MIDEASTENVIRONET - The Middle East Environmental Network

Haaretz
Last update - 12:01 05/10/2006
By Revital Levy-Stein

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/770521.html

The thousands of tourists who come to Eilat during the intermediate
days of the Sukkot holiday (October 8-13) and plan to pitch tents on
the city's southern beach will be surprised to discover that, unlike
in previous years, they will have to park their cars some distance
from their tents. This is because officials from the Israel Nature and
National Parks Protection Authority (INNPPA) recently decided to limit
the entry of cars to the beach to protect the coral reef.

Eilat's southern beach - whose entire length is a marine nature
preserve of diving sites and an underwater world rich with corals and
marine animals - is expected to attract many vacationers, especially
since tenting on the north beach has been banned for the past year and
the number of Israelis traveling to the Sinai has declined
considerably. "Thousands of vacationers will sleep in tents along the
shore," says Guy Eilon, director of the Eilat district of INNPPA.

Eilat's southern beaches, including the coral reef adjacent to the
shore, have always been completely accessible to cars and vacationers.
Heavy damage has been caused to the corals and marine animal
populations have declined. For this reason, INNPPA is taking immediate
measures to reduce the access of cars to the reef, while organizing
convenient access to the water for swimmers and divers. "It is
important to us that the preserve be accessible," says Eilon, "and
that the public be able to enjoy the underwater world, while
protecting nature from damage caused by swimmers and divers."

The first thing INNPPA did was cordon off the entire length of the
waterfront and post signs indicating the nearest opening to the water.
"The ropes define the areas where swimming is allowed," explains
Eilon. "It is not a fence and can easily be traversed, but bathers
mostly respect the ropes and enter the water in the designated areas."

Eilon reports that this has significantly reduced the damage to the
corals on the upper part of the reef, across which swimmers used to
walk, and the amount of enforcement required by INNPPA. "When the
corals are healthy, all the animals that depend on them are healthy,
too," says Eilon.

Another measure implemented by INNPPA is the placing of boulders all
along the beach 10-20 meters from the water. The boulders are of the
same granite as the surrounding mountains, so they blend in with the
landscape. "The boulders completely prevent the entry of cars, as
opposed to in the past, when cars came right up to the water's edge,"
continues Eilon. "This caused tremendous damage - pollution from fuel
and oil, the disturbing of the sand and the crushing of shells and
crabs at low tide."

In addition to protecting the reef, the positioning of the boulders
has increased the number of vacationers on the beach as the cars used
to take up space that can now be occupied by tents. Other improvements
include the installation of mooring area for lowering divers into the
water, at the two most popular sites. "Diving clubs can lower divers
directly from boats into the water," says Eilon. "This will prevent
damage to the coral from divers walking on the sea bed and the
disturbing the sand."

Posted by MEEF at 03:17 PM | Permalink

(From: Stuart Schoenfeld)

Haaretz

By Eitan Bekerman

The large green Isuzu jeep climbs and descends the hills, leaving a trail of
dust behind it, while the MIRS telephone receives and sends fragmented calls.
In the back part of the vehicle are barred cages suitable for alligators and
snakes. Aryeh Keller - small, solid, somewhat potbellied since he stopped
smoking, his face scorched from the summer heat - confidently grabs the
steering wheel while exchanging coarse but friendly curses with his
interlocutors, who are nature preservation colleagues or friends from the
police, as he continues to speed along toward his goal: rescuing baby finches.

Why do the bad guys, the ones whom the "sheriff" is after, go after finches, of
all birds? Because of the "mules." Anyone unfamiliar with the mule is missing
something. Keller (whose first name means "lion" in English) explains: "A mule
in this context is a cross between a finch and a canary - a bird that is a
wonderful singer and has beautiful colors as well. There's a lot of demand for
these birds, they're worth a lot, and there are people whose work is to trap
the finch nestlings in order to breed mules."

This is an entire industry. The trappers of baby finches - henceforth "the
collectors" - do their work in a particularly wicked way, which we'll get to
soon. The trapped birds are transferred to breeders, who keep and mate them in
special warehouses in various parts of the country. From there the mules are
sent to retailers or to private customers. The more beautiful the mule, and the
more classical its song, the more expensive it is. An especially fine mule can
be sold for thousands of shekels. Worthy of mention is the mule Abu Khalil, a
native of Hebron, who sang like no other mule ever, and whose worth was
estimated at tens of thousands of shekels.

Keller says that the number of baby finches that are caught is estimated in the
hundreds of thousands. "Recently," he explains, "this has become an unusually
widespread phenomenon, in Israel and in the territories. Don't forget that many
of them die on the way. In general, there is a bottomless market for caged
birds, and mules are the biggest hit now. So you need finches, and everywhere
in Israel there are collectors who hunt them. They are actually emptying the
country of this beautiful, very Israeli bird."

How does one catch such a large number of finches? There are ways. "During the
incubation season the finches gather near water sources. When the nestlings
hatch and are only starting to learn to fly, people place traps there. The
collectors put an adult finch next to the water source tied to a stick, they
bind it with a wing harness, and that is the bait. On both sides of the stick
they attach two sheets of plastic and a net, 3 x 2 meters, which are attached
to a rope, and they wait for the right moment."

The innocent nestlings, who have just begun learning to fly, come to drink water
and get into trouble. "They are attracted to the adult finch," explains Keller,
"try to reach it, and then with one pull of the rope the plastic sheets fold,
and dozens of baby birds are trapped inside the net. This is repeated 30 or 40
times, sometimes more. No method is unacceptable to the collectors. Sometimes
when the female is still sitting on the eggs, and goes down for a moment to
drink water, or when she sees a male and flies to him, they trap them, too.
Everything for money."

It's not easy an easy life for 54-year-old Keller, who is national supervisor of
the Israel Nature and Parks Protection Authority (INPPA), and is responsible for
preventing the import and trade of wildlife. His difficult goal is to get to
collectors all over the country, so he concentrates on finding the warehouses
of the finches and mules. How? Intelligence. Over the years he has developed a
very broad network of connections.

"Now, for example," he says, before dialing a phone number on his cell phone,
"I'm going to check the address of one guy, Yitzhak something, in Jaffa, with
the police. Often the wholesalers with the warehouses are criminals who are
familiar to the police from other areas."

The conversation is short, full of security codes, and at the end Keller
explains: "The nice guy I spoke to now is the intelligence coordinator of the
Jaffa police. He's checking for me whether the target happens to be a police
source, which means we have to be more careful; he's finding out for me of
course whether there really is such a person at that address, he completes the
investigations so we won't end up with a farce, so there'll be successes."

Intelligence network

Wherever Keller goes, he remembers the law, which is worded as follows: "No one
can trade in a wild animal, or in part of it, or in its offspring, in Israel or
abroad. And the law defines, of course, which animals are wild, in accordance
with the Washington Convention (on International Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Fauna and Flora), to which Israel has been a signatory since 1984, to our
satisfaction."

For the purpose of his battle against illegal trade, Keller has established his
own national intelligence network, which is semi-clandestine and includes
people in the field, ordinary citizens, plus the spearhead: the Israel Police.
"Police units, elite units, such as the Tel Aviv area unit, for example - I
have personal ties there. Let's say they go on a search at the home of a target
who is known as a thief, they've finished searching for the stolen property and
the heroin and all that, have already hit on him. Then they look for animals
for me. Let's say they find a snake or a monkey, immediately they'll say
'Aryeh, come.' I'm on call for them at all hours of the day and night, seven
days a week."

So what will sheriff Keller do with the snake that was found in the criminal's
home? Here we come to another aspect of his job: his connections with every zoo
and petting zoo around the country, which were created during his dozens of
years as a supervisor for the INPPA. After all, someone has to protect and care
for the animals that he saves, and therefore, while driving, he conducts the
following conversation with one of the caretakers at the Nahariya zoo:

Keller: "I have two water snakes for you, from Thailand."

Caretaker: "What are water snakes from Thailand?"

Keller: "It's a type of nonpoisonous snake from Thailand."

Caretaker: "Does it stink?"

Keller: "No, it doesn't stink. It's very good for display."

Caretaker: "Great, so I probably need a wet display, with a pool."

Keller: "Yes, your small pool. And I'm also bringing two young alligators."

Caretaker: "What do you mean by young?"

Keller: "Young means half a year, something like that."

Caretaker: "How long?"

Keller: "About 30 centimeters. They're for display, miss."

Caretaker: "Of course for display - why, did you think I was taking them home?"

Keller: "It's best if you come to my home in Karkur, to take them."

Caretaker: "Oh, okay, okay, so you need us to come to you?"

Keller: "I'm in the Rosh Ha'ayin area now, if you come to me in Karkur in two
hours you'll get both coffee and all the animals."

Caretaker: "Okay, let me just speak to Yigal, he's a little busy, we'll see if
he ..."

Keller: "Dear, for your information, the Haifa zoo wants to come to me now."

Caretaker: "No problem, no problem, we'll come. I'll speak to Yigal.

Keller: "Good. 'Bye, sweetheart."

Caretaker: "Yalla, 'bye."

That evening two Siamese water snakes and two young alligators joined the
display at the Nahariya zoo.

Legendary trapper

Aryeh Keller is a great expert on reptiles, after years of being the assistant
of the legendary Heinrich Mendelssohn, the founder of the zoological garden at
Tel Aviv University.

"I dealt with reptiles all my life, from age zero, but when I came to Prof.
Mendelssohn, I was still a retarded child in the field," he says in his
somewhat brusque style. "Mendelssohn provided the scientific foundation, thanks
to him I am familiar today with all the reptiles in Israel, inside out." Many of
the snakes and alligators that he catches spend time in the zoological garden,
at least as a way station on their way to being displayed in Nahariya.

