Desert locusts traveling southwest from Algeria and Libya threaten to decimate crops in Niger and Mali, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations warned on Wednesday. Since rebel forces killed Gaddafi in October last year, insecurity along both sides of the Algerian-Libyan border has hampered pest control efforts, allowing locusts to swarm across the desert like a giant red blanket that obscures everything in sight. FAO officials predicted in March that if more was not done to control the migrating locusts, they would reach Niger in June. It seems they have arrived right on time.

Political insecurity hampers pest control

“How many locusts there are and how far they move will depend on two major factors – the effectiveness of current control efforts in Algeria and Libya and upcoming rainfall in the Sahel of West Africa,” said Keith Cressman, FAO Senior Locust Forecasting Officer.

First discovered in March in the southwestern corner of Libya, near Ghat, the locust swarms have been strengthened by May rains and increased vegetation in the Sahel.

Despite border trouble, both Algeria and Libya have been trying to stem the pests. Since May, Algeria has treated 40,000 hectares of land while Libya has treated about half that much. (It isn’t said how the locusts are controlled, but that might be a discussion for another time.)

“In a normal year, Algeria and Libya would have been able to control most of the local swarms and prevent their movement towards the south, but insecurity along both sides of the Algerian-Libyan border is getting in the way of full access by local teams and by FAO experts who need to assess the situation. Libya’s capacity to carry out control efforts has also been affected in the past year,” Cressman explained.

Uninterrupted disasters

This is not the first time that Niger has endured a locust plague. The last one, between 2003 and 2005, wiped out crops in 24 countries. FAO also worries that political instability in Mali could hinder pest control efforts in that country, which would be a open invitation for desert locusts to pay a destructive visit.

Meanwhile, in May Oxfam International reported that 18 million people living in the Sahel were without food after a sustained drought. Uninterrupted disasters in an already unforgiving environment are making life in the region virtually unlivable.

“The FAO Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Western Region (CLCPRO) has provided $300 000 in funding to tackle locust infestations in Libya, according to a press release “and FAO has added an additional $400 000 to address the problem.”

Image via FAO

More on Drought, the Magreb and the Sahel:

A Clarion Call for Sahel Drought Victims 

Gaddafi Dead: Will the Great Manmade River Follow?

Winterime Droughts Increase Due to Climate Change 

The post Desert Locusts Swarm West Africa Following Gaddafi’s Fall appeared first on Green Prophet.

Much has been said about the great political upheavals that swept through the Middle East in 2011 – some for good and some for nought – but less attention has been paid to the state of our environment. We have stepped up to the plate by collecting 10 of the year’s most popular stories – from blood-clotting meat glue to Gaddafi’s tragic fall and giant plumes of gurgling methane that could accelerate planetary warming – in order to inspire our readers to keep on fighting the good fight on nature’s behalf. Step on in for a wonderful overview of 2011 and please accept Green Prophet’s heartfelt wishes for a more mindful 2012.

1. Meat Glue

Thousands of people have shared the meat industry’s dirty little secret with their friends and family, and for good reason. This sinister powder glues together scraps of beef, chicken and other meat to make it appear more palatable to consumers, and once the pieces are put together, not even trained butchers can tell the difference. Most chefs use the Activa RM brand, which is transglutaminase mixed with maltodextrine and sodium caseinate – a milk protein. The European Parliament banned “meat glue” in 2010, as it is known to cause blood clots.

2. 1000 Naked Israelis and the Dead Sea

Nobody was more surprised than us how curious international readers would be to see pictures of naked Israelis, but this is our second most popular story of 2011. 1,000 Israelis gathered for a Spencer Tunick photoshoot designed to raise awareness of the Dead Sea’s fragile ecological state. All kinds of controversy ensued with close-up images leaked and criticism leveled at the artist’s methodology. Neverthless, with all the attention this little photo received, the Dead Sea has been etched into the consciousness of many people – and that was exactly the point.

3. The Solid Gold “Biofuel” Mercedes

Although Abu Dhabi has taken enormous strides this year towards a greener future – even shaming the White House by putting solar panels on an important municipal building – every so often a “face palm” story emerges that completely skews the Emirate’s reputation. This is one of them. In a misguided effort to be eco-friendly, the Mercedes pictured above was designed to run on biofuel, which would have been admirable if the car wasn’t also made out of solid white gold! Click the title to learn more about this dubious development.

