

The Israel Nature and Parks Authority noted that overpicking is driven mostly by financial incentives.

“Akoub is a highly sought-after product in the market, and illegal harvesting can generate profits of thousands of shekels per day,” said Oriya Vazana, a regional inspector in the central Golan for the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.

“Economic pressure leads people to enter these areas in large numbers,” said Vazana. “The entire market operates in cash, without oversight. Beyond the damage to the plant itself, we are also seeing collateral harm: cutting fences, opening gates, damage to grazing lands, and safety risks on roads. This is a complex issue that requires significant resources, manpower, and targeted enforcement throughout the short harvesting season.”

The plant has significant ecological importance, serving as a food source for pollinators and insects and contributing to biodiversity. Left unharvested, the flower head dries up and tumbles on the ground, dispersing seed.

About 240 kilos of akoub and 25 kilos of za’atar were seized by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority in the Golan, working with border police.

The post Saving Gourmet Wild Plants For The Future appeared first on Green Prophet.

What’s that sinking feeling?

In Iran, the very ground under your feet may drop away.

The issue here isn’t war. The issue is land subsidence, a human-caused phenomenon that’s been ignored and mismanaged In Iran for decades. Over-pumping of groundwater is causing Iranian land to subside; that is, to sink.

Land subsidence causes damage like water pipes bursting, roads collapsing, and sewer and gas lines breaking. Houses and buildings crack as their foundations weaken. Iran is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world. With this land deformation, even a minor quake could cause catastrophic disaster.

The GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences in Potsdam used satellite data to reveal the extent of the subsidence. A tool known as Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar, which spots even the most minute difference in ground deformation, revealed that land around Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA) was sinking at around 5 centimeters per year. This is considered a “moderate” rate of land subsidence. According to Iran’s National Cartographic Center, other areas are sinking at the rate of 31 cm per year.

Land sinks slowly, almost invisibly. But now the effects of land subsidence are plain to see; especially when a hole in the earth opens up and swallows a whole car under your eyes. At risk are cities, historical sites, and crucial structures like Iran’s airport. In Tehran, Isfahan and Rafsajan, land has dropped by over 12 inches (30 cm) per year. It can’t be ignored anymore.

90% of Iranian groundwater is used for farming. Much is wasted through inefficient management, such as unmonitored drilling of deep wells to make up for reduced rainfall. 14.5 cubic meters of groundwater are pumped every second, an unsustainable rate of use. One way to reduce waste and water theft is to implement water metering.

One might think that innovative farming methods such as Saudi Arabia’s proposed hydroponic greenhouses might penetrate Iranian thought.

As for the largest urban center, 70% of Tehran’s water needs are supplied by five nearby dams. Now, according to current state media reports, the reservoirs are only 13 percent full.

Better management of water resources is needed, such as projects to reduce waste and recycle water; but corruption and plain official indifference impede it.

Discussing water scarcity and air pollution in Tehran, the best that President Masoud Pezeshkian had to offer was a proposal to move Iran’s governmental hubs away.

“We have no choice but to move the country’s political and economic center closer to the sea,” he said.

In other words, no plan to manage water where the majority of people live: just moving government structures on to a better place.

Climate change and air pollution have roles in this sorry story too. Droughts plague Iran. In 2024, precipitation was 60% below average. Ice formed on mountains, which as snowmelt helps fill wells and aquifers, could help, except that it’s contaminated with pollution that rises from urban air.

Human population growth also strains water resources and distribution: the population of Tehran, for example, has exploded from 2 million to over 15 million in the last five decades. With a population of 90+ million, ignoring land subsidence and the reasons it happens could eventually lead to widespread disaster.

Photos via Tehran Times

The post Iran is sinking in sinkholes from overwatering appeared first on Green Prophet.

It had been hundreds of years since a non-motorized vessel had traveled such a distance, guided only by the stars. Last weekend, a historic 18-day double-hulled canoe voyage was completed from the archipelago of Palau to Orchid Island, a remote feature in southeastern Taiwan.

The GPS-free team of eleven was led by Sesario Sewralur, who inherited the love of sailing from his father, legendary navigator Mau Piailug. The journey was co-sponsored by the Taitung County Government and the Micronesian Voyaging Society, as a cross-cultural exchange to honor shared regional conservation values and seafaring techniques.

Image retrieved from Taipei Times.

In Palau, living in harmony with the environment is at society’s core. The customary practice of bul empowers the Council of Chiefs, Palau’s highest-ranking group of traditional leaders, to place and maintain moratoriums on the harvest of natural resources to prevent overconsumption. Local fishing is generally prohibited based on these measures.