Keller spent his childhood in Yehud and later in Atlit, or rather mainly in the
fields surrounding them. He was one of those kids who comes home with a little
snake and a mischievous smile. Already in 1987 he was a supervisor for the
INPPA in Sinai; indeed there are few people who can compete with his experience
and his network of contacts, certainly in the area of reptiles and how to catch
them.

There is a reason why over the years he reached the very top, and also holds the
title of "person responsible for snake catchers on behalf of the INPPA." He has
developed unique methods of trapping not only for catching snakes but songbirds
and bats as well. He has his own tricks that he teaches his students.

First thing in the morning we spend together, he got a call and, on his own,
collected eight vipers in the fields of Binyamina. Two days later, he will be
giving a course for snake catchers. "It's important to provide an orderly
solution for this matter, because snakes get into people's homes. Not everyone
can be a collector of snakes and reptiles, you have to be very familiar with
the field. There are about 300 certified collectors in the country, most of
them connected to us, and we try to provide a solution for everyone. If someone
collects snakes and doesn't know what to do with them, we'll take care of them."

There is almost no species of snake that has not been imported, legally or
illegally, to slither about in the Holy Land. "Cobras, mambas, bamboo vipers,"
Keller enumerates some of them, "very poisonous and very dangerous snakes are
imported here, by private snake lovers or travelers returning from the East,
but mainly by professional smugglers. There's always a market for them."

Israeli law prohibits private citizens from importing or keeping poisonous
snakes at home, "because the public good comes first," explains the sheriff,
but the battle with the smugglers and the growers is endless. "Sometimes
they're just naive people who don't really understand," he says, "but for some
it's a business. And when you get into this area of smuggling, of crime, you
know where you begin, but not where you'll end up. There are many kinds of
problems with the people who deal with snakes. One of them even murdered
another collector (Harel Hirschtick of Kibbutz Deganya Bet was convicted of the
murder of Yaakov Sela, the guru of many snake collectors in Israel, who had an
affair with Hirschtick's mother; the motive for the murder was a financial
debt). From my experience, I haven't come across anyone who deals with
reptiles, including me, who isn't somewhat weird. Sometimes in a nice way,
sometimes it's a serious disturbance."

Latest 'hit'

Keller leads the battle against smuggling animals into Israel. There are animals
that are not from rare or dangerous species, which may be brought into the
country, "but every single animal has to have the permission of the INPPA, and
of course you pay a token fee to the authority and V.A.T. and you need
documents, and it's too much for certain people, so they take shortcuts. In
other words, they smuggle."

The latest "hit" in the field, according to Keller, is red-eared turtles. "This
is a swamp turtle," he explains, "which is very aggressive and dominant. You
release it into water sources, it will kill everything around it and then
remain alone. They are brought here when they're the size of a shekel coin,
they grow to 20 or 30 times their original size, and in the end people release
them into the wild. Those red-eared turtles are a plague. Children raise them -
for them it's neither a fish nor a snake, but a cute little turtle, and then
when they grow they throw them into rivers, fish pools, everywhere. And they
survive.

"Those who take shortcuts only bring a few shoe boxes in from Turkey, where the
red-eared turtle costs maybe NIS 2, and bring them to Israel, where it costs
NIS 20, and on 1,000 tiny turtles the traders make NIS 18,000. Tens of
thousands of these turtles are brought into Israel every year. I catch them in
packages of hundreds, and recently I caught 1,200 in one shot. Many turtles are
also smuggled here from Florida, the soft-shell turtle, which is a cousin of the
Israeli turtle. There's a good market for them, too."

What else flows in?

"Aside from the reptiles, there's a lot of smuggling of parrots, regular
smuggling of monkeys, of mammals. The annual loot comes to thousands of birds,
dozens of squirrels, snakes - there is virtually no animal that they haven't
tried to bring into the country. There's also a small number of tiger cubs.
There was one flight attendant who smuggled tiger cubs for a living. There are
tourists coming from the Far East who end their trip by smuggling several
animals in their pockets."

Let's say you've returned from Thailand with a little monkey, to whom would you
sell it?

"Usually they know exactly to whom to transfer it, and if they don't know, then
they come in to find out - and then they get to me."

Apparently, Keller's comments conceal a hint of another kind of information
source in his complex intelligence network. In any case, Keller is a one-man
band, and his battle against crime is complex indeed: "First of all, we receive
initial information, and then I locate the target, ascertain information with
the police intelligence coordinator, coordinate positions with the police,
gather intelligence prior, get a search warrant in court, and join the police
on the ground. I invite the team, mainly detectives. We arrive and say, 'Hello,
sir, we have a search warrant here ...,' and usually the perpetrator already
knows why we've come."

And that's just the beginning: "And then I take testimony on the spot, I do the
investigation. After we catch them I send the animals for rehabilitation, and
deal with the rest of their lives. At the same time I am in effect the
investigator in a criminal case, as well as the chief witness for the
prosecution, and in effect the actual prosecutor in court. You don't have to be
a lawyer in order to be a prosecutor, it's enough to be familiar with the
material, and I am."

The plague of illegal trade in animals is spreading among all the social
classes. From amateur mule breeders in poor neighborhoods up to the highest
income brackets. Keller: "Just for your information, how much does a pair of
palm cockatoo parrots cost? How much should an incubating pair cost? $100,000,
habibi. And these parrots don't talk. I've caught these smugglers, of course.
It's for people who order them specially, they have this obsession, and are
very wealthy people. Some of it is legitimate money, some of it is black
market. Is there any shortage of billionaires here who will spend NIS 100,000
on a pair of these cockatoos? It's the wealthiest 1/1,000th of the population
who are involved in this. They also pay for the entire smuggling route; there
are professionals who do the work for them and they get the merchandise
delivered to their home. To Savyon, to Kfar Shmaryahu, to Herzliya Pituah. To
them it's a sport, but to me it's a crime! But lately there has been a steep
decline in this area."

Why a decline?

"Because of avian flu. The millionaires are afraid of catching it."

Ivory scare

Keller covers long distances all over the country with his green Isuzu, and in
the city, too. On the way to his favorite hummus place in Jaffa, a way station
before he goes in to arrange something in the neighborhood police station, he
slows down near a shop that has two huge elephant tusks at the entrance? Could
it be? After all, trading in wild animal parts is also against the law. "Here,"
he says, pointing at the shop, "we once conducted a police search. We received
information and came here, but it turned out that these tusks are made of wood.
A decoration," he says laughing.

It's true that he and his colleagues are not always successful, especially when
it comes to ivory. "I received a report about some classy shop in a luxury
hotel, where there are a lot of ivory statues. So I did a search there, and it
turned out that they are in fact ivory articles, but from mammoth tusks. It
turns out that they found a huge area of mammoth herds in Siberia, and they
trade freely in their ivory. There is a large market for that. At Ben-Gurion
airport we once found a shipment of mammoth ivory worth hundreds of thousands
of dollars. It comes from Bangkok in large containers. The Siamese do all kinds
of work on mammoth ivory: drawings, engravings, collages, and sell it for a lot
of money. The problem is that it's hard to differentiate between elephant ivory
and mammoth ivory, because the only difference is in the angle of the tusks. And
I'm not a big expert in either elephants or mammoths."

Did you have any successes with ivory?

"Yes, of course. For example, in an antique shop at the entrance to some kibbutz
I found two large tusks. The information came from someone who had visited the
shop, reported to us, and we really let the owner have it. We did the same to
the woman who had sold it to him - some woman from Tel Aviv who had connections
to the foreign service."

The alligator breeders, on the other hand, are not connected to any foreign
service. Usually they are less established people, like the guy who received a
pregnant female alligator as a gift, and managed to give away dozens of her
offspring as holiday gifts among the top criminals, before he himself was shot
to death. Many of the alligators were found by the police (guess who did the
work behind the scenes?), but some of the criminals claimed that they had found
the reptiles while they were still small on the banks of the Yarkon River in Tel
Aviv. Because this is a matter of public welfare and every possibility must be
examined, Keller and his friends spent several nights patrolling the banks of
the river, flashlights in hand, waiting for the alligator to venture forth in
the darkness. It never did.

Keller prefers to stumble here and there rather than ignore any piece of
information that comes into his hands, even the most fragmentary bits.
Otherwise, how would he have caught a 84-centimeter-long alligator in Nahal
Alexander about a year ago, when the rumor of its existence came from an
unknowledgeable hiker?

Since he is the equivalent of an elite commando unit in his field, the sheriff
is also involved in handling thefts. Or as he puts it: "I provide a very good
solution to the problem of the theft of animals as well. Did someone steal a
parrot from you? The police will not solve your problem. I will. They call me
from the police: 'Aryeh, they've stolen a parrot here, maybe you know
something, maybe you can help,' and when they catch stolen parrots they bring
them to me, so that I can find the owner. Then I make the connection and return
it to its owner."

This is perhaps the place to mention that illegal iguanas are also handled by
Keller, and some of them have been caught, but this is not the case when it
comes to piranhas and other dangerous or illegal fish. "I also catch piranhas
if I can," says Keller, who is quick to praise his colleagues from the naval
commando unit, who assist in this area. "But when it comes to trade in fish -
that is the fisheries department. They do excellent work there in the
department. That's not my field."

A country of stupidity

Keller emphasizes that it is both possible and permissible to trade in animals
in accordance with the rules of the Washington Convention, but it is strictly
forbidden to trade in endangered species, even if you represent a zoo. "That's
the strictest level of the convention, which comes to protect chimpanzees,
gorillas, elephants, animals of that kind. But there is also a second level,
which permits trade, as in species of parrots and reptiles, but only in their
offspring. In other words, it is forbidden to grab a parrot from the tree and
to trade in it, but if the parrot was born in some children's zoo then you can
sell it, with a legal document of course. With the documents you have an
indication where they come from, who the parents are, how many generations, and
then it's possible to coordinate and keep track of them. As with dogs and cats.
Our battle is against the large numbers of people who engage in trade without a
permit."

