It’s all bad news for Gazans – a UN report reveals that that region is under immense environmental stress which looks set to worsen unless dramatic action is taken

A comprehensive report released by the UN this week has warned that Gaza will no longer be ‘liveable’ by 2020 unless dramatic action is taken to improve its water supply, power, health and schooling. It adds that Gaza’s rapidly rising population of about 1.64 million could also lose its main source of fresh water by 2016. Clean water is limited for most Gazans to an average of 70-90 litres per person per day – the minimum global World Health Organization standard is 100 litres a day. “Damage to the coastal aquifer will be irreversible without immediate remedial action,” says the UN report.

A five year Israeli blockade supported by Egypt has crippled the Gazan enclave although Israel partly eased restrictions in mid-2010 and there have been improvement since. Real GDP is estimated to have risen by 28% percent in the first half of 2011 and unemployment dropped to 28 percent from 37 percent in 2010.

Even so, the report said that growth over the next eight years would be slow and due to its isolation, Gaza’s economy is essentially non-viable. Robert Turner, the director of operation of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said that by 2020 Gaza will need 440 new schools, 800 more hospital beds and over a 1,000 additional doctors.

The water situation has been highlighted as a major issue that needs serious action. Palestinians have been digging deeper and deeper to reach groundwater and have in the process damaged their water resources. According to IRIN, an average of 160 million cubic meters (mcm) of water is taken from the aquifer per year, but it is only fed with 50-60 mcm from rainfall and water-runoff from the Hebron Hills every year. This has resulted in a huge gap between water availability and usage. As a consequence, ground water levels have been falling, allowing seawater intrusion. Indeed, a desalination plant costing about $350 million is planned for the area.

: Image of fisherman in Gaza via Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Shutterstock.com

:: IRIN and Jordan Times

For more on Gaza see:

Gaza Getting 20! Zero-Emission Eco Schools

Israeli Environment Minister Proposes Cuts to Gaza Electricity to Bridge Shortfalls

Gaza Seawater Desalination Plant Backed By Europe

The post Gaza Unliveable by 2020 and Its Water Undrinkable by 2016 appeared first on Green Prophet.

In the 1970s, a series of first-generation nuclear reactors were built in the former Soviet Union, all lacking the infrastructure to contain major ruptures in the reactor’s primary circuit. Should a large rupture occur and the facility begin to overheat, the reactor would open to the outside air to cool down, exposing the surrounding environment to its contents and whatever accidents subsequently befell them.

One such nuclear power plant was built in present-day Armenia, in one of the most seismically active areas on the planet, a recent National Geographic article reports. Concerned citizens, scientists and international agencies have called on the Armenian government to shut down the plant, but there’s a snag: The plant supplies more than 40 percent of the power in a country that is exceptionally hard-pressed for energy.

The 31-year-old Metsamor power station is one of just five first-generation VVER 440 nuclear plants that lacks a primary containment structure. The rest are in Russia. The Armenian government has started planning to replace Metsamor’s 750 MW of capacity by 2016, but many are worried about what may happen in the intervening five years.

One-third of Armenia’s population live just 20 miles away, in the capital city of Yerevan. At a time when many countries in the Middle East are charging ahead with plans to develop nuclear power, including Armenia’s neighbor to the west, Turkey, Armenians dread becoming a tragic illustration of the dangers of nuclear technology.

At the same time, however, Armenians, are loath to turn off the plant until an equally large power generator has replaced it. Armenia was cut off by both of its nearest neighbors, Azerbaijan and Turkey, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, so it relies on fuel imports from more distant countries, mainly Russia. After a 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit Armenia in 1988, the plant was shut down for six years even though it had escaped any damage. Ara Tadevosyan, director of a major Armenian news agency, recalled these years as a time of extreme deprivation in National Geographic:

“There were severe power shortages during the winter months. We had a situation where you had one hour of power a day, and sometimes no power at all for a week. You can imagine—it was as cold in the apartment as it was in the street.”

More than a thousand safety improvements have been made to the plant since it restarted in 1995, but that didn’t stop a United Nations envoy from calling the plant a “danger to the entire region” in 2004, or the United States from underwriting a study that similarly urged the country to replace it.

The European Union required Bulgaria and Slovakia to shut down VVER 440 units in those countries before they could join the EU. Since the EU hasn’t been able to convince Armenia to do the same, it has instead spent more than 59 million euros trying to improve the safety and sustainability of Armenia’s power supply.

Next year, Armenia plans to begin work on a new, $5 billion VVER 1000 nuclear reactor project: first steps toward its emancipation from the aging VVER 440. But that project won’t help relieve Armenia’s dependence on volatile, foreign sources of energy. As Green Prophet recently reported, a huge amount of oil is necessary to extract uranium, the fuel needed to run nuclear power plants.

For true peace of mind, Armenia should seek cleaner, more sustainable sources of energy within its own borders.

:: National Geographic

Read more about nuclear power in the Middle East:

Despite Japan, Turkey Goes Ahead With Nuclear Reactors

Time to Pause: Risks of Nuclear in the Volatile Middle East and North Africa Region

Nuclear Power Continues World Dependence on Middle East Oil

Image via Chuckdad

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