A recent study released by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) concludes that the current drought that began in 1998 in the eastern Mediterranean Levant – which includes Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Turkey – is the region’s worst dry spell since 1100 C.E.
Like the Middle East, parts of Peru suffer from a chronic water shortage. Also like parts of this region, such as Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, and other Gulf countries, humidity levels are extraordinarily high. So when students from the University of Engineering & Technology (UTEC) sought a creative solution to water scarcity as part of a campaign […]
The 19-month conflict in Syria goes from bad to worse – and there are environmental impacts for the region too “The situation is bad and getting worse,” U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said today, lamenting the collapse of the truce he helped broker over the Eid al-Adha holiday. A car bomb which exploded near […]
Iranians may have turned to aubergines due to chicken shortages – but the world over may be forced to go vegetarian due to food shortages in the next 40 years According to the latest findings, the world’s population may have to switch almost completely to a vegetarian diet over the next 40 years to avoid […]
Khat addiction in Yemen has reached epic proportions and not only among adults. A recent report released by the World Health Organization shows that up to 20% of the nation’s children under twelve are also addicted to chewing the bitter stems of the Catha edulis plant, which produces a mild high akin to the effects […]
Jordan’s hosting of forced migrants is overburdening already stressed water resources. Humanitarianism has an unanticipated knock-on to fresh water supplies, as Jordan is starting to realize. Syrian refugees harbored in kingdom are draining the desert nation’s scarce water resources, reports Lebanon’s Daily Star. This presents a new setback for Jordan, one of the world’s most […]
The ‘Green Mosques’ project hopes to help conserve water and electricity at 300 mosques- and save around US$1.5 million every year Water scarcity in the Middle East is nothing new- in fact, the region has been struggling to cope with drought and water shortages for centuries. The only problem is that today, modern urbanisation and […]
Jordan will be the location of the Sahara Forest Project which uses solar power to create clean water and electricity for agriculture Whilst deserts can be the harshest and most inhabitable places in earth, they are also the perfect locations for new-fangled green technologies such as solar power. For example, Jordan has recently announced its […]
About a month ago, an email dropped into my inbox by the Al Jazeera Doha correspondent Dan Nolan who wanted to cover the story on the water park in UAE. This was the park name ‘Ice Land’ we reported on which was built around the global warming theme despite the huge amount of water it […]
Hope floats. Want to help save water and feed nine billion people? Go vegetarian. For vegetarians who have researched all the possible angles to justify their meatless habit – it’s healthier, we might say, or Islam sanctions it, it is no secret that raising meat taxes the environment. In addition to methane gases released, particularly by […]
The greatest artificial lake in the Middle East, in Iran? Environmentalists in Tehran haven’t decided how a giant artificial lake, Chitgar Lake, will impact their city. Developers already have their plans. As artificial islands in Dubai start to smell foul, authorities from the Iranian city of Tehran are pushing for a giant artificial lake for […]
Israel’s been dragging its feet over the proposed drought tax. It’s been a pretty tumultuous month for water politics in Israel. After more than five years of abnormally low rainfall, as well as decades of unsustainable water consumption (at least according to Prof. Hillel Shuval) Israel faces an increasingly dire water crisis. Back in July, […]
Yesterday Daniel wrote a sobering report on the increasingly serious drought conditions throughout the entire region. Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories, Lebanon and Iraq have all reported water shortages that are sure to affect both the environment and international security. Sadly, Syria can also join this unfortunately long list. Syria has been suffering from a […]
What’s left of Iraq’s “Garden of Eden” Marshes The Middle Eastern winter has never been more pleasant, bringing us day after day of perfect blue skies, comfortable temperatures, light winds and crisp, clear views. “What more could you ask for?” must think the residents of Western Europe and North America, who are being pounded by […]
One of the problems with development and technology is its wasteful side effects (see our story on green chemistry). This is one of the reasons why the current growing green awareness in these fields is so important. It wasn’t until the industrial revolution that we began affecting our ozone and causing destruction to our habitat […]