Keller is quite satisfied with the "improvement in public awareness" regarding
criminal activity involving animals, but he is not always pleased with the
severity of punishment. "The most common range of fines for smuggling reptiles
is NIS 7,500 to NIS 25,000. Sometimes there is a suspended sentence, and there
have been some who sat in prison for a while, but the law here is still not
anchored as in the United States, where it's a federal statute. There one goes
straight to prison for a considerable period of time for smuggling. Here it's
the land of milk and honey and stupidity. Everyone has some kind of a meeting
and issues regulations, it's all to cover their asses."

Are there politicians who show special interest in this area?

"Oh, we had an excellent lobbyist in the Knesset, but he left in order to take
care of his sick father. Omri Sharon. It was in his soul and in his genes. If
he hadn't been an MK, he would have been a INPPA supervisor."

If I may get back to the mules, there's something I didn't understand. What do
you do with all the finch nestlings that you rescue?

"The ones that can't fly I keep in my house in Karkur. I have a four-meter cage,
and they stay there until they slowly learn to fly. Sometimes it takes days and
sometimes weeks. When I see that the nestling has learned to fly, I release it
into the wild. If you've taken them and released them when they don't yet know
how to fly, you've killed them. So I take care of them in my house."

Posted by MEEF at 11:27 AM | Permalink

(From: Stuart Schoenfeld)

Israeli company discovers oil at drilling site near the Dead Sea

By The Associated Press and Haaretz Service

An Israeli company has discovered a small amount of oil at a drilling site near
the Dead Sea, raising hopes that Israel could one day join its regional
neighbors as a petroleum producer.

Initial tests have found that the site would yield between 100 to 150 barrels
daily, said Eli Tannenbaum, geologist for the Ginko oil exploration company.

While this is minuscule by global standards - No. 1 producer Saudi Arabia
produces 9 million barrels a day - Tannenbaum said there are signs that larger
amounts of crude are nearby.

"There is high pressure and there was a flow yesterday, there was a free flow...
All this is evidence that there is oil there," Tannenbaum said.

He said the company also found a hydrocarbon, or oil, trap about 2 kilometers
(1.2 miles) north of the original site. "It appears there will also be oil
there in much higher quantities," Tannenbaum said.

Ginko, a private company, will begin drilling in the second location in the
coming months, he said.

Ginko abandoned the original drilling site in 1997 when oil prices were about
$15-$20 a barrel. It revisited the site recently because oil prices have
quadrupled since then, Tannenbaum said.

Energy expert Amir Mor said hundreds of thousands of abandoned oil fields
worldwide have been revisited in recent years due to the spike in prices, which
can make it profitable to produce even a few hundreds barrels of oil.

However, he said, it was unlikely the new Dead Sea location would yield more
than a few hundred - possibly a few thousand - barrels a day. Strategically,
this is meaningless to Israel - which consumes about 220,000 barrels of oil
daily, Mor added.

Israel has produced only 20 million barrels of oil in the last half-century -
less than what the Saudis produce every three days.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/770888.html

Posted by MEEF at 11:25 AM | Permalink

Jordan Times

By Stephanie Berrong

AMMAN — An NGO that focuses on educating people about the environment wants to
help Jordanians come clean.

The Friends of the Environment society (FoE), in partnership with the Greater
Amman Municipality, the Ministry of Environment, the World Conservation Union
and the Swiss embassy, on Wednesday announced the launch of a national contest
to encourage recycling.

The “Smart Use of Recyclable Solid Waste” competition asks participants to
create useful objects from waste material like paper, plastic and cans.
Submissions should be easy to make from readily available trash. They should be
practical and able to be reproduced by an environment-friendly process.

“We need to make more people aware of the concept of recycling to reduce waste,”
said Sanaa Al Abbadi, the Environment Ministry outreach director.

FoE President Ramzi Kawar said some examples of the types of projects he hopes
to see are plastic bags woven into waste paper baskets or old window shutters
used to build public benches.

Submissions will be divided into three categories: Students aged between 13 and
18, professional designers and people with special needs. Participants can work
individually or in a group.

First, second and third place winners will receive cash and other prizes. The
group will also try to match the winning projects with manufacturers, Kawar
said, while winners will keep the rights to their creations.

Swiss Ambassador Paul Widmer presented a cheque for JD2,500 at the announcement
yesterday. The Swiss embassy has pledged JD10,000 to promote the recycling
contest.

Other partners have provided help planning the contest, donated facilities and
will judge the entries.

Raouf Dabbas, adviser to the environment minister, said working with NGOs is
something the ministry would like to do more of. One of its goals, he said, is
to increase awareness and education on the environment.

“And this is a very good way to put these words into action,” Dabbas added.

The contest is an extension of an initiative funded by the Canada Fund for Local
Initiatives in 2004, which created the cartoon character Abu Tadweer, the father
of recycling.

“The idea,” Kawar said, “is to maintain awareness in a fun way. We are trying
to make him as loveable a character as possible.”

Abbadi said she thinks recycling will catch on with Jordanians.

“If the Greater Amman Municipality is ready to collect the waste separately, the
people will be aware of it,” she said. “It’s possible. Why not?”

The deadline for submitting a project is January 18, 2007.

http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/homenews/homenews6.htm

Posted by MEEF at 11:24 AM | Permalink

(From: Stuart Schoenfeld )

UNDP grants $110,000 for environment protection Jordan Times

AMMAN (JT) — The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has granted
$110,000 to three NGOs for the implementation of grassroots projects in the
field of environmental protection and conservation.

The grant falls within the UNDP-administered Global Environment Facility /Small
Grants Programme (GEF/SGP), a fund that supports community-level solutions to
environmental problems.

The projects are in line with GEF/SGP strategic objectives, which focus on
achieving global environmental benefits in the areas of biodiversity, climate
change, international waters, land degradation and persistent organic
pollutants, as well as enhancing livelihoods of local communities and their
capacities to manage natural resources, according to a UNDP statement.

The Productive Village Cooperative in Al Salhiyeh Village will use the funds to
rehabilitate the plant cover surrounding the area. The project seeks to control
the formation of dust and sand dunes on village dwellings, which affect the
health, social and economic life of the community.

Negative human practices, including overgrazing, tree cutting and use of
four-wheel drive vehicles, in addition to climatic conditions are responsible
for the situation, the statement said.

To address the problem, the society, in cooperation with the Wadi Rum Nature
Area, will rehabilitate the area around the village by cultivating indigenous
plants and establishing a nursery to propagate these plants to be grown on a
large scale.

The project will mobilise the local community and enhance its participation in
conservation efforts in the area, according to the statement.

In Madaba Governorate, Al Noor Cooperative will implement the “Sustainable
Rangeland Management in Al Faisaliyeh Area” project, designed to maintain
rangeland productivity. The project seeks to sustain the livelihoods of the
local community by promoting the raising of a special breed of goats
characterised by their high milk yield, which are suitable for confined
keeping, thus alleviating the pressure on natural rangeland. The project will
also include an awareness component for livestock farmers and local community
members, the statement said.

In the northeastern badia, the South Azraq Women’s Society for Social
Development, in cooperation with the Azraq Wetland Reserve, will use its grant
to implement a pilot project for the conservation of biodiversity in the Azraq
Oasis using information technology.

The project seeks to foster partnership between the local community and the
reserve through participation in environmental research, bird monitoring and
bird ringing programmes.

An IT centre will be established, enabling students to log into websites related
to nature conservation, with special focus on wetlands, where they can access
information on migratory birds and the various elements that affect their
migration.

Under the project, student visits to the reserve and various awareness
activities will be organised.

UNDP Resident Representative ad interim Mona K. Hider signed the three grant
agreements with heads of the respective organisations at the UNDP headquarters
in Amman on Monday.

http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/homenews/homenews7.htm

Posted by MEEF at 11:22 AM | Permalink

(From: Stuart Schoenfeld)
Subject: Jordan Times

Amman’s ‘Green Lung’ nearly complete Jordan Times

By Cheryl Haines

AMMAN — The long-awaited Children’s Museum will be the latest and last
instalment at the widely popular King Hussein Park.

The museum, an initiative of Her Majesty Queen Rania, is the first interactive
and educational institution of its kind in the country, seeking to encourage
exploration and understanding of local culture, science, technology and
industry, through innovative and educational multimedia resources and
programmes through its 150 hands-on exhibits.

Set to open in December, the Children’s Museum lives up to the original vision
of the park, when it opened in 2001.

“The facilities at the park were created through five different goals...
cultural, sport, educational, recreational and environmental,” Munther Al
Saleh, the project director, told The Jordan Times.

Noting that the majority of the park’s visitors on weekends are families, Saleh
said it was “important for people in Amman to have a ‘green space,’ and an
unobstructed area to enjoy with their children.”

Many of the families hail from east Amman, where outdoor areas conducive to
child’s play are few and far between, according to Saleh.

The project director envisions the park as the “Green Lung of Amman.”

“The park is open year-round and children are free to enjoy all of our
facilities. Here children can play and run free. There are no hazards of cars,”
said Saleh, who estimated that the park receives 15,000 visitors on summer
weekends.

Once the museum opens, children who enjoy the park’s open spaces will be able to
benefit from its educational and entertainment displays, including interactive
astronomy and anatomy exhibits.

The park also features security personnel and the Children’s Museum will employ
supervisory staff to help monitor the large groups of children from nearby
schools expected to visit when it opens.