4. Giant Plumes of Gurgling Methane

Our fourth most popular story is also one of our scariest. Scientists have long worried that a warmer planet would melt ice and permafrost in the great white north, under which lies layer upon layer of plant debris that has not yet decomposed. If this debris is exposed, it will release nearly 2 trillion tons of carbon, or worse, methane into our saturated atmosphere. Already Russian scientists have discovered hundreds of pools of gurgling methane up to 1,000 meters in diameter bubbling to the surface of the Arctic Ocean.

5. Japan Nuclear Meltdown

The Fukushima nuclear disaster was a planetary wake-up call that some countries heard – such as Germany – and that others plum ignored, including Egypt and Turkey (although there’s a chance a recent earthquake has convinced the latter to reconsider their nuclear ambitions). Apart from the tar sands in Canada, this was the planet’s worst environmental calamity this year and it’s still unknown how it will impact on the world environment. Dr. Helen Caldicott thinks the fallout will be worse than Chernobyl, but really, only time will tell.

6. Shark Finning

This is probably the most disturbing image we posted on Green Prophet this year, and it received a lot of attention. A hammerhead shark and all 45 of her pups were found dead at the Deira fish market in Dubai – a shocking testament of how poorly the Gulf country’s marine life is protected. Soon after this story we toured the United Arab Emirates to talk about The End of a Line – a powerful movie that depicts the severe state of the planet’s marine ecosystems, and witnessed firsthand tasteless dried shark fins on sale.

7. Gaddafi’s Great Man Made River

It’s impossible to get through a roundup of 2011 stories without mentioning Gaddafi – Libya’s eccentric leader who turned rogue and eventually died at the hands of his own people. But we had to wonder, will the one really great project he initiated fall to pieces now that he’s gone? Began in the early 1980s and built at a cost of more than $33 billion USD, the GMMR project involved pumping “fossilized” water from depths of more than 500 meters, purifying it, and then sending it to the country’s most populated, dry areas. Nobody really knows for certain, but it seems possible that without funds or a proper civil administration, this project has reached a near standstill.

8. Masdar City Open House Photos

While we were touring the United Arab Emirates to bring you on-the-ground coverage, we managed to snap a pile of exclusive images of the much touted Masdar City. A source of intrigue since its inception, as well as derision, we were impressed by the construction that has been completed. Of course, the project has not met its zero-carbon or zero-waste ambitions and has been scaled back several times, but there’s a lot to be said for the futuristic earth-colored buildings that create a most welcome microclimate despite the extraordinary desert heat.

9. Ethiopia’s “Dam” Plans

No story in 2011 received as much support from its nationals than this one. Ethiopia has long been the very epitome of poverty, a situation that the country is eager to change with a series of dams that will provide hydroelectricity. One project – the Grand Renaissance Dam – will be Africa’s largest dam and threatens Egypt’s longstanding and unfair monopoly of the Nile River. Until now, the country’s leaders have not properly considered this particular project’s environmental integrity, though we reported today that Sudan, Egypt, and Ethiopia are forming a team of experts who have at least committed to conducting a year-long study starting next month.

10. Egypt’s First Solar Thermal Plant

Even as the country reeled under the weight of transition, Egypt still managed to open its very first solar thermal plant this year and we managed to stop by for a visit. Located just 90km south of Cairo, Kuraymat is a 150 MW Integrated Solar Combined Cycle (ISCC) power plant that has been feeding energy into the grid since July, 2011. Click on the title for more details and to see a host of our exclusive images.

That’s a wrap folks. Happy New Year!

The post Top 10 Environmental Stories From the Middle East (2011) appeared first on Green Prophet.

After Steve Jobs died, the world poured out their sorrow. We held vigils and wrote flowery tributes. The media analyzed everything from what motivated his iron discipline right down to the black turtleneck shirt he used to wear. He wasn’t a saint. After all, he denied the existence of a child he fathered. Yet we treated him like one.

