Another terror attack today in Jerusalem. Vengeful and permanent acts of aggression that leave no room for negotiation. I want to remind you that despite the horrible killings by axe and guns there are builders of peace from this Holy Land.

Thomas Friedman from the New York Times said it last month, and it’s been something I have been saying for years since I started writing about positive environment news from the Middle East in 2007: the only way peace will come in the Middle East is through shared environmental action.

While religions can argue over access to temples, who should see the graves of the holy, or who can pray where, there is no-one who can argue about the importance of breathing clean air, drinking clean water and keeping our seas green. That’s why building bridges through mutual environmental action and goals in research, industry and government is critical throughout the Middle East.

Before we give up home for Jerusalem this is a perfect time to highlight some cooperative environmental action from the region. Recently, in September, a workshop to protect marine biodiversity was held in Malta. For ten days senior researchers and their students from from Palestine, Israel, Cyprus, Ireland, Spain, Malta, Tunisia and more came together to develop a blueprint to solve marine ecological destruction in the Mediterranean. Green Prophet got to speak with two “enemies”, a Palestinian Cypriot and Israeli about working with the other.

The workshop was run by one of my favorite marine organizations EcoOcean, from Israel and Sweden, and the University of Malta, the EU’s BioDivmeX and the French National Center for Scientific Research.

Working out of Malta, the group of about 30 spent their time aboard EcoOceans’s marine research vessel, the Mediterranean Explorer, as well as at labs at the Malta University.

The course of action was to start studying the biodiversity of the Maltese coast: the open sea, the nearby nature reserve Comino Island and the underwater caves of Malta. Early research on the caves revealed new species never before found in the Mediterranean region.

But just as important news is the relationships made between people, like PhD students Rana Abu Alhaija from Cyprus who is half Palestinian and Niv David from Israel.

David tells Green Prophet that the Mediterranean Sea is highly sensitive and is threatened by dense human population centers: “there is an ever growing need to document marine biodiversity in a context of global change and potential conservation support,” he says. And that “overcoming political and cultural disputes, is required to address these challenges.

David’s personal interest is a passion for maritime research while studying climate change at sea at University of Haifa in Israel: “This experience, collaboration with amazing people, was not only the key for efficient learning and knowledge exchange, but also for creating global mutualism among researches and students from different countries and cultures, sharing the same goal of better understanding marine systems for improved protection and conservation,” David tells Green Prophet.

Abu Alhaija says: “Although all participants had to overcome language, cultural and personal barriers I had to deal with one more. I was a minority. I alone had to represent two countries that not only do they have a wide coast stretch but are also inconstant political turmoil.

“One might think that having Israeli colleagues in the same workshop might have impaired my ability to learn or work. In my perspective it had the exact opposite effect. There they were; the people who share with me the love for the same piece of land and care and study the same sea.

She continues: “The best part was that they were more than willing, not only to teach me the things that I do not know, but also to work beside me in achieving our common goal: to study and safeguard our sea.

“I did find many difficulties during my ten days at the BioDivMex workshop and I did disagree with other participants, one of which was a Jew who wanted to drop what he was doing to help me, but the bottom line is that through a touch of understanding we were able to successfully complete the workshop and create bonds that will generate future research projects.”

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Technically, Lent began the previous Sunday, but Monday’s popular picnicking marks the run-up to Easter for the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic churches.

This is a holy-day holiday everyone can sign up to!

As a Catholic-raised American living in the Middle East I’m always doing a calendar doubletake – orthodox versions of our western religions adopt different holiday start dates. Lent here started Monday – whereas back home it begins two days later, on Ash Wednesday.

I know this not because I’m observant, but because I’ve been Twitter-tracking my firstborn as he eats his way through Mardi Gras – the annual bacchanalian that culminates today, Fat Tuesday, the last day of over-consumption before Lent’s ritual fasting begins. (Nick’s not religious either – unless you consider his devotion to po’boys, gumbo and beignets.)

Meat, eggs and dairy products are off-limits to Orthodox Christians throughout Lent, and fish is only eaten on major feast days – far more restrictive than fasting in the West. I’ve stumbled on this in my Amman workplace, cluelessly bringing in cookies and cakes which only the Muslims could tuck into.