Raja Gargour, director of the Royal Automobile Museum, which is located in the
western part of the facility, sees the museum’s popularity as testament to how
much open areas and parks for children are needed in Amman.

“Spaces of educational impact for youth are in much demand in Jordan,” Gargour
explained.

The Royal Automobile Museum, he added, strives to be a centre of both
educational and cultural significance, combining the late King Hussein’s
much-loved car collection with interactive media presentations and historical
displays.

An American Cadillac, currently on loan to the US, was a gift to King Hussein
from US president Eisenhower. The exhibits tell of “the longevity of King
Hussein’s reign and the good relations he had with many presidents in that
period,” Gargour explained.

Every summer the Royal Automobile Museums puts on a Wire Car Competition where
local youths are placed in teams and encouraged to construct the body of an
actual car using only basic materials.

Gargour emphasised the importance of the annual competitions, noting the skills
the young people must employ as they construct their cars: Teamwork,
leadership, and critical analysis.

While the younger generation gravitate towards the playgrounds and football
fields, the park also offers a variety of facilities for all ages.

Saleh noted that Friday afternoon visitors tend to be families and younger
people, while on weekdays older visitors come to experience the park’s cultural
centres.

The Cultural Village, the first structure to greet visitors entering the park,
highlights Jordan’s heritage.

Exhibits include studios for Arab calligraphy, stone inscriptions, natural dyes,
local ceramics and handicrafts.

The centre overlooks the city to the east and includes a restaurant and outdoor
terraces.

The “Theme Gardens” located in the centre of the park present a collection of
flora and water fountains. The gardens are reminiscent of historical phases of
the country’s history and its geographical landscapes. Cutting through the
gardens is the 400-metre “Promenade of Jordan,” where works of art and
historical representations display the country’s history.

Throughout the facility, water reservoirs were engineered in keeping with the
importance of rationing water consumption in Jordan.

Various basins were constructed to collect and divert rainwater, which are
connected to groundwater reservoirs, and are used for irrigation.

The 5,200-square-metre park is open year-round and is accessible to visitors
with special needs.

http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/homenews/homenews5.htm

Posted by MEEF at 11:21 AM | Permalink

(From: Stuart Schoenfeld )
Subject: Palestinian Authority - Israel fuel deal: Al Jazeera, Jordan Times, Haaretz

Hamas in Israel fuel deal Al-Jazeera

Thursday 05 October 2006, 19:45 Makka Time, 16:45 GMT

Abu Eisheh, interim Hamas finance minister, signed the deal
The Hamas-led government has signed a contract with a new Israeli oil supplier
to provide fuel to the Palestinian territories.

Samir Abu Eisheh, the interim finance minister, said on Thursday that the
Palestinian government had signed a contract with Paz, a private Israeli
company, to replace Dor Alon, the firm which has provided fuel to Gaza and the
West Bank for 12 years.

"We signed the agreement several days ago after more than four months of
negotiations," Abu Eisheh said

The deal comes despite the Israeli government's refusal to deal with the
Hamas-led administration, headed by what Israel and many Western countries
consider a terrorist organisation.

"We negotiated with three companies, including Dor Alon, and we managed to
improve the terms of the contract in reducing the margin of the new supplier
which will begin supplies at the start of next year," Abu Eisheh said.

Interrupted supplies

A Paz spokeswoman confirmed that the contract had been signed and would come
into effect in January 2007.

Abu Eisheh said the contract would allow the Palestinian treasury to save $17m a
year over the terms of the old contract with Dor Alon.

Dor Alon has frequently interrupted supplies owing to unpaid bills by the
Palestinian government, which is on the verge of bankruptcy due to the
suspension of aid and Israel's decision to withhold millions of dollars in
taxes.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2C6EC050-A136-4504-94CA-E71651B168F3.htm

Israeli fuel firm strikes deal with Hamas gov’t Jordan Times

(AP) — An Israeli fuel company on Thursday said it has reached an agreement to
supply gasoline to the Palestinians, the first major business transaction
between an Israeli firm and the Hamas-led Palestinian government.

The Paz Oil Co.'s deal underscored Israel's substantial business interests in
the Palestinian areas, which have continued despite the Israeli government's
crippling sanctions against the Islamic Hamas. Officials on both sides conceded
that when it comes to doing business, they are ready to put politics aside.
"This is the first formal agreement the current government has signed with an
Israeli company," said Ismail Mahfouz of Hamas, the Palestinian deputy finance
minister. It comes just a day after frustrated Palestinians lined up at gas
stations because of a sudden West Bank fuel shortage, the result of a dispute
between their government and the present Israeli supplier — underlining how
dependent the Palestinians are on the Israelis.

Israel and the West imposed its sanctions on Hamas after the group won
legislative elections and took power last March. Israel, the US and European
Union consider Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide
bombings, a terrorist group.

Israel has withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes collected on behalf
of the Palestinians. It also has frequently closed the main cargo crossing into
the Gaza Strip, preventing goods from moving in and out of the area, citing
security concerns and planned attacks by Palestinian fighters. In June, gunmen
linked to Hamas tunnelled into Israel, attacked an army base and captured a
soldier stationed along the Gaza border.

Despite the crackdown, business contacts have continued.

Israel is the main supplier of dairy products, food items and fuel to the
Palestinians, while state-run monopolies such as the Israeli electricity and
water companies also continue to serve them.

Some of these dealings, such as providing power, are motivated by humanitarian
concerns. But many others, including Paz's deal with the state-run Palestinian
fuel authority, are focused purely on the bottom line.

"There are three million Palestinians, who regardless of their political views
need water, electricity and fuel," said Moudi Ben-Shach, Paz's chief executive.
"We for many years wanted to do this, and now we have." Under the deal, Paz will
become the exclusive supplier of gasoline in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on
January 1. Paz will replace Dor Alon, the Israeli company that has been
providing fuel to the Palestinians under a contract reached before Hamas took
power.

Ben-Shach declined to release details of the deal, but said the terms are more
favourable to the Palestinians than the previous arrangement. "It's very
positive for them and us," he said.

A contract dispute between the Palestinian fuel authority and Dor Alon led to
the gasoline shortages in the West Bank and Gaza this week, though supplies
appeared to be replenished on Thursday.

In the West Bank town of Ramallah, the Palestinians' acting finance minister,
Samir Abuaishi, proudly trumpeted the Paz deal as a victory in Hamas' campaign
to clean up the government.

"I am always ready to sit with any Israeli counterpart to discuss services for
our people," he said at a news conference, claiming the fuel deal would save
the government close to $18 million a year.

The Palestinian fuel industry has been widely linked to corruption. Abuaishi
said he had received a death threat late Wednesday night because of the fuel
deal.
http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news5.htm

Paz strikes deal to refine crude oil for the Palestinian Authority
04.10.06 | 19:30 By Sharon Kedmi Haaretz

The Paz energy company has struck a deal to refine fuels for the Palestinian
Authority at its refinery in Ashdod, TheMarker has learned.

The agreement was only finalized in the past few days.

The Palestinian Authority will import crude straight to the Ashdod refinery,
which Paz just bought last week for NIS 3.5 billion.

Paz will refine the crude oil and deliver the products and distillates to the
Palestinian Authority.

The Palestinian Authority means to import oil mainly from the Gulf states, which
are expected to give it attractive prices.

Paz, which belongs to Zadik Bino, yesterday confirmed that negotiations with the
Palestinians were taking place.

In essence Paz is taking over where Dor-Alon (TASE: DRAL) left off. On the eve
of Yom Kippur, Dor-Alon admitted in an announcement to the Tel Aviv Stock
Exchange that the Palestinian Authority will cease buying gasoline and gas from
it from the start of 2007.

Dor-Alon had refused to sweeten the terms of sale to the Palestinians, it
explained. But the Palestinian withdrawal is a blow to the Israeli company, as
the PA had been responsible for about 40% of its income.

Dor-Alon had been supplying the Palestinians with fuel since 1994. Two years ago
the parties extended their agreement by five years and at present, Dor-Alon is
the sole supplier of fuels to the Palestinian Authority.

Each month the Palestinian Authority buys 50 million liters of gasoline and
diesel from Israel.

Paz refused to comment for this report.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/770410.html

Posted by MEEF at 11:18 AM | Permalink

From: Stuart Schoenfeld
Subject: WHO measures require 66 percent reduction in Israel air pollution Haaretz

WHO measures require 66 percent reduction in Israel air pollution

By Tzafrir Rinat, Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies

The World Health Organization published tough new air control regulations
Thursday in an attempt to cut down on air-borne pollutants which kill an
estimated two million people around the world each year.

In a Geneva press conference, the UN group announced it would push for a
worldwide reduction of pollutants from 70 to 20 micrograms per cubic meter.

The current amount of pollutants in micrograms per cubic meter is between 60-76
in Tel Aviv and 47-51 in Haifa, some 65 percent above the new limit.

According to estimates, some 600 people die each year from air pollution-related
diseases in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area alone.

A new law imposing tighter air control regulations called the "clean air bill"
is currently under legislation in the Knesset.

According to the WHO, drastically reducing air pollution in cities could prevent
120,000 deaths a year from respiratory infections, heart disease and lung
cancer.

An estimated 800,000 people die prematurely each year from
outdoor air pollution and a switch to cleaner fossil fuels could cut this toll
by 15 percent, the United Nations agency said.

It issued its first global Air Quality Guidelines, based on consultations with
more than 80 leading scientists over three years, which set voluntary targets
for particulate matter pollution - which can be inhaled into the lungs and
cause tissue damage - sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and ozone.

