Raptors and deer were among species saved from the Carmel Forest Wildfire 50,000 dunams of the Carmel Forest, or nearly half, have been destroyed in the massive wildfire raging in northern Israel since Thursday. The fire is under control but officials said Saturday that it could take dozens of years to rehabilitate the area.
It can take decades of forest growth before the ‘cooling’ CO2 sequestration can overtake these opposing ‘warming’ processes, finds new study on Yatir Forest (above). We’ve been buying carbon credits, and have been busy planting trees hoping to stave off climate change, but the simple formula we’ve learned in recent years – forests remove the […]
The newly formed Green Party of Lebanon (GPL) is planning its debut with the May 2010 municipal elections. The Daily Star reports that the GPL is a secular, environmental, human-rights oriented party bent on slashing corruption and recovering burnt forests. GPL President Philippe Skaff (left) told the Star that focusing only on the immediate political crises […]
Lebanon’s Harissa Forest is only 400 square hectares in size, but it is considered one of ten Mediterranean forest attractions from a sheer beauty and conservation standpoint. Located on a hillside above the predominantly Christian city of Jounieh, the more than 1,000 year old forest had been threatened by real estate developers and construction contractors […]
When we wrote about the new Herbawi Home Center in Jenin earlier this year, we wondered if it would bring suburban living to the West Bank. Another change is afoot this month in the town of Ya’abad, west of Jenin, reports the Maan News Agency. With most of the town’s 8,000 residents working in wood-coal, […]
Putting picnic trash in the can or taking it home with you for disposal is a type of education a lot of people in Middle Eastern countries are lacking. I’ve seen families at city parks and in the forests leave behind mountains of trash after their BBQs, shaking out the picnic cloth to leave behind […]
Summer is always hot in the Middle East, but this season has gotten really fiery in Lebanon, where blazes have damaged over 15 million square meters of forest since June. The Lebanese Daily Star reports that farmers who burn their land after clearing it don’t take note of wind and dry conditions that quickly spiral […]
With one half in Asia and the other in Europe, the cultural hub of Turkey has long depended on two bridges to link the city over the Bosphorus Straits (above). But a proposed third one has raised the ire of environmentalists who say it will damage the city’s forests and water resources, reports the English-language […]
Earlier this year, we saw members of the Lebanese group IndyACT trek out into the snowy wilderness to protect Lebanon’s snow from catastrophic climate change. This week IndyACT members, along with their friends in the Association for Forest Development and Conservation (AFDC) were back in action, putting the heat (so to speak) on decision-makers to […]
Israeli nature advocates are proud of their efforts at both nature conservation and cultivating a love of hiking among the people. However, an article this week in the Boston Globe points out that creating nature preserves often means expelling the indigenous people who once lived in them. Author Mark Dowie writes that the practice began […]