But upon hearing the reports that Gaddafi was finally captured and killed after months of shocking violence, news that was verified by Al Jazeera’s disturbing footage of Libya’s former leader lying dead and wide-eyed in blood and dirt, we find ourselves fighting callous impulses to celebrate his death. Gaddafi, we all know, was a bad, bad man.

There is reason to compare these two charismatic figures. Although Gaddafi had much better fashion sense than Jobs, both of them came from broken homes, both possessed inordinate intelligence, and both relentlessly pursued their ambitions, amassing great wealth in the process. So, what went wrong? How is it that genius can take two such vastly different trajectories? 

The examined life

The fundamental difference between Steve Jobs, who suffered from pancreatic cancer with quiet dignity, and Colonel Gaddafi, an eccentric, vain man who would have been mortified to see the images of his half-naked, violated body tossed around by jubilant rebels, is the level to which they indulged themselves.

Steve Jobs was accountable to the people in his firm, to his family, and to the millions of customers around the world who came to rely on Apple’s superior service and technology.

He exercised discipline, and asked himself on a daily basis whether or not the thing he was doing was meaningful. Wealthy enough from his Disney shares, Jobs paid himself $1 instead of buying fancy cars and glitzy jewelry. For him, success was never about the money or the power. It was about doing what made him happy, for happiness’ sake.

Jobs led an examined life. He protected his family from the limelight and actively kept perspective of what really matters.

The other side of Jobs

Don’t get me wrong. Gaddafi and Jobs comprise two faces of the same coin. Without holding himself to some kind of moral standard, Apple’s co-founder could easily have slipped into Gadhafi state of narcissistic paralysis. And given the millions of dollars that he generated for his firm, who would have said no to a mean Jobs?

If the rest of corporate America offers any kind of indication, not very many people. But they didn’t need to. Although he was an exacting leader with high standards, Steve Jobs kept the dark tendencies that lie latent in all of us firmly in check. But Gaddafi and all of his followers gave in to his eccentricities, and he became a monster.

Although he showed moments of keen foresight and occasionally developed projects that were genuinely helpful to the populace he promised to serve, including the great man-made river that transports drinking water from the south to the dry northern sections of the country, the rest of the time he was, in a nutshell, a spoiled brat.

His irrational behavior is well documented, though Business Insider put together a wonderful list of his top 10 absurd ticks. For starters, the man refused to travel without Galyna Kolotnytska, his “voluptuous blonde” nurse, and he used to travel with dozens of female bodyguards. He pitched an absolute fit at at United Nations meeting in New York when he was prohibited from erecting his coveted Bedoiun tent and was known for his shameless self-promotion.

The era of megalomania

This behavior would never have been acceptable for a man without the oil and power Gadhafi possessed, but he became accustomed to going unchallenged. Lacking Steve Jobs’ willingness to reflect on his faults, lacking the ambition to be a solid and respectable human being, he instead became increasingly irascible as the years wore on. So when the Arab revolutions arrived at his doorstep and his authority was finally questioned, Moammar Gaddafi absolutely lost his mind.

Who is to say if the former Libyan leader got what he deserved when the rebels killed him today in his home town of Sirte? The more interesting question is how do we prevent the rise of future Gaddafis? Can we educate our young Arabs to become accountable to themselves and others? To value integrity over wealth?

What will it take to replace self-aggrandizing Sheikhs who etch graffiti visible from space into sand with more gentle green-minded Sheikhs? Only when we find and implement these answers will the Arab world stand any chance of ending the era of megalomania.

More on Libya, the great man-made river, and Gadhafi:

Gaddafi Promises Long War, Oil Up to $103 per Barrel

Libyan Revolutions Will End Gaddafi’s Green Visions

Fears That Gaddafi will Sabotage Oil Facilities

The post The Death of Two Men – Muammar Gaddafi and Steve Jobs appeared first on Green Prophet.

Events in the Libyan capital of Tripoli have been happening so fast that even major news media sites like CNN and Sky News have had a hard time keeping up with them. But one thing is now certain –– Muamar Gaddafi, the eccentric, often “off the wall” leader of Africa’s richest oil country, and environmental “innovator” of projects like the “Great Man Made River” project, and the unique pivot irrigation farms in the Sahara Desert, is no longer in charge.

Have you seen this man?