The island nation established the world’s first shark sanctuary in 2009. In 2015, it designated 80 percent of its waters as a national marine sanctuary. Earth Day is expanded to the entire month of April.

While Palau is known for its lush land and seascapes, impressive biodiversity lies in particular within marine ecosystems. A paradise for snorkelers and divers, Palau is home to some of the Indo-Pacific’s most thriving reefs, which constitute one of the “seven underwater wonders of the world.” Now say that five times fast.

Image retrieved from Great Barrier Reef Foundation.

Palau is a prime tropical destination—but it’s just about in the middle of nowhere. Widespread sustainability efforts aim to offset the carbon footprint intensified by tourism. Many eco-tourism experiences involve nature excursions and one-of-a-kind experiences drawing on traditional knowledge and practices in such realms as culinary arts or handicrafts.

For visitors to Palau looking to gamify their stay in-country, Ol’au Palau is an app rewarding environmental stewardship with special access to local heritage sites. Though the transaction happens on a screen, it promotes on-site engagement for fuller meaning-making.

As of 2017, Palau also requires visitors to sign the Palau Pledge, a code of conduct stamped into their passports at international arrivals. Entry into the country hinges on signing on the line, promising to the Children of Palau to exercise awareness and shared responsibility for Palau’s ecological and cultural preservation.

Image retrieved from Palau Pledge website.

The Palau Pledge goes like this:

“Children of Palau, I take this pledge, as your guest,

To preserve and protect your beautiful and unique island home.

I vow to treat lightly, act kindly and explore mindfully.

I shall not take what is not given.

I shall not harm what does not harm me.

The only footprints I shall leave are those that will wash away.”

According to Palauan legend, a two-headed eel grew with one head on either side of a rock, each unaware of the other. The snakes starved as they pulled each other to go after prey, before realizing they were linked. Only then did they put their heads together, working together to thrive.

We are already aware we are linked. Palau may be one of the most isolated countries on earth, but we are all connected by the waters which lap at its shores.

The Palau Pledge is a refreshingly humanitarian immigration policy, inspiring us to respect and protect our surroundings both near and far. Should other countries follow Palau’s lead?

The post Palau: The place, the pledge, the legends appeared first on Green Prophet.

Earth’s oceans cover over 70 percent of the planet’s surface and hold more than 1.3 billion cubic kilometers of water. Inside these vast waters inhabitants over 236,878 marine species, but likely way more as we have only explored 20 percent of the oceans. Today, we estimate that the ocean is roughly 11,000 meters at its deepest point.

Just like any other ecosystem, it is imperative to protect the numerous species that inhabit the deep sea. Deep sea mining is now threatening these species due to the discovery of rich minerals such as cobalt and lithium that can be found in seabeds.

The International Sea Bed Council has already put in approval of plans for work as early as September. Luckily, the DSCC is working amongst other NGOs to stop companies from committing these devastating ocean effects.

There are three types of mining that are in the plans to take place. Polymetallic nodules from the abyssal plains, cobalt crusts from seamounts, and polymetallic sulphides from hydrothermal vents. These underwater areas are rich in biodiversity and threatened to be destroyed if the mining takes place. Since much of the ocean has not been explored, we don’t know the severity of the mining, and can be more destructive than we expect.

This is why it is so important to get on board with the DSCC, fisheries, and law and policy enforcement to ensure that permits do not go out to allow this mining. According to the DSCC, scientists have warned us that the impacts of deep-sea mining are inevitable and most likely irreversible.

“The last thing we need is deep sea mining digging ourselves into a deeper hole,” says Louisa Casson at GreenPeace on a conference call Green Prophet joined recently.

The risks that deep sea mining imposes are numerous: The disturbance of natural seabeds and ecosystems creates plumes of sediment that can threaten species’ habitats and threaten extinction. Plumes can also be created through the deposit of wastewater in the mining process that can spread hundreds of square kilometers. It also generates a lot of noise pollution which greatly disturbs species.

According to a study released by Green Peace, the noise pollution that deep sea mining creates can disrupt whales’ ability for frequency navigation, communication between breeding partners, and communication between mothers and calves. And with these frequencies operating 24 hours a day, there is significant detrimental harm to species of whales for the long haul.

“Seabed mining is not a climate solution, it’s a potential climate disaster,” said Bobbi-Jo of The Ocean Foundation on the same call we jumped in on meant to bring journalists up to date with the latest research. With the goal of seabed mining being to provide cobalt and nickel to the EV electric vehicle industry, seabed mining is not going to help these industries much because lithium is most important to this industry for its batteries and is not found in large quantities in the polymetallic nodules of ocean beds. For this reason, seabed mining would be disturbing the sea floor and the marine ecosystems unnecessarily.