"We know that this will represent a major challenge for some cities around the
world because it is not so easy to implement those targets," Maria Neira, WHO's
director for public health and the environment, told a news briefing.

"If we reduce the level of pollutants to the standards we
are recommending, the mortality caused by the outdoor pollution will be reduced
by 15 percent," the Spanish doctor said.

Indoor pollution - caused by solid fuels burned for heating and cooking - kills
another 1.2 million, bringing the total number of premature deaths from air
pollution to 2 million.

The worst-polluted cities for which data was available
included Karachi, New Delhi, Kathmandu, Beijing, Lima and Cairo.

They had around 200 micrograms of particulate matter or PM10 per cubic metre -
10 times the new standard, according to Michal Krzyzanowski, a WHO air quality
expert who was technical coordinator for the project.

The WHO's projection for fewer deaths is based mainly on
reducing PM10, caused by burning fossil and other fuels, from a reference point
of 70 micrograms per cubic metre down to 20.

London, which has made tremendous progress against pollution over the past
decades, is roughly in the recommended range of 20 micrograms, according to
Krzyzanowski.

"It should be stressed that health concerns are not limited to the most polluted
cities. Substantial health effects are seen even in the relatively cleaner
cities of Europe or North America where PM levels are three times lower," he
said.

In Europe, Netherlands, Belgium and Milan, Italy, suffer the worst air
pollution, while in the United States it is the north-eastern corridor as well
as Los Angeles, WHO experts said.

Broadly, the pollution comes from combustion of fossil fuels - petrol or solid
fuels - from cars, industry and home fires.

Using incinerators instead of uncontrolled burning of garbage in poor
residential areas was one simple way to reduce emissions from very high to
moderate levels and protect people.

In recent years, Delhi reduced pollution after rickshaws
which had used high-polluting two-stroke engines switched to using
cleaner-burning liquefied natural gas, he said.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/771098.html

Posted by MEEF at 11:17 AM | Permalink

(From: Stuart Schoenfeld)
Subject: - UN: Daily Star

Donors may contribute solar-power apparatus for new homes - UN

By Lysandra Ohrstrom
Daily Star staff
Friday, October 06, 2006

BEIRUT: At least three international donors are considering using a portion of
reconstruction aid to finance the installation of renewable energy units in
newly built residences in Southern Lebanon. A project manager from the United
Nations Development Program's (UNDP) energy efficiency branch - which works in
coordination with the Ministry of Energy and Water (MoEW) - declined to name
the countries or organizations currently reviewing proposals, but said two
embassies and one global NGO have shown interest in funding the $12 million
project.

"What we are doing now is trying to secure at least partial donations to install
12,000 solar thermal water-heating units, rather than electric heaters, in homes
that have been destroyed in Southern villages," Anwar Nour Ali told The Daily
Star in a phone interview.

"We also want all reconstructed houses in the South and buildings in the Dahiyeh
to use energy-efficient lamps which are affordable and not a big investment, but
contractors want to save money so they use the cheapest ones possible," Ali
said, adding that the LL4,000-LL5,000 lamps will result in an 80 percent saving
for consumers. The MoEW estimates that solar water-heating systems would reduce
each homeowner's electricity bill by 25-30 percent.

Earlier this year the Order of Engineers and Architects began requiring that all
newly designed houses be equipped for solar water heaters in order to obtain
construction permits. Building schematics must include provisions for where and
how a solar water heater can be installed and connected to the plumbing system.

Similar regulations were not extended to apartment complexes, since the
installation of solar panels on the roofs of multi-owner buildings is
problematic in the absence of government legislation, but new standards do
require contractors to install plumbing large enough to allow for the future
installation of solar heating units.

The UNDP is also promoting a third proposal for the windows, walls and roofs of
new apartment buildings in the southern suburbs to be constructed on an
energy-efficient basis, though Ali said they are not focusing on the project.

The Energy Research Group (ERG) at AUB is in the progress of completing a report
on using solar water heaters in reconstructed residences. They estimate that the
residential sector accounts for 38 percent of Lebanon's annual energy
consumption - with electric water heaters using the most power per household
after air conditioners and space heaters - but the absence of a comprehensive
energy efficiency strategy has hindered the adoption of such technology in the
past.

If obstacles like high initial procurement costs and lack of trained installers
and import legislation are overcome, ERG concludes in its draft report that
installing domestic solar water heating units might reduce the need to build
new power plants.

Zakaria Rammel, a representative from the MoEW, confirmed that the ministry is
coordinating with the UNDP on securing donors for a domestic renewable energy
program in Southern villages, but he was not able to verify the details of the
proposals before The Daily Star went to press.

"We are working with the UNDP on this, but it shouldn't be seen as a
reconstruction donation because the Chinese had already donated solar panels
last year, but unfortunately during the war at least half of these were
destroyed," Rammel said. "We are asking them to replace these and possibly
install more," he said.

Ali gave no time frame for the project, but said it will not be feasible for at
least 18 months since units cannot be installed until houses are built.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=75959

Posted by MEEF at 11:15 AM | Permalink

By Agence France Presse (AFP)

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Pierre Sawaya

Agence France Press

BEIRUT: Lebanese beach resorts that had invested huge sums for a promising
summer season are now counting their losses with millions of dollars in damage
inflicted by Israeli strikes and ensuing oil slicks. "Our direct losses and the
loss of earnings amount to $10 million," said Roger Edde, owner of the Edde
Sands resort north of Beirut.

Israel launched a 34-day offensive against Lebanon on July 12 after the
Hizbullah captured two Israeli soldiers. The hostilities forced tourists to
flee Lebanon, which had been preparing for a record summer season.

The Israeli strikes also caused an environmental catastrophe on Lebanon's coast
by destroying fuel tanks at the Jiyyeh power station south of Beirut,
unleashing an estimated 15,000 tons of fuel oil into the Mediterranean Sea.

"We closed for three weeks to clean the beach from the oil slicks which also
evaporate, causing breathing problems, and activities have been slow since the
September 2 reopening," Edde said. "From 3,000 lunches and dinners a day before
the war, we are now serving an average of 30 meals a day."

Hussein Sharafeddin, owner of the Pangea beach resort south of Beirut, expressed
the same grievances and has been forced to carry out massive lay-offs.

"Our losses amount to $2 million. We had invested a lot in order to offer
Lebanese and tourists one of the world's most beautiful resorts," he said.

"We keep cleaning the sand and the sea, but the oil slicks keep coming back," he
added.

But Sharafeddin refuses to give up: "We intend to continue to invest and we are
considering building a hotel despite the [Israeli] threats."

Edde is also optimistic. He decided to reopen after the end of the war in order
to "keep the morale high" and to continue work on a new 2,500-seat conference
center. But he has decided to freeze future investments until the situation is
more stable.

"We want to see where the country is heading," he said.

Millions of dollars have been invested at dozens of beach resorts which have
mushroomed along Lebanon's 220-kilometer coastline in recent years.

The Bamboo Bay resort south of Beirut has reported direct losses of $560,000 and
loss of earnings of $350,000.

It opened for 10 days last month but was forced to close for lack of clients.

"We need at least two or three years to regain the tourism boom of the past few
years," said Sharafeddin.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=75895

Posted by MEEF at 11:14 AM | Permalink

(From: Stuart Schoenfeld)

French environmentalists arrive to assist in oil-spill damage control, clean-up

By Nour Samaha
Daily Star staff
Thursday, October 05, 2006

BEIRUT: French environmental experts arrived in Lebanon on Wednesday to assist
in efforts to clean up the country's largest oil spill in history and monitor
the disaster's repercussions.

The spill, caused by Israeli air strikes on the Jiyyeh power plant's fuel tanks
in July, now plagues two-thirds of Leb-anon's coastline.

"We are introducing a new technique that will deal specifically with the
clearing of oil from pebbled beaches and rock pools," said Bernard Fichaut, a
geography professor at Britannia-Breste University in France.

"This technique, otherwise known as 'surf-washing,' has been around for 30 years
and has proven to be the best method available to clear the oil quickly, cleanly
and at a low cost," he said.

The technique consists of collecting all the oil-covered rocks and stones from
the coastline and blasting them with hot water in order to remove the oil. The
process is repeated all along the beach until all the oil is caught in nets and
can be cleared.

Denis La Croix, from the French National Institute of the Sea, arrived with
Fichaut on Wednesday and will also analyze and monitor the effects of the oil
spill on local marine life.

"While at the moment we have focused on a short-term program to monitor the
effects of the oil spill on sea life, the long-term consequences are just as
important," La Croix said.

"Creatures such as plankton, mollusks and going all the way up the food chain to
fish and even birds are being directly affected; obviously this has the
potential to create an ecological disaster," he said.

La Croix said there would be additional French missions to Lebanon in the near
future to address various concerns resulting from the spill.

La Croix and Fichaut are both working in Lebanon in collaboration with Bahr
Loubnan, a local environmental organization that has already cleared 24,000
liters of oil from the Bondi-Bellevue beach and another 2,000 liters from Sands
Rock beach, both in Jiyyeh.

Mohammad Sarji, a member of Bahr Loubnan, said the organization was focusing on
removing oil from the surface of the sea.

However, while clean-up efforts have been relatively successful on the beaches
of Jiyyeh and Jbeil, an oil leak at Ramlet-el-Baida has forced work there to be
suspended since mid-September, leaving many asking how long the oil can remain
on the beach before causing irreparable damage.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=75929

Posted by MEEF at 10:58 AM | Permalink

PNN

(Gaza City) Wisam Afifeh
Wednesday, 20 September 2006
The Palestinian Ministry of Transport issued a draft to the Council of Ministers
for a new system that uses a less expensive form of gas as auto fuel.

Although specifics are currently unavailable, the price at the pumps is expected
to drop significantly compared to the cost incurred by using the standard gas of
conventional cars.