With Tripoli now largely in the hands of rebel forces, whose ethnic backgrounds represent no less then 138 indigenous tribes scattered over the country’s vast territory, and Gaddafi’s own whereabouts still unknown, it is still far to early for both archaeologists and environmentalists to try to figure out what will be the destiny of the unique ancient sites in this country.

These include the  rock paintings in the country’s  southern mountains.

This also applies to the two previously named irrigation and farming projects, which have not only helped supply the country with food but much of its fresh water as well. Gaddafi, who used the color green to symbolize his 1969 revolution and more than 40 years of “iron fist” rule, also used this color to symbolize his “green visions” of environmentally changing a part of the world that has one of the most inhospitable climates.

It now appears that this new revolution may put most or all of these green projects on an indefinite hold.

Now just a “pipe dream”?

When the dust finally does settle, and the “sweet thrill of victory” becomes a bit bittersweet when salaries stop coming in to bank accounts, food becomes scarce in grocery stores and public “shuk” markets. And if the pumps for the Great Man Made River stop working, water will be scarce as well. In the aftermath of Gaddafi’s downfall, as when Saddam Hussein was defeated in Iraq, a lot of confusion and acts of looting will undoubtedly take place.

And unfortunately, as occurred in Baghdad, historical sites, especially museums, will be targeted by people not only wanting to take revenge for more than 40 years of persecution, but also to profit by selling the artifacts to antiquities dealers abroad. With so many tribes who have not been so friendly to one another, the country itself could wind up being split into several autonomous areas, like what happened to Yugoslavia several years back.

The interim rebel government has it’s hands full to hold things together and try to unite a people who only were previously “united” due to Muamar Gaddafi’s heavy hand.

As for the Great Man Made River, and for everyone’s sake in Libya, hopefully the water will continue to flow.

::Sky News

Read more on Gaddafi’s now uncertain green projects:
Will Libya’s Unrest Trash Their Historical Sites?
Libyan Violence Dampens Great Man Made River Project
Libyan Revolution Will End Gaddafi’s Green Visions
Libya’s Pivot Irrigation in the Sahara Proves Money Can do Anything

The post Libya’s Gaddafi is Finished: What Happens to His Green Projects? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Libya’s government forces could use their control over enormous water reserves as a weapon in the current conflict between Gaddafi and rebels trying to overthrow his regime

The ‘Great Man-Made River’, a great civil water works project dubbed by Gaddafi as the 8th wonder of the world, was built to resolve Libya’s severe water scarcity problems. With many parts of the country receiving less than 100 millimeters of rainfall per year, the country is one of the driest in the world and many of its inhabitants now rely on the river and its water reserves for their existence.

Every day, the Great Man-Made River (GMMR) pumps around 5 million cubic metres of fresh water from underground aquifers in southern Libya to the country’s six million inhabitants in the north. Yet this reliance on the water from the GMMR could place inhabitants at risk, as the operating centre for their water is at the heart of the pro-Gaddaffi city of Tripoli.

In the mid 1950’s, oil exploration in the deserts of south Libya uncovered large underground aquifers with vast quantities of fresh water- for example, the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System alone is estimated to cover 2 million square kilometres and contain 150,000 cubic kilometres of groundwater.

Later in the early 1980’s, Gaddafi announced his epic plans to build the ‘Great Man-Made River’ which would make the most of these aquifers and help resolve the poor water quality in Libya’s northern cities. At an estimated cost of nearly 30 billion dollars, the GMMR has a network of nearly 5,000 kilometres of pipelines which bring fresh water into the cities and also increase the amount of arable land for agriculture.

As Ivan Ivekovic, professor of political science at the American University of Cairo told IPS, “The GMMR provides 70 percent of the population with water for drinking and irrigation, pumping it from Libya’s vast underground aquifers like the NSAS [Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System] in the south to populated coastal areas 4,000 kilometres to the north.”

Whilst there were concerns that NATO air-strikes on the GMMR pipelines could spark a humanitarian crisis, there is a possibility that pro-government forces may disrupt the water flow to cities opposed to Gaddafi. Many opposition-held regions in the east are extremely vulnerable to water cuts and if the water from GMMR was withheld, they would have to rely on the Ajdabiya reservoir which only holds one month’s supply of water.

