A new park in drought-hit Syria showcases water-saving techniques Following five years of drought which has driven nearly half a million people away from drought-hit areas and put the country at risk of increasing desertification, Syria has inaugurated a water scarcity park to highlight the need to conserve dwindling water supplies.
Lake Urmia (Persian: دریاچه ارومیه, theDaryache-ye Orumiye, Azerbaijani Urmu gölü, Kurdish Wermy, Armenian: Կապուտան ծով, Kaputan ts'ov; ancient name: Lake Matiene) is a salt lake in northwestern Iran near Iran's border with Turkey. Like the Dead Sea in Israel and Jordan, and Aral Lake in Iraq we could lose this lake forever if we don't take action today.
Warming temperatures are creating a shift in agriculture in Egypt, the cradle of civilization. Human civilization began with the growing of wheat in the fertile crescent. Fifteen thousand years ago in the Middle East, people started to select and later to cultivate strains of wheat and began farming, and the rest is, as they say, […]
The warmer colors (red, purple) represent parts of the planet that are likely to experience the worst drought within the next few decades. In some places, 2010 was the hottest year on record. Saudi Arabia – with its enormous swath of desert – was particularly hard hit, while Egypt stewed during a series of blackouts […]
In Tunisia last week, Islamic ministers meet to set a precedent on tackling water scarcity in home countries. In the Middle East and across the Muslim world, water scarcity is becoming one of the most pressing issues related to climate change- but what is actually been done to tackle these problems? Last week, the conference […]
Syria’s livelihood is going down the drain. Unless the country learns to conserve, their future will be painfully dry. The Euphrates River, which meanders diagonally through the top quarter of Syrian territory, was once a source of agricultural bounty. Expatriates recall a time of lush plenty: orchards blooming with fruit, healthy cotton fields, and sparkling […]
Traveling sandstorms force Middle Eastern countries to cooperate, despite former water disagreements. Approximately two thirds of the Middle East is comprised of desert, including as it does the largest continuous expanse of sand (in Saudi Arabia) known as Rub’ Al Khali or the empty quarter. With so little moisture there are no hovering clouds, and […]
In order to mitigate the country’s devastating water shortages, Jordan seeks help from Thailand to create artificial rain. Drought and floods are on different sides of the same coin, both equally devastating. Pakistan’s cries for help are being heard throughout the world while the rest of us, particularly in the Middle Eastern desert regions, are […]