Transport Minister, Said Al Din Khurma, issued a press statement indicating that
additional amendments will be made to the Executive Traffic Law, to be
implemented at year’s end.

Once the Council of Ministers approves the amendments, licensing fees for cars
and garages will be reduced by 50 percent. Periods of valid registration for
older vehicles will be extended. The changes that are underway have been in the
works since the Hamas party came into office, aiming to ease the citizens’
economic burden.

The cost to the Government’s 2007 budget for implementing the changes is 294.5
million NIS, or approximately 71 million USD, the Transport Minister said.

Media outlets, the fishing industry, and projects in the infrastructure, such as
sewage, are all receiving overhauls in licensing, maintenance and assistance in
hopes of easing the public’s burden to the tune of eight million USD in
government expenditure.

Posted by MEEF at 12:49 PM | Permalink

(From: Stuart Schoenfeld)

Jordan Times 06ssep22

By Cheryl Haines

AMMAN — The German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) launched a new water
programme on Wednesday at a ceremony celebrating more than 30 years of
partnership between Jordan and the GTZ.

Under the slogan, “Knowledge Powers Development,” the programme marks an
important step in resource development between the government and the GTZ.

“The management of scarce resources in a sustainable matter,” German Ambassador
Klaus Burkhardt told the 300-strong audience, is the focal point of the new
programme. Praising the country’s impressive modernisation and knowledge-based
economy as a model in the Middle East, Burkhardt emphasised the GTZ’s support in
the areas of social and economic development, and, since 2001, in water
management.

In her keynote address, HRH Princess Basma commended the GTZ’s important
contribution to Jordan’s social and economic development through the past 30
years, pointing out that long-term development requires consistency and the
application of lesson learning.

“Their approach throughout their operations has been that they design their
projects based on local level realities, according to local needs... in order
to achieve this, they listen to local voices. They work with local institutions
to ensure sustainability after project support has phased out,” the Princess
told dignitaries and businesspeople gathered at the Citadel.

Adding that the GTZ’s institutional memory is a unique resource among
development agencies in Jordan, Princess Basma lauded GTZ’s longstanding
commitment within Jordan, and continued emphasis on social and economic
development.

The GTZ “works directly with consumers” she noted, “helping poor and
marginalised farmers in the Jordan Valley have control over the ways they use
water. By helping set up water-user groups and then creating opportunities for
them to engage with bodies such as the Jordan Valley Authority... farmers are
taking more responsibility for operating and maintaining irrigation systems...
they are protecting and conserving this scarce and valuable resource for
generations to come.”

Minister of Water and Irrigation Thafer Alem also commended the GTZ,
illustrating the various milestones reached thus far in Jordan’s water sector
in his speech.

During Wednesday evening’s event, GTZ Country Director in Jordan Joachim Prey
gave a presentation of the agency’s work and services through the Middle East
and Mediterranean regions. He outlined the role of the GTZ in Jordan together
with its national partners in promoting and working together towards
sustainable development in the country.

Incorporating what Prey called a “multifaceted approach,” GTZ aims to work with
both governmental and private sectors to offer greater synergies and the
unification of current projects in maximising positive impact in Jordan’s water
infrastructure.

He added that incorporating sustainable methods of resource management was a
focal point of the programme, necessitating the protection of the country’s
“precious natural resource” as an important part of corporate social
responsibility.

In addition, Uwe Stoll, head of the GTZ Water Programme in Jordan, presented the
programme’s main areas of concentration. Developing and promoting infrastructure
efficiency, resource protection, institutional restructuring of the water sector
and private sector participation constitute the programme’s focal points.

The event included a photo exhibition in the Citadel’s Umayyad Palace displaying
the GTZ’s achievements in Jordan over the past 30 years and a traditional
musical performance.

Germany is one of Jordan’s main cooperation partners in various development
programmes, with total aid amounting to more than 1.0 billion euros, according
to a German embassy statement.

Since 1975, more than 200 million euros have been spent on technical assistance.
The GTZ is now focusing its efforts on promoting sustainable use and integrated
management of water resources in the country.

Other current projects are financial management reform, and poverty alleviation
through municipal development.

Posted by MEEF at 12:47 PM | Permalink

Environment minister hopes initiative encourages rise in number of bottles
recycled
YNET
Amir Ben David
Published: 09.12.06, 09:40

A revolution in the recycling field is occurring. Soon, gas stations will have
automated machines for collecting bottles to be recycled. The machines will
provide money for each bottle collected.

Environment Minister Gideon Ezra harnessed gas companies into this initiative,
and estimates that he will be able to expand the current Knesset Deposit Law –
which states that each recycled bottle will be reimbursed – to include 1.5
liter bottles.

So far, the law only applies to smaller bottles, mainly because of objections
from oltra-Orthodox parties.

The Deposit Law was meant to encourage soft drink consumers to return bottles in
exchange for the 25 agorot (roughly 6 cents) paid as a deposit at the time of
purchase, so that they might be recycled.

Each year, billions of bottles, big and small, as well as cans and other drink
containers are used. Only 60 percent of all debited bottles are returned to be
recycled.

Estimates show that a significant amount of bottle pickups are made by criminal
organizations. Over the years, it has become clear that one of the main
problems is the lack of collection points, and marketing companies unwilling to
participate in the collection.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3302763,00.html

Posted by MEEF at 12:45 PM | Permalink

(From: Stuart Schoenfeld )

Apparently starting soon, if you take the Trans-Israel Highway at non-peak
hours, you only pay half the toll.
Haaretz

21.9.06 | 11:36 By Sharon Kedmi

The Derech Eretz consortium, which runs Israel's first (and only, so far) toll
road, says it believes the discount will encourage use of the highway, for the
greater benefit of traffic patterns around it too.

It is the Finance Ministry behind the proposed discount. Its goal is to
encourage more drivers to use the road, easing congestion on the free parallel
ones.

A study that the ministries involved conducted jointly with the Trans-Israel
Highway Corporation (a government company that is responsible for the highway,
from the state's perspective) found that differential rates could save the
state NIS 200 million a year by reducing traffic on tangential roads, resulting
in lower road maintenance and so on.

The negotiations are proceeding: the state suggests that the discount apply from
20:00 at night to 06:00 the next morning, and from 10:00 to 15:00 during the
day.

The state will not allow Derech Eretz to charge more during rush hour.

On average, 85,000 drivers take the toll road each day, of which 80% are
subscribers who use the road on a regular basis.

Posted by MEEF at 12:43 PM | Permalink

(From: Stuart Schoenfeld)

gil zohar, THE JERUSALEM POST Sep. 14, 2006

In January 5, 2009, Jerusalemites will finally know if the joke is on us.

That morning, the city's NIS 3.2-billion light rail project will either begin
operating on schedule and on budget or - as cynics fear - Jerusalem will be
crippled with a hugely expensive white elephant akin to Boston's infamous Big
Dig.

For readers unfamiliar with the New England city, in 1985 the Massachusetts
metropolis undertook to excavate a $2.5-billion tunnel beneath the historic
downtown, replacing an elevated expressway while updating infrastructure and
creating new parkland. Earlier this summer, after more than $12 billion in cost
overruns, Boston's long-delayed mega-project was temporarily shut down when a
tunnel ceiling panel collapsed, crushing a car and its driver.

Jerusalem's many long-suffering commuters may not face a similar debacle, but
fume they'll be made freiers (suckers) by feckless transportation bureaucrats.
As many have noted, the terminal at Israel's international airport, known as
Ben-Gurion 2000, finally opened in 2004.

They cite the countless revisions to the ambitious initial phase of the Red
Line, which is now set to snake through the city for 13.8 km. beginning at
Pisgat Ze'ev in the north, following Highway 1 south to Kikar Tzahal, where it
will turn west along pedestrian-only Jaffa Road, curve south over a landmark
bridge by the Central Bus Station and then carry along Herzl Boulevard to Yad
Vashem.

Tellingly, they worry, the Light Rail Transit (LRT) offices are hidden away
behind locked doors in the Clal Center - a concrete carbuncle which is arguably
the ugliest, least user-friendly office tower in all of Israel.

Mass transit officials have done a less than stellar job promoting public
understanding of the many traffic interruptions now plaguing Jerusalem, and the
LRT Web site (www.rakevetkala-jerusalem.org) has not updated its English page in
two years.

Hold your horses - or should one say sleek tram carriages - says Shmuel Tsabari,
project manager for the LRT, who says he can practically guarantee his baby will
be delivered on target, if not earlier, and won't cost a grush more than
allocated.

Tsabari's reasoning and the ultimate put-down to know-it-alls? The LRT, with its
46 state-of-the-art streetcars, is largely being built abroad by specialized
foreign companies which are bound by stiff penalties for any contract
violations or delays - and don't share the Levantine mentality of shuwaya,
shuwaya (little by little).

Known as BOT (build, operate and transfer), the plan is that by transferring
responsibility to overseas engineering firms, the privatized LRT will be able
to avoid the snafus of government involvement. Under the funding formula, NIS
1.2 billion is coming directly from taxpayers while NIS 2.2-billion is being
raised by City Pass, a consortium of French, Italian and Israeli companies that
in 1995 received a 30-year concession to build and operate the light rail
system. The contract includes a buy-back option after seven years.

In a futuristic fantasia worthy of Jules Verne or Theodor Herzl - who in his
1902 epochal work Altneuland (Old-New Country) envisioned a European-style tram
network spanning rebuilt Jerusalem - there will be 24 stations with trains
manufactured in La Rochelle, France, quietly gliding by every four minutes.