:Image via brqnetwork/flickr.

::IPS News

For more on Libya and water see:

Libyan Violence Dampens Great Man-Made River Project

Libya Touts Great Man-Made River Project As 8th Wonder of the World

Libyan Revolution Will End Gaddafi’s Green Visions

The post Gaddafi Could Use Water As A Weapon In Conflict appeared first on Green Prophet.

Unlike the former presidents of Egypt and Tunisia, Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi has no intention of relinquishing control of his country.

Members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) responded to his defiance over the weekend with a fractured Operation Odyssey Dawn, which resulted in an attack on Libya’s military control center. In addition to the obvious detriment ongoing military activity is having on that country’s cultural, environmental, historical, and social fabric, oil prices are rising.

Not long after the establishment of a no-fly zone and ceasefire, reports of continued fighting in the rebel stronghold Benghazi came streaming through the airwaves.

Today Globes reported Tomahawk missile strikes on Libya’s capital, Tripoli, and damage to a building in Gaddafi’s compound, the site of the military command center. US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates insists that under the terms of the UN Security Council, Gaddafi was not a target of NATO strikes.

While Nato members decide whether to launched a coordinated campaign, with France, Germany, and Turkey reluctant to do so, oil prices edged up 2% to $103 per barrel.

According to Globes, Libya’s 16 million barrel per day production rate has shrunk to less than 400,000 barrels. Gaddafi relishes the difficulty this causes “the Christians.”

“We will not leave our oil for the US, France, Britain, or any Christian country. We will fight for every centimeter,” he said.

:: Globes

image via DonkeyHotey

More on Libya, Oil, and the Middle East:

Libya Touts Great Man-Made River As 8th Wonder of the World

All Eyes On Libya As Oil Prices Rise

Libyan Revolution Will End Gaddafi’s Green Visions

The post Gaddafi Promises Long War, Oil Up To $103 Per Barrel appeared first on Green Prophet.

Would Gaddafi risk an environmental disaster by sabotaging oil pipelines to the Mediterranean to regain his control over Libya?

According to an article in Time Magazine, sources close to Gaddafi have warned that the situation in Libya will escalate into further chaos as the eccentric leader has ordered security services to sabotage oil facilities.

This comes after a month of protests and confrontations in Libya which have led to the estimated death of 1,000 people according to human rights activists. Although the Time’s article was quick to point out that reliable information coming out of Tripoli is scarce, this is not a completely unlikely move.

Back in 1991, Saddam Hussein ordered engineers to burn oil field and blow up wells in Kuwait during the first Gulf War. This act of wanton destruction led to an ecological catastrophe which not only burned one billion barrels of crude oil but also killed vegetation and wildlife, and polluted groundwater which led to the poisoning of the local human population.

If Time Magazine’s sources are accurate, there is no doubt that sabotage of Libyan oil fields will cause similar damage and destruction. It also somewhat undermines Gaddafi’s green credentials due to his involvement in projects such as man made river and pivot irrigation as well as his image of a leader in love with nature and the outdoors.

However, some commentators have pointed to the possibility that is is just a scare tactic and that Gaddafi may be bluffing. Judging by the latest news this could be a real possibility.

Gaddafi has been busy speaking to various news networks about the insecurity and instability that would hit the region if Libya collapsed and even accused western governments and the media of falling for al-Qaida propaganda.

Speaking on Turkey’s state-run TRT news channel, Gaddafi said: “It will be a huge disaster if al-Qaida takes over Libya. Al-Qaida would flood Europe with immigrants. We are the ones who prevent al-Qaida from taking over control. They would drag the whole region into chaos … Al-Qaida would take over north Africa.”

It all seems rather apocalyptic and over-the-top and ignores the very possibility that if he left, a more democratic Libya may emerge which actually improves the lives of the people as well as the security and stability of the region.

: Time Magazine and Green Fudge

:: Image via Abode of Chaos on Flickr.

For more news coming out of Libya see:

Will Libya’s Unrest Trash Their Historical Sites?

How Food Insecurity Fuels Anger In the Middle East

Libyan Revolution Will End Gaddafi’s Green Visions

The post Fears that Gaddafi May Sabotage Oil Facilities appeared first on Green Prophet.