Where Christian orthodoxy is in the majority, Green Monday goes large. It’s a public holiday in Cyprus; thousands flock to open areas, parks and beaches for picnics.

The day is also called Clean Monday, your last chance to indulge in dicey behaviors and non-fasting foods. The idea is to start Lent with a clean slate (and plate!). It’s also customary to go to Confession this week, and to thoroughly scrub the house.

The theme of Clean Monday is explained in the Old Testament (Isaiah 1:16-18) which says:

“Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.”

The happy vibe of Clean Monday may seem at odds with Lenten repentance and self-denial, a last flash before austerity sets in.  But the tenets of the day rise above religiosity; there’s a positive take-away in Green Monday for everyone that can be easily implemented year-round – no matter whom you pray to.

Adopt Meatless Mondays, get out into nature, seek to do good, and go clean your room.

Image of Easter eggs from Shutterstock

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The suspended pipeline, moored to the floor of the seabed and well lower than where submarines can go, will carry freshwater from Turkish sources as much as 280 meters (919 feet) under water, Bloomberg is reporting. The first kilometer of pipe has been laid, in what will be a $484 million project.

The divided island is one of the most water-stressed places on Earth, and Turkey and Turkish Cypriots in the north have bickered with Cyprus over offshore natural gas discoveries recently.

The island is the mythological birthplace of the goddess of love Aphrodite.

Cypriot government environment commissioner Ioanna Panayiotou said that the pipeline is “not the best solution both in economic — too expensive — and environmental terms. Water is sensitive and might get polluted during the transfer.”

Others think that the water pipe might open the “channel” so that the Turkish north and Greek south can start mending old problems.

Greek Cypriots are already going ahead in their own way by building three more desalination plants to add to its current two plants.

Meanwhile, Turkey also plans on sending over a subsea transmission line to its northern parts as well.

The post World’s longest undersea water pipeline uniting Turkey to Cyprus appeared first on Green Prophet.

It’s illegal to serve this disgusting delicacy in restaurants, but despite being outlawed some 1.5 million songbirds will have been killed in Cyprus this year to make a dish called ambelopoulia.

The statistics in come BirdLife Cyprus’ surveillance programme.

Martin Hellicar from BirdLife Cyprus told the BBC that in Dhekelia, organised criminal gangs created “labyrinths” of acacia trees, irrigating the plantations and cutting corridors through them in order to set up long mist nets.

These operations often also use loudspeakers with recordings of bird calls in order to lure migrating birds into the almost invisible nets. BirdLife Cyprus says that massive profits are being made by often organised and ruthless trappers thanks to the largely uncontrolled sale of expensive ambelopoulia in law-breaking restaurants.

“A dozen birds can fetch up to 80 euros,” a spokesperson from BirdLife Cyprus told the BBC.

BirdLife Cyprus and the UK’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds have been monitoring songbirds – or as they are locally know as “ambelopoulia” – trapping operations on the island since 2002.

BirdLife Cyprus told the Cyprus Mail, in that time, the scale of bird-trapping had increased by 54 percent over the last decade. Although it is widespread, the organisation said that some of the largest trapping operations were within the UK’s Sovereign Base Areas (SBA).

These take place on the two British SBAs in Cyprus, at Akrotiri and Dhekelia, sites covering about 100 square miles that are British sovereign territory.

Because Cyprus is a key stopover on the migration route of many birds, including blackcaps and warblers, the trapping mainly takes place during the autumn. BirdLife’s estimate that 1.5 million birds will have been killed will be published in early 2014, as part of a report on bird-trapping in the country.

In 2011 they estimated a million were killed, so numbers appear to be rising.

Migrating birds will have no chance if this barbaric practice continues unabated.

The post Cyprus kills 1.5 million migrating songbirds to eat in fetish dish appeared first on Green Prophet.

There is speculation that the bats are declining because there is a sudden decline in agriculture on Cyprus, probably due to the high cost of water on the water-parched community. This article confirms my hunch. The local ministries in Cyprus think the bats are heading north to the Turkish mainland where water is abundant and agriculture thrives.

Meanwhile Cyprus is attempting to market itself as a Food Island, and its quality over quality. It is pushing for wine and other high-value agriculture commodities famous from the Mediterranean region.