Emblematic of the whole complex enterprise and perhaps its most controversial
element will be the Bridge of Strings, a 340-meter-long single column
suspension bridge designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava that
promises to become an icon of the Israeli capital akin to San Francisco's
Golden Gate Bridge.

Calatrava's slender curved span will soar above the perpetual traffic jam at the
intersection of Jaffa Road and Shazar and Herzl boulevards, rising from near the
future train station - which is slated to begin carrying passengers to Modi'in,
Ben-Gurion Airport and Tel Aviv in 2009.

Tsabari dismisses criticism of the Calatrava Bridge as an extravagant waste
conceived by former mayor Ehud Olmert. While a conventional overpass would cost
between NIS 60-80 million, in contrast to the NIS 220 million for Calatrava's
modernist masterpiece, a more plebian bridge would entail some eight support
piers that would result in a concrete warren worthy of the Clal Center.

Instead, Calatrava's elegant solution will float on two bases now under
construction at the project's east and west ends.

"This is a bridge but also a monument," beams Tsabari, after showing an
impressive computer animation. Comparing Calatrava's design to a harp or
shofar, he notes it will be illuminated at night as a landmark of exquisite
beauty. Tourists and Jerusalemites will come to promenade along its pedestrian
path separated from the tramway, he insists.

And what of opposition from Jerusalem's citizens concerned the ultra-modern
design will clash with the historic city's character? Parisians initially hated
the Eiffel Tower when it was erected for the 1889 World's Fair. Guy de
Maupassant, Emile Zola and Alexandre Dumas the Younger were among those who
protested its construction.

How does one go about erecting a 2,600-ton bridge?

The bridge's anchor bases will comprise 70 holes drilled to a depth of 25
meters, each with a radius of between 60 and 90 cm., Tsabari explains.

Such is the public's misunderstanding of the project - or the LRT's failure to
provide information updates - that few people in Jerusalem realize that this
drilling job is now almost complete.

Beginning in December, City Pass will begin constructing a series of temporary
pillars to support the bridge platform. Those 24 metal sheets, currently under
fabrication in Padua, Italy, will be transported at night from the Haifa port.
Each section weighs 40 tons, and Tsabari notes police may have to close
sections of the highway from Sha'ar Hagai to facilitate the huge, slow-moving
transports.

In January 2007, the mastiff, also being made in Italy, will arrive in three
sections of approximately 40 meters each.

"We won't close the expressway entirely," promises Tsabari.

With the 118-meter high pylon in place, work will then begin on laying the 68
cables that will support the unique suspension bridge. Averaging four to six
"strings" per night, Tsabari anticipates somewhat vaguely that this phase will
be finished by next summer.

"I'm not arbitrarily saying summer. This is a very complex thing," he says. For
safety reasons, traffic will not be permitted under the bridge at night during
this phase of construction. Cars and buses will have to detour via Givat Shaul
or Lifta to reach the city center, he says.

Residents of nearby apartment buildings may also be temporarily evacuated during
this phase, explains LRT spokesman Shmulik Elgrably. There may be electricity
interruptions or difficulty in reaching their homes, he adds.

The LRT has appointed Amnon Elian as head of the community team coordinating
arrangements as necessitated by developments.

"Building the LRT isn't virtual," says Elgrably. "You don't do it on the
Internet."

With the bridge's 68 cables in place, the temporary ramps and pillars will then
be removed, the track bed laid and traffic restored.

"There's no question there will be a disturbance to the general public," Tsabari
asserts matter-of-factly. "It's like doing a house renovation."

This article can also be read at
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1157913628228&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Posted by MEEF at 12:37 PM | Permalink

(From: Stuart Schoenfeld)

Naomi Tzur, THE JERUSALEM POST Sep. 21, 2006
The New Year heralds a period of serious soul-searching, during which people
often decide to change their ways or turn over the proverbial new leaf. The
dates of the Jewish calendar take on an uncanny significance when we match them
with the progress of the Safdie Plan, which currently poses the most serious of
threats to the sustainability of Jerusalem's urban environment, imposing 20,000
housing units and a massive $3 billion western ring road on our precious
Jerusalem Hills and draining the lifeblood of the inner city.

Sixteen thousand public objections were submitted to the Safdie plan on the eve
of Tisha Be'av, when we traditionally mourn the destruction of Jerusalem. One
year later, again on the eve of the 9th of Av, the public hearing of the
objections was concluded.

Now, a year and a half later, the debate on the Safdie plan at the National
Planning Council will take place a short time after these days of
soul-searching, and even before the final divine court ruling on Hoshana Raba.

However, if our decision-makers need to use these days to mitigate the harsh
sentence to be meted out to the Jerusalem Hills, we, the Jerusalem public, need
to do some even harder soul-searching. What have we ourselves done to improve
our city's environment, other than complain about whatever aggravates us, be it
litter in the street, light rail works in progress, dangerous holes in the
ground or anything else?

In these few lines I would like to make 10 suggestions for New Year's
resolutions that can cut down our own ecological footprint, probably save money
and definitely make us more responsible citizens.

* Save the water that runs until it gets hot in a bucket.
* Resolve never to drop litter again.

* Turn off unneeded electricity.

* Don't be lazy - take plastic bottles to a bottle cage and collect the deposit
on small plastic bottles and cans, or donate them to charity.

* Don't leave the tap running when you wash dishes or take a shower.

* Make one of your charities an environmental organization.

* Join the activities at a nearby community garden or urban nature site.

* Separate organic waste from the rest in the kitchen, and turn it into compost.

* Let your car rest at least one day a week.

* Choose one errand each week that can be done on foot, without the car.

The above suggestions are ridiculously easy to implement, yet undoubtedly, if
done by all of us, could have a tremendous positive impact on the city.

In fact, in spite of the pessimistic tone we hear from all sides, I would
express cautious optimism for the coming year, and pride in this year's
achievements:

• Environmental organizations in the city completed a survey of neighborhood
parks and gardens, which our city plan had not intended to do.

• The plan for creation of an urban nature park in the Gazelle Valley was
completed.

• On Tu Bishvat the Jerusalem Green Map was launched - www.greenmap.org.il

•The Sustainable Jerusalem Coalition was invited to present the work of the 60
component environmental groups in the capital at an international conference on
sustainable cities in Cape Town, South Africa.

• More than 50 community gardens and urban nature sites are being tended by
caring community activists.

• The plan to erect a 150-meter tall observation tower on Armon Hanatziv was
toppled once again.

There are certainly still many battles ahead and plenty of hard work to be done,
but I believe we should start the new year resolved to work together to make our
beloved city clean and green.

The writer is head of the Jerusalem Branch of the Society for the Protection of
Nature

This article can also be read at
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1157913678704&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Posted by MEEF at 12:34 PM | Permalink

(from Stuart Schoenfeld)
Subject: Jerusalem Post, Fri, 22 Sep 2006 08:12:16 -0400

Demography's bottom line

Evelyn Gordon, THE JERUSALEM POST Sep. 20, 2006
Does anybody in Kadima still remember the "existential demographic threat" that
supposedly motivated its plan to unilaterally withdraw from most of the West
Bank - and hence the party's very formation?

Judging by the proposed 2007 budget, the answer is no - because the budget
contains not a single measure aimed at dealing with this threat. That might
have been excusable some months ago, when the jury was still out on whether
budgetary measures actually affect birthrates. But recent data seems to have
conclusively answered this question: In Israel, unlike in Europe, money is a
major factor in deciding whether to have more children.

This point was dramatically illustrated by last month's Central Bureau of
Statistics data on total fertility rates - the number of children an average
woman will have in her lifetime. According to the bureau, the TFR for Israeli
Muslims, which remained steady at 4.7 from 1985 to 2000, crept down to 4.5 over
the next three years. But between 2003 and 2005, it plunged from 4.5 to 4.0 - a
drop of half a child in only two years.

Among southern Beduin, the drop was even more dramatic: Between 2003 and 2005,
the TFR fell from 9.0 to 7.6 - a decline of 1.4 children in two years.

In contrast, the Jewish TFR remained at 2.6-2.7, just as it has for the past
decade.

WHAT HAPPENED in those two years to so dramatically change Muslim birthrates,
while leaving Jewish birthrates unaffected? The only plausible answer is the
drastic reduction in child allowances that began in June 2003.

Until then, child allowances were graduated: NIS 144 apiece for the first and
second child, NIS 195 for the third, NIS 454 for the fourth and NIS 522 for
each child thereafter. Thus a family of two would receive only NIS 288 a month,
but a family of six would receive NIS 1,981 - at that time, about 60 percent of
the minimum wage.

In 2003, however, the government decided to gradually cut child allowances to a
flat NIS 140 per child by 2009. For families with one or two children - some
two-thirds of all Jewish families - the change was negligible, and therefore
did not affect birthrates. But for families with four or more children - i.e.
most Muslim families - the financial impact was dramatic. And hence, the
dramatic drop in Muslim birthrates.

Then, in September, published data indicated that the converse also holds true:
Unlike elsewhere in the West - where the number of children declines as income
rises - in Israel, the number of children increases as income rises. Citing
Central Bureau of Statistics data, the article noted that while the average
Israeli household numbers 3.7 people, in families with monthly incomes of NIS
50,000 or more, the average rises to 4.3.

Nor is this surprising: According to a survey conducted by the Jewish Agency
last year, the average Jewish Israeli family would like at least three children
(the averages were 3.0 for secular couples, 3.6 for traditional couples, 5.5 for
religious Zionists and 8.9 for haredim). And the primary reason cited by
respondents for having fewer children was lack of money.

THUS THE bottom line is that in Israel, money is a powerful tool for influencing
demography. And since two-thirds of Jewish Israeli families have only one or two
children, while Muslim families average four, this money should clearly be aimed
at encouraging second or third births.

