The Arab Environment Monitor blog is always searching for new ideas and modifications of its focus seeking to provide a unique source of information with a specific identity. While reviewing the past 14 months of the AEM lifespan, and analysing the content posted at this blog I have came to realize that this blog offers a good source of information about the diagnosis and monitoring of environmental... [read more]

Khaleej Times 31 May 2007   Building projects in the Middle East will unnecessarily consume over 112 billion litres of potable water over the next two years putting increasing pressure on groundwater reserves and desalination plants, said a construction industry expert yesterday. Jeff Stephenson, Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer of Oryx, a Qatar-based construction company, was... [read more]

Source: Jordan Times May 31 - 2007   New minimum standards are to be implemented for desert campsites in an effort to improve the camping experience at Wadi Rum. The Wadi Rum Protected Area (WRPA) management team, USAID/Jordan Tourism Development Project (Siyaha) and two community based organisations (CBOs) representing local camp owners met recently to plan the implementation of standards... [read more]

Source: Jordan Times 27-5-2007   Representatives from seven Arab countries convened in Wadi Rum last week to look into the reintroduction of the Arabian Oryx into countries of the Arabian Peninsula, which are considered its original habitat. During the two-day meeting, Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) Chief Commissioner Nader Dahabi briefed members of the coordination committee... [read more]

Source: Jordan Times May 25 2007   The UNESCO Amman office, in collaboration with the Swedish-based NGO Life-Link Friendship-Schools (www.life-link.org), brought together school teachers from different countries in the region in a two-day workshop this week. The workshop, designed to raise awareness on the environmental and culture of peace programmes among educators from the Middle East,... [read more]

Gulf daily News 16.5.2007   Two events in Bahrain are bringing climate change to the forefront of many people's minds. An exhibition at Beit Al Quran, organised jointly by the Beit and the British Council, entitled North, South, East, West, continues until June 5. Today, the Bahrain Businessmen's Association (BBA) is holding a seminar on the Economics of Climate Change, jointly sponsored... [read more]

Source: Gulf Daily News   Bahrain risks losing all its vital coral reefs unless action is taken immediately, an environmental expert warned yesterday. British biologist Dr Charles Sheppard said that excessive excavation, land reclamation, landfill, illegal dumping and pollution - among other things - were already to blame for the destruction of one major coral reef in the country's waters... [read more]

Source: Jordan Times   The first Arab Regional Conference on the Inspection and Enforcement of Environmental Regulations began on May 11th with the aim of increasing cooperation on key issues. "The two-day conference seeks to establish a regional network and draw up ways to raise environmental awareness on the importance of adhering to regulations," the director of the Ministry of Environment's... [read more]

Middle East Events 27.5.2007   Arab states were urged to upgrade and develop national standards and specifications for water uses of various kinds including those for the transportation and distribution of water. This came in a set of recommendations made by a two-day workshop on “Integrated Water Resources Management”, organised last week by Environment Centre for Arab Towns (ECAT), Dubai... [read more]

Arab News 29.5.2007   The Jeddah Municipality has reserved 50 undeveloped plots of land around the city to become public parks and is calling on local philanthropists to sponsor and fund the development of public spaces, a municipal official said yesterday. The lands, worth an estimated SR30 million, are being developed with the help of private investors willing to sponsor the development... [read more]

This is an interesting article from the prominant economic columnist Hussein Shobakshi at Al-Sharq Al-Awsat. I just love it when economic analysts show environmental awareness.   Avoiding a Water Crisis 19/05/2007   With the growing number of reports and books confirming the words of political experts and strategic analysts that the next war in the Middle East will be fought over water... [read more]

Another accomplishment by Dubai, this time in an environmental "glamour". Congrats.   Gulf News- 12/5/2007   Dubai has won the most 'Environmentally Safe City' award from the Kuwait-based Arab Towns Organisation which considered the city's track record in developing effective programmes to maintain general cleanliness of the city and control noise pollution and other pollutants. Abdullah... [read more]

An interesting environmental remediation effort was conducted lately by Qatargas Co. in an attempt to mitigate the impacts of a future pipeline corridor within the Company's expansion plan. This news item is from "Arab News" and I hope the truth is as good as the promotional highlight.   Qatargas has completed a major initiative as part of its ongoing environmental commitment for its expansion... [read more]

Emirates News Agency 8 May 2007   The world's first attempt to create a zero-carbon, zero-waste city was officially launched Monday during Cityscape in Abu Dhabi. The new six square kilometer energy, science and technology community will open in late 2009. The development is a unique, integrated "Green Community" in the heart of Abu Dhabi, which uses the traditional planning principals of... [read more]

BY JAMAL HALABY - Associated Press May 6, 2007 GHOR HADITHA, Jordan (AP) - Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Arabs are slowly pushing through the tangle of their disputes and suspicions in a race to save a biblical and ecological treasure, the Dead Sea. The famously salty sea, which lies at Earth's lowest point, is shrinking. It has receded by some three feet a year for the past 25 years, and... [read more]

This is a detailed presentation of the findings contained in UNEP's latest post-conflict environmental assessment in Lebanon. The article was publihsed in the May issue of the Lebanese Pan-Arab leading environmental magazine: Al Bi'a wal Tanmiyah (Environment & Development). You can access the article here   http://www.mectat.com.lb/metopics/Post-War/Post-war.htm    [read more]

The Jordan Times- May 4th 2007 By Hana Namrouqa AMMAN —  The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) has officially opened the Ajloun Forest Reserve as a captive breeding ground for the once extinct Roe Deer. The environmental society reintroduced this species from Turkey in 1989, but only released them into the 13-square-kilometre reserve last year, ending more than 70 years of extinction... [read more]