Over here in Jaffa, Israel where I live I can’t help but notice a flourishing fruit bat population. In my yard we play host to an active fruit bat group who are super happy to munch on our mulberry tree when it is in season (here’s a recipe for humans on stuffed mulberry leaves), leaving their tell-tale streaks of burgundy bat poop splattered over the white walls outside. After mulberry season ends, another large canopy tree beside us bears small fruit keeping the bats happy until winter.

Worried about bats? Plant more fruit trees and share your harvest with them.

Image of fruit bats from Shutterstock

The post Cyprus Fruit Bats Decline and Head to Turkey? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Keeping human development in check along the Mediterranean isn’t only a goal for environmentalists, she says. Already back in 2004 the United Nations penned directives and policies on how coastal development in the Med region should look. And most of the countries in the region signed on.

An urban land-use and policy expert at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Alterman initiated Mare Nostrum, a new project that will unite 11 Mediterranean countries and stakeholders in finding ways to better enforce shoreline development regulations.

Back in Roman times, the Mediterranean was nicknamed Mare Nostrum, Latin for “Our Sea.” And indeed the Romans celebrated it as their own by building amphitheatres on its shores to provide entertainment venues for the empire’s port cities, which stretched as far as Israel and Egypt.

The Israeli Mare Nostrum project will link modern partners with modern needs and problems. It will serve as a legal bridge between all the Mediterranean nations, starting first with a handful of partners. Mare Nostrum has been awarded a grant of €4.3 million and will take place over three years.

She ‘sells’ seashore laws

“My idea was unique in the field, and rather than offering to look again at what should be the best laws of how to manage the coastlines,” Alterman tells ISRAEL21c, “the devil is in the details and the problem is getting the [existing] laws implemented.”

The legally binding treaty that most of the Mediterranean countries signed is called the Integrated Coastal Zone Management Protocol of the Barcelona Convention. Among its directives is that development should be set back 100 meters from shore. The EU now wants full enforcement and coordination between ministerial offices and databanks.

However, “the distance between lofty declarations and what’s on the ground gets messy. There are major disparities between countries in the Med,” says Alterman.

“My strategy is to look from the bottom up rather than the top down,” she says. “I am not looking at the best practices, but the baseline practices. We’ll look at the lowest baseline for each country and inch it up a bit, notch by notch from the bottom.”

Some 30 partners and advisers from countries including Greece, Malta, Italy, Jordan, Germany, Turkey and Spain met in Haifa recently to determine the biggest issues facing “their sea,” ascertaining that uncontrolled development is the biggest problem for coastline protection.

Haifa is a beautiful port city north of Tel Aviv but it has been polluted from tankers and industry on its shores. This city, as well as several others in the Med region including Kavala, Greece, will be case studies for how Alterman’s modern-day Mare Nostrum will be put into action.

Alterman tells ISRAEL21c that she plans with her partners to build a toolbox to help local enforcement agencies do their job, but also help them find a middle ground with property owners who want to build on the coast, or with those who have done so already. Compensation could be part of the middle ground, she says.

Mare Nostrum meeting participants

She says it’s necessary and meaningful for Mare Nostrum leaders to engage the public and local NGOs by creating an activist spirit. Using mapping technologies like GIS (geographic information system), they can show physical sites of uncontrolled development, and the pristine areas that need to be saved for the future. With maps and coordinates in hand, and knowing what’s at stake, local groups and individuals can better petition to save their coastlines.

Israel has one of the densest countries in the region and offers only 2.5 centimeters of coastline per citizen. This is one reason why the country was a very early adopter and implementer of coastline development laws well before the UN created its regional protocol in 2004. Israel’s laws are pretty well developed, and except for France perhaps, quite possibly the most developed in the Med region, says Alterman, who is considered a world expert in her field.

Over the next three years, Mare Nostrum partners will assess progress in several case-study cities. These results will be brought to the table in another few years to see if Mare Nostrum will indeed be a successful vehicle for saving Our Sea.

This is reprinted from ISRAEL21c – www.israel21c.org

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Shark populations in the Mediterranean and Black Sea have dropped dramatically over the last two centuries and now risk extinction, with serious implications for the region’s entire marine ecosystem and food chains, according to a new study by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Administration.

