By: Batir Wardam   Simple questions do not always have simple answers. If we want to ask "what is the best country in the world in environmental performance?" it will need a laborious effort in analyzing and comparing various environmental indicators and still end up with vagueness.   To this end, the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) was introduced by researchers from Yale University to... [read more]

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has announced the success of its campaign to plant 1.0 billion trees in 2007 as an effort in fighting climate change and combating desertification. In a joint press conference with Prof. Wangari Maathai, the inspiration behind the initiative and Nobel Laureate, UNEP's Executive Directorn Achim Steiner said: "I am delighted to say that an initiative to... [read more]

For a long time ex-situ and genetic resources conservation efforts were not considered as a high priority in the Arab World although the region contains a lot of the global wealth of plant genetic diversity. One impressive breakthrough was announced a few days ago with the creation of the "first" gene bank in Africa and the Arab World in Tunisia. I am not really certain whether this is really the... [read more]

To the best of my knoweldge, no comprehensive system has been developed in any Arab country to manage and recycle electronic wastes that are growing at a high exponential rate. Plans are to be found on paper but no economically feasible and environmentally safe measures have been yet implemented.   This is why it was promising to raed about Hewlett-Packard's new plan to fund a pioneering new... [read more]

Tunisia has issued a new environmental protection law that cracks heavily on air pollution from factories and vehicles. specifying financial fines and imposing the polluters to join a pollution monitoring network at their expense. The Tunisian Parliament and Council of Advisors recently passed a law instituting mandatory measures for monitoring air quality and delineating a series of hard penalties... [read more]

Source: Innovations report   The pre-Saharan region of Jeffara, located in the South-East of Tunisia, is particularly exposed to the risk of desertification, like most of the arid or semi-arid regions of the Mediterranean Rim. Anzeige It is also prey to deep socio-economic changes. This situation raises the major challenge of ensuring the balance between... [read more]

The Second session of the ministerial council in charge of water and irrigation of the Union of the Arab Maghreb (UMA) was held the 22 and January 23, 2007 in Nouakchott (Mauritania) with in the chair Mr. Omar Salem, Water Director in Libya. The meeting considered the evaluation of the implementation of recommendations resulting from the first session of the council held in April 2003 in Algiers (Algeria),... [read more]

The Urban Poverty and Environment Program Initiative (UPE) of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) announced the selection of the three cities in the Focus Cities Research Initiative in North Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean.   The strategy of the Focus Cities Research Initiative is to advance awareness, policy options, and best practices for the reduction of environmental... [read more]

The first recommendations resulting from the feasibility study of a Mediterranean water observation mechanism were approved by the Euromed Water Directors in Athens (November 2006). On this basis the 2nd phase will be carried out in 2007 focusing on the potential development of a Mediterranean Water Information Partnership –MedWIP- with existing regional/international initiatives and complementary... [read more]

Tunisia has joined the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP), making it the 34th country to become a partner of the REEEP. The Agence Nationale pour la Maitrise de l'Energie (ANME) will represent Tunisia in the international partnership. The Tunisian Secretary of State in charge of Renewable Energy and Agri-Business, Mr. Ridha Ben Mosbah said, "Our REEEP membership reinforces... [read more]

The African Water Facility (AWF) organized on 21-22 September 2006 in Tunis a regional consultative meeting, under the auspices of the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW) and with the cooperation of the African Development Bank (AfDB) to share experiences and build partnership to support African countries in water sector monitoring and evaluation   More information and press release... [read more]