Wind, rain and industrial farming techniques accelerates soil erosion and can be mitigated before the world faces calamitous losses in terms of agricultural yields and critical ecosystem functions. “The negative impacts of soil erosion are ever more evident and the need to work jointly ever more urgent,” FAO Deputy Director-General, Climate and Natural Resources, Maria […]
The ravaging effects of global warming and climate change appear to be rocking on unabated. These include monster typhoons and other adverse weather patterns; and severe Middle East drought conditions that NASA says to be “the worst in 900 years”. The important issue now is what the major world bodies can do to slow down the affects […]
Following an international trend pressuring large food chains to think local and source local food, Autogrill, the multinational company known for its motorway and airport restaurants in 30 countries, is partnering with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (or the FAO) to do just that. The chain of restaurants will cut down food waste […]
The United Nations has issued a five years in the making report on climate change, and our future. It does not look bright. Green Prophet obtained today’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report and the future looks bleak if we do not take action today.
Major changes in how the planet’s marine resources are managed and used are needed to safeguard global food security and ensure the wellbeing of coastal and island countries, the United Nation’s FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva told a group of high level policymakers meeting today in Abu Dhabi.
This is not an Orson Welles-esque prank, but real and scary: An international panel of marine scientists is demanding urgent remedies to halt ocean degradation based on findings that the rate, speed and impacts of change in the global ocean are greater, faster and more imminent than previously thought.
Every summer the surge of jellyfish seems to be getting worse and worse in the Mediterranean Sea. A new UN report says that may start seeing a future where jellyfish overtake fish in our great big seas. Ready for a jellyfish stirfry?
Walid Saleh speaks to Green Prophet about sustainability in the Middle East From Sudan to Saudi Arabia, Hima – an ancient Arabian conservation concept – has helped keep the peace. Now it is hoped a new interpretation of the conservation principle will help protect the region’s dwindling resources by tapping into cultural norms and histories, […]
Although just about everybody at the COP18 climate talks in Doha, Qatar, understood the importance of arresting climate change following a slew of recent reports that show temperatures and sea levels rising faster than we imagined, the conference closes today without a commitment to cut a single pound of CO2 emissions. The reasons for that […]
This month’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP18) will be hosted by Qatar, the tiny peninsula nation in the Persian Gulf that holds the world record for per capita CO2 emissions. According to a report entitled Indicators of Sustainable Development 2011 released by Qatar’s statistics’ authority, the state has experienced a 27% annual increase in […]
A high use of hormones for IVF treatments may be one reason why Jewish Israelis in special risk category. The Israeli Health Ministry stated that 1 in every 8 Israeli women is at risk of breast cancer. The disease is on the rise in Jewish Israeli women, but mortality rates are dropping, according to the […]
Illegal logging is not only killing the planet – it is supporting organised crime too Back in 2010 we reported on the case of Moroccan activist Mohammed Attaoui who was facing imprisonment for his stance against illegal logging. Living in the Moroccan Atlas Mountains, Attaoui insisted that ‘mafia-style’ corruption was behind illegal logging which threatened […]
The Dan Region Wastewater Treatment Plant, known in Israel as Shafdan, is among the thirty projects from around the world chosen by the UN as global role models for how local authorities can deal with environmental problems. Shafdan utilizes the surrounding environment, the nearby sands of Rishon Letzion and Yavne, as natural filters for part […]
On Tuesday thousands of Turkish women and activists sent government ministries a petition protesting the bill proposed by the conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) that would ban abortions not taking place between the fourth and sixth week of pregnancy. Turkish law currently allows abortion until the tenth week. With dwindling environmental resources and rampant […]
Israeli diplomats and ministers have taken a quasi-Messianic tone as the Rio+20 United Nations conference approaches.”Our main message is that the world has the problems and challenges and Israel has the solutions,” said Galit Cohen, senior deputy director-general of Israel’s Environment Ministry. “Israeli innovation for the world.” Israel has a reputation as an international hub of green technology. […]
We speak to Mario Cucinella the architect behind Gaza’s eco schools about building under conflict, water, education and bringing hope to a desperate region Early 2013 will see the launch of a green school which will collect rainwater and regulate internal temperature using thermal technologies. Whilst such a project would not be noteworthy in Europe, […]
Dubai-based Jonathan Eric Defante plastic “eco-brick” pitch won him a UN Citizen Ambassadorship. Jonathan Eric Defante submitted his “One Bottle, One Life” YouTube pitch to the United Nations as a potential solution for poor recycling performance around the world. The Filipino man living in Dubai suggested that people can build their own homes made out […]
Aircraft behemoth Boeing estimates at least 90,000 commercial planes fly daily: a massive fuel burn that translates into elephantine emissions of toxic air. There is opportunity for change in the Middle East. If you are not already afraid of the giant plume of methane gas now emitting greenhouses gases into the atmosphere, there’s another worry: […]
Aquaculture, especially in ponds, may help preserve ocean fish species Catching wild fish in the sea is now threatening to deplete many fish species from the world’s seas and oceans, including illegal tuna fishing in the Mediterranean Sea. With world population figures now topping 7 billion, an increasing demand is being made for fresh fish […]
Voluntary funding to support nature and ancient cities is thinned even more as Canada cuts its funding to UNESCO. If existing members don’t cough up about $70 million USD, trees like this one in Yemen could be under threat. Palestine is neither a country nor a state, but Palestinian people living in the West Bank […]
Israeli leaders have started hosting a preparatory meeting for the 2012 Earth Summit (Rio + 20), the UN Conference for Sustainable Development, to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The preparatory meeting is now taking place today through to October 27 in the Maccabia Village in Ramat Gan.
Tighten your city’s green belt on World Habitat Day: Plant trees everywhere, in cities all over the Middle East. When we think of treehuggers, and people who advocate treeplanting, we think 80s hippie, or Julia Butterfly Hill, the gal who lived in a tree for 2.5 years to fight against deforestation. Or the old-fashioned model […]
Sclerophyllous forests in Ramot Menashe now a UNESCO biosphere reserve For such a small country, Israel has some very beautiful and unique natural landscapes and vegetation, including forests (those not destroyed by fires like the recent ones on the Carmel Mountains ), wild flowers like the purple “Argamon Iris,” and eco tour areas like the […]
Everyone hates needles, but don’t be a chicken if you want to vaccinate them against the new avian flu If you’ve been reading the news you’ll know that there is a deadly outbreak of the avian flu virus circling the globe again. This one appears to be deadlier than every, UN health authorities are reporting. […]
Israel is fortunate to have an Environmental Protection Minister who is passionate about his job. So passionate, he gave up an opportunity to work as ambassador to the UN. Israel’s Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan turned down an opportunity to represent Israel as ambassador to the United Nations, according to a Jerusalem Post report. He […]