“Sharks in the Mediterranean Sea have declined by more than 97 percent in number and ‘catch weight’ over the last 200 years. They risk extinction if current fishing pressure continues,” the study found.

“This loss of top predators could hold serious implications for the entire marine ecosystem, greatly affecting food webs throughout this region,” it added.

The study, Elasmobranchs of the Mediterranean and Black Sea: Status, Ecology and Biology, was undertaken by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean, one of several FAO regional bodies working in the fisheries sector.

Sharks critically endangered

It found that cartilaginous fish species, such as sharks and rays, “are by far the most endangered group of marine fish in the Mediterranean and Black sea where 85 species are known to occur. Of 71 species assessed in the Mediterranean Sea in 2007, 30 (42 percent) were found to be threatened, including 13 percent critically endangered, 11 percent endangered and 13 percent vulnerable. Another 18 percent were categorized as near-threatened.

Cartilaginous fish have skeletons made of cartilage, rather than bones. Within that group, sharks, rays and skates are scientifically termed Elasmobranchs. Their biological characteristics, including low fecundity, late maturity and slow growth make them more vulnerable than bony fish, as their regeneration rates are slower.

Issues such as “overfishing, wide use of non-selective fishing practices and habitat degradation” are therefore affecting these species more than others.

In general sharks and rays have not been deliberately targeted in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, but caught accidentally. Annual aggregated reported landings in the Mediterranean and Black Sea currently amount to some 7 000 tonnes, compared to 25 000 tonnes in 1985 – an indication of the severity of their decline.

At the same time, however fishing activities targeting sharks are intensifying due to rapidly increasing demand for shark fins, meat and cartilage.

This is compounded by extensive damage to, or disturbance of, their habitats, caused by shipping, underwater construction and mining or by chemical, sound and electromagnetic contamination.

Among the most recent measures adopted by the Commission to protect sharks and rays is the prohibition of ‘finning’ (removal of fins at sea and discarding of carcass) and the reduction of trawl fishing within 3 nautical miles off the coast to enhance protection of coastal sharks.

The Commission has also recommended Mediterranean and Black Sea countries to invest in scientific research programmes aimed at identifying potential nursery areas and to consider time and area closures to protect juveniles of sharks and rays from fishing activities.

Other initiatives undertaken by the Commission have included the organization of several meetings and courses aimed at better understanding these species and their habitats and creating a background of Regional knowledge to guide GFCM Members in developing national plans to protect these key species.

Image of shark eggs via Shutterstock

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Noble Energy, the Houston based energy company, has been working with both Israel and Cyprus to find commercial quantities of natural gas under the eastern Mediterranean seabed . Noble Energy’s Mediterranean undersea energy exploration has included the Leviathan and Tamar gas fields, together with energy tycoons like Delek Energy’s  Yitzhak Tshuva. The natural gas finds so far are estimated to be able to provide Israel with enough natural gas to satisfy energy needs for 150 years – if handled wisely.

Further exploration by Noble and other energy companies are now revealing that oil deposits, located under some of the gas fields, may also be worth going after; even though this would involve very deep and environmentally risky drilling processes. These gas fields include the Leviathan field, off Israel’s coastal city of Haifa; and the Aphrodite gas field off the southern coast of Cyprus.

Marine biologists specializing in the sea life found in these waters are concerned that these oil hungry businesses are threatening Mediterranean marine life, especially its cetacean population of dolphins, whales and porpoises. According to Globes, Noble claims that following a 5,800 meter seismic survey, they have a17% chance of striking oil deposits estimated to be between 210-1,490 million barrels of oil equivalents. At 7,200 meters, there is an 8% possibility of success, giving a total of 25% possibility for the two strata layers.

Environmental concerns are not the only issue concerning Noble Energy’s activities: A Turkish based organization known as the International Strategic Research Organization, published an article dealing with Noble Energy’s agreement with Greek Cyprus to explore possible oil deposits in the Aphrodite gas field located off southern Cyprus.