Seabed mining can not be marketed as a climate solution because it does not make mining on Earth any less. Although seabed mining may take away from mining on land, it shifts it to mining underwater and further disrupts the earth’s surface, just now underwater.

This makes people think that we are finding solutions to climate issues on land, but they are just moving it underwater where people can not visibly see the damage.

The Canadian company The Metals Company or TMC is a leading proponent of seabed mining. TMC has been called out numerous times because they have put out misleading statements to investors. The company has had two class action cases after failing to disclose information and downplaying reality. They make themselves look like they are doing good work for the metals industry, when in actuality they are heading towards massive blocks from moratorium and difficulties financing their commissions.

Fortunately, countries all over the world are coming together to address and moratorium deep sea mining. “We are seeing a coalition of countries from the Pacific, Latin America, and Europe all making statements,” said Casson from GreenPeace. There is cross-regional support for a moratorium on deep sea mining as statements are being released and a silent majority were against deep sea mining. Governmental and NGO officers showed overwhelming support for the moratorium. Specifically in France and Germany, governments were for deep-sea mining, but as evidence was released that proved the destructive effects of deep-sea mining, these countries turned around and decided there was no future for deep-sea mining.

It is in the hands of activists, NGOs, and others to speak up against deep-sea mining and continue to push for a moratorium on deep-sea mining. As long as we continue to push these scientific facts globally, we can convince nations all over the world to a global moratorium. Deep sea mining is destructive to marine ecosystems and cannot be allowed in any way, shape, or form.

The post Marine ecosystems in danger: what is deep sea mining? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Everything counts in large amounts: July 13, near a beach in Turkey. Campers and locals creating a dump they will later burn. This eco alert hopes to stop widespread illegal dumping of consumer trash.

There is nothing more annoying than getting out of the town or city and going to nature for a stroll or swim and then coming upon a pile of garbage. Or nothing more annoying than thinking you are going to paradise and then end up in a dump. Unlike pollution such as microplastics that can’t be seen, or industrial pollution causing high rates of suspected cancer cases, when you see garbage in plain sight being contributed to by everyday people, you know there is a big problem with local awareness.

This Eco Alert come from Sandra Brinuma, who went for a swim at the beach in Keşan, Edirne, Turkey. “The place on internet was called as ‘hidden paradise’. It was hidden plastic hell,” she reports.

The bay where she found the piles of trash is called İtalyan Koyu or Kale Koyu and it is close to Mecidiye and Erikli villages. “A sand road goes there from the main road,” she tells Green Prophet, and to find it on the GPS you punch in: 40°35’47.2″N 26°30’40.4″E.

The last time we went to Turkey the nature was pristine and clean. But this is changing with the growing use of plastics and our throwaway culture. This is what we want to see. Not the pile of garbage above.

She explains: “Across the hill on the other side there is Uzunkum beach which is with the payment fee therefore there was no trash. Where municipality steps in is clean but not official beaches (however crowded ones) are not taken care of at all.

“I wish I have taken more pictures as on the sides of the beach there was a lot of trash too and also trash was swimming in the water.

As it is not an official beach, there are no trash cans and where the cars were parked there was this huge hole in the ground full with trash. When I went there to take a picture, a man with his son was going there to throw more bottles in it.  I  told him that he should not do this, then he said that campers have made this trash here and that municipality burns it later. He did not understand that he is a part of the problem nor that burning is bad,” Brinuma explains.

Her boyfriend Umut Üntürk sent a message to the Keşan Municipality and she is waiting for a reply. “Locals seem to not care,” she says. “They were ok with trash and not to pay entrance fee.”

Consider that Turkey beaches are rated the best in the world for Blue Flag. How can we keep it that way?

Read more about local environmental movements in Turkey:

As He Battles Lawsuit, Grandfather of Turkish Environmental Movement Receives Right Livelihood Award
Istanbul’s Main Square To Become Lifeless And Isolated In New Urban Plan, Opponents Warn
10,000 Turks Gather To Protest Coal-Fired Power Plant
“Anatola Won’t Be Blackened” Declare Turkish Anti-Fossil Fuel Groups

You might think that little reports of environmental neglect go nowhere. We disagree. Have an environmental gripe or violation to report? Email us ecoalert@greenprophet.com

The post Beach called hidden paradise is plastic hell appeared first on Green Prophet.