The article, which appears to take Turkey’s energy claims to the area into account, warns that Noble Energy is “behaving too boldly” due to the risks and high costs involved; which could bankrupt the company due to high and unforeseen risks. These risks appear to include eventual confrontation with Turkish naval and air forces which are present in the area and are occasionally involved in military exercises.

Possible terror attacks are also a factor, says the article.

Aside from the strategic and political aspects, the article notes that the sea is too deep in this area (more than 1500 meters) and that an additional 2600 meters of seabed needs to be drilled in order to reach such deposits. These problems are reminiscent of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico which lasted five months and resulted in millions of gallons of crude oil  gushing into that body of water – perhaps damaging the marine life there forever.

Noble Energy will have to take all of these risk factors into account and then decide if the rewards of extracting oil from this areas are worth the potential risks involved.

Read more about deep sea energy projects in the eastern Mediterranean:

Israel’s Offshore Natural Gas Good to Burn for 150 Years – if Handled Wisely

Mediterranean Agency Could Avert Offshore Marine Disasters

Greek Cyprus Fearful over Offshore Gas Well Drilling

Photo: MNN/NOAA

The post Noble Energy May be Pushing its Luck by Drilling for Deep Oil in the Med appeared first on Green Prophet.

Who wouldn’t want their own submarine to enjoy the beauty of undersea life without getting cold and wet?  Seamagine Hydrospace Corporation of the US hopes their luxury submarines will become the latest must-have toys for the wealthy. Seamagine submarines might not have the character or personal craftsmanship as Tao’s sub, but their Undersea Hunter model can carry up to three people to a depth of 1500 feet (475m).  They certainly look like a fun way to spend a million dollars!

For those of us not in that category of wealth, there is another option. There are about 20 tourist submarines in the world.  The Sindbad club of Egypt offers trips aboard their Mark III submarine to tourists of this Red Sea resort. There are also tourist submarines in Tenerife and Cyprus.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/rbSKhH8fzS4[/youtube]

What will submarines mean for the undersea environment? As divers we are told to avoid stirring up the bottom or allowing our fins to touch the coral reef.  But over the years I saw the number of intact fan corals in the Florida keys diminished.

A single fin kick can wipe out hundreds of years of coral growth.

The sheer number of people who dive in these places became clear to me during one dive when my scuba instructor noticed a bubble on a piece of coral and found that it was actually a diver’s lost contact lens!

Will submarines destroy coral reefs just as jet skis destroy sea grass? It is certainly a possibility.  But as Green Prophet’s Laurie Balbo found, more eyes underwater means that the sea bottom is no longer “out of sight, out of mind.”

Submarine photo via Seamagine.com

The post A Yellow Submarine in Every Garage? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Israel’s national water company, Mekorot (who we’ve interviewed here), is expanding with projects across the globe. It will build and operate two desalination plants in Cyprus to supply almost half of the country’s drinking water. Also on the horizon is a $180 million deal to build a water filtering facility along the La Plata River near Buenos Aires, Argentina. Mekorot Chairman Alex Wiznitzer said he hopes Mekorot’s water projects will be able to create contacts in nearby Arab countries. The United Nation’s has called the Middle East the world’s most water-stressed region. Water security is a vital regional issue.

Wiznitzer told Reuters: “The underdeveloped world doesn’t understand that water is the number one problem in the world. Not oil. Not gas. Not other resources. Water.”

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development predicts that by 2050 global water demand will increase by 55 percent. By marketing its expertise and technologies related to wastewater reuse, water security and desalination, Israel has developed a billion-dollar industry.

Mekorot plans to invest $1.5 billion over the next four years to reach its goal of reclaiming 90 percent of Israel’s wastewater. The company says it currently reuses 75 percent, mainly for irrigation, making it the world’s most efficient national water recycling system. Spain claims the distant second place with 12 percent.

Geoffrey D. Dabelko, the director of the Environmental Change and Security Program (ECSP), a nonpartisan policy forum on environment, population, health, and security issues at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC, believes that cooperation over limited water resources could potentially lead to peace in the Middle East. So far cooperative regional projects have been marginal and inconsistent. It looks like only time will tell if waning water resources in the Middle East will lead to increased cooperation or conflict.

::Reuters

Image of Nahalei Menashe water project reservoir in Caesarea, Israel, via RickP, Wikimedia Commons 

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