One way to do this would be to increase child allowances for the first and
second child - which would even make some financial sense, since the first
child is when a family incurs the "big-ticket" expenses (crib, high chair,
stroller, etc.). Raising the allowances enough to really matter might
eventually require a budget increase, but the initial step would be
budget-neutral: The money saved by the ongoing reduction in allowances for
large families could simply be redirected into larger allowances for the first
and second child.

THE OTHER possibility is to reduce the costs associated with having children -
particularly day care and education.

For low-income families, where two earners are often essential, subsidized day
care is critical to encouraging the birthrate. Currently, child care for
children below school age can cost thousands of shekels a month, meaning that
women who earn the minimum wage (about NIS 3,450 a month) come home with almost
nothing after paying for day care. Such women therefore have a strong financial
incentive to avoid having more children.

Theoretically, subsidized day care would help Jewish and Muslim families
equally. In practice, however, the main impact would probably be on the Jewish
birthrate, since in the Muslim community the social prejudice against working
women remains strong.

The second issue is schooling. By law, "free" public schools are allowed to
charge significant sums each year: Last year, for instance, the legal maximum
was NIS 1,493 per student for high schools. And in practice, schools often
exceed this limit: According to the Education Ministry, high schools actually
charged an average of NIS 3,939 per student last year.

To this must be added thousands of shekels a year for textbooks, which our
"free" public schools do not provide. Nor can textbooks be recycled from child
to child: Not only do they change frequently, but many are actually workbooks,
meaning they can be used only once.

FINALLY, many middle-class families spend thousands of shekels a year on
extracurricular schooling, since that is the only way to ensure their children
a decent education.

Taken altogether, these expenses are an obvious disincentive to additional
children for all but the wealthiest families. Significantly reducing these
outlays - for instance, by eliminating school fees and requiring schools to
provide textbooks - would make extra children much more affordable.

Again, this would theoretically affect Muslim and Jewish birthrates equally.
However, given the two communities' differing educational patterns, that might
not prove true in practice.

Thus if the government truly cares about the demographic issue, there is much it
could do to affect the situation. And this would be a far better use of its
energies than squabbling about inquiry commissions.

This article can also be read at
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1157913671284&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Posted by MEEF at 12:32 PM | Permalink

From: Stuart Schoenfeld

Central Bureau of Statistics data show that since 2000 Jewish population
decreased by 1.8 percent, while Muslim population increased by 1.1 percent
during past five years by 1.1 to 1,140,600; majority of population (82 percent)
satisfied with their lives
Ynet
Published: 09.19.06, 11:43

According to Central Bureau of Statistics data published on Tuesday, the
population of the State of Israel at the end of 2005 was comprised of 6,990,700
people, of which 5,313,800 were Jewish (76 percent of the entire population),
and 1,377,100 were Arab (19.7 percent) according to data published by the
Central Bureau of Statistics.

The data also showed that since 2000, the Jewish population has decreased by 1.8
percent, while the Muslim population has increased during the past five years by
1.1 to 1,140,600.

According to the report, the 8800 people evacuated from Gaza settlements and
northern Samaria as part of the August 2005 disengagement relocated mostly to
the south (65 percent), but also to the north (11.5 percent), the West Bank
(9.1 percent), and to the country's central area (8.4 percent).

The Israeli population is considered relatively young. Children aged 0-14 make
up 28 percent of the population, compared to 17 percent in other western
countries. On the other hand, Israel’s older population bridges the gap, with
adults aged 65 and above comprising 10 percent of the population, compared to
15 percent in other western countries.

In comparing between religions, the Jewish population in Israel is the ‘oldest’,
and the Muslim population is the ‘youngest’. Adults aged 65 and over make up
11.8 percent of the Jewish population, compared to 2.8 percent of the Muslim
population.

Conversely, children aged 0-14 comprise 42.6 percent of the Muslim population in
Israel, compared to 25.6 percent of the Jewish population. The average age in
the Jewish population in Israel stands at 30.6, while it stands at a much lower
number of 18.6 for Muslims.

The birth rate in Israel has decreased over the past two years by about 4
percent, from 2.95 in 2003, to 2.84 in 2005.

Most Israelis satisfied with their lives
Life expectancy in Israel has risen to 78.3 years for men, and 82.38 years for
woman. Likewise, there has been an increase in the gap between the life
expectancy age of the Jewish population and the Muslim population.

In 2005, 21,000 people made aliyah. Of those, 9,400 were from the former Soviet
Union, and account for 44 percent of new immigrants, where as 3,600 were from
Ethiopia, accounting for about 17 percent of olim.

Jewish households make up 84 percent of the population in Israel, while Arab
households make up 13 percent.

In 2002/03, 97 percent of Arab schools offered Hebrew classes, while only 9
percent of Jewish schools offered Arabic classes.

Of 36,000 applicants for a Bachelors degree, 58 percent were accepted, and of
18,000 applicants for a Masters degree, 63 percent were accepted.

The majority of the population (82 percent), are satisfied with their lives (the
younger and more religious more so than the older and more secular). The same
percentage of people is satisfied with their jobs but only half of them are
satisfied with their salaries.

It should be noted that the data does not include kibbutz populations,
institutional populations, student dorms and southern Bedouin populations.

The dead Sea level continues to decrease at a rate of about one meter a year. In
December 2005 it stood at 418.53 meters.

Posted by MEEF at 12:29 PM | Permalink

FROM: Batir M Wardam

Dear Friends and Colleagues;

I would like to announce the launching of my special website/blog named "Arab
Environmental Monitor"
www.arabenvironment.net

which also has an Arabic interface at www.arabenvironment.net/arabic/

This blog was created in February 2006 as a virtual platform for updates and
analysis of the Jordanian environmental issues and now I have decided to expand
it into an Arab platform targeting the Jordanian, Arab and international
environmental community.
I am an Ecologist by profession and education, and have worked for 10 years in
environmental management with local and international organizations in a career
that included Academic institutions, NGOs, research centers, community groups,
media and currently government. I have also worked in various activities with
the World Bank, IUCN, UNEP and most recently UNDP. In this career I focused on
issues of communication and networking and discovered that information on the
Arab environment is plentiful, contrary to what most Arab and international
environmentalists think, but it is scattered.
I thought that one of my main missions will be to try to contribute to the huge
task of bringing together such information.
I am not claiming that I can do this via a blog that is run and managed on
voluntary basis and by one individual but I will certainly try my best. I am
currently dedicating 3 hours a day for this blog with 50% spent on research for
materials, 25% for writing and 25% for promoting the blog.

I will highly appreciate if you can assist me with sending me press releases,
news, descriptions of activities, publications and events by yourselves,
organizations and networks to my e-mail batir@nets.jo
since this will give me a lot of help in minimizing research time and focus
more on diversifying and improving the content.

The sources of information I am using for the blog are as follows:
1- News from media outlets (newspapers, magazines).
2- News from regional and global networks with special focus on the Arab world.
3- News, overviews and activities of organizations in the region.
4- Publications and reports.
5- Conferences.
6- Multi-media products.
7-Best practices in the field

I have discovered the powerful potentials of blogging in the begenning of this
year. This is a very powerful and easy to manage e-tool which I believe will
transform the shape and quality of communication and media in the coming
decades. Although blogs started as personal diaries they have matured to become
strong and effective communication tools that can be managed easily with a
user-friendly system that can accommodate serious professional content as well.
To maintain its "blog" identity this site will contain a lot of personal
opinions and analysis as well as linking to and highlighting content from the
best sources of environmental knowledge in the region.
This blog will always be in a "transitional" state aiming for better content
management and I will be very proud of any critical and useful comments that
can guide the course of development of this blog.
I welcome you all and hope this platform will be useful.

Batir M Wardam
MsC in Ecology
Researcher and writer in Environment and Development
Tel 00962 6 5816845
Fax 00962 6 5560288
Mobile 00 962 79 98 666 44
P.O.Box 140823
Amman 11814
Jordan
e-mail: batir@nets.jo
Environmental Blog: http://www.arabenvironment.net

Posted by MEEF at 12:23 PM | Permalink

From: Stuart Schoenfeld

AL-BIA WAL-TANMIA
The Leading Pan-Arab Environment Magazine

Volume 11, No.103, October 2006

http://www.mectat.com.lb/

CONTENTS

5 Towards Arab clean development technology (editorial by Najib Saab)
9 Did Israel use depleted uranium?
10 Post-war environment (observations in Lebanon by Japanese photographer Naomi
Toyoda)
22 Crocodile hunter hunted by nature (dramatic death of Steve Irwin) (cover
story)
28 An Arab scheme for conservation (by Odeh Al-Jayoussi, IUCN regional director)
30 Sea turtles and migratory birds saved from oil pollution in Palm Islands
32 Dispute over oil-spill cleanup in Lebanon
39 Birds in the United Arab Emirates
44 Crash! (Insects killed on your windshield)
48 Answering to the Arab public's environmental demands
52 Victims of radiation in Iraq on Arabia TV
56 Renewable energies in Germany

Letters to the editor 6
Environment in a month 14
UNEP news 26
Environment
market 60
Green library 62
Calendar 64

listing of forthcoming events:

Arab Environment Day
14 October 2006

WATMED3
1 - 3 November 2006
Tripoli - Lebanon
E-mail: info@watmed.com
www.watmed.com

12th Conference of the Parties to the UN Climate Change Convention
6 - 17 November 2006
Nairobi - Kenya
http://unfccc.int

Arab Ministers Responsible for the Environment Meeting
15-16 November 2006
Cairo - Egypt

Green Industry
20 - 22 November 2006
Manama - Bahrain
http://www.green-industry.org

Posted by MEEF at 12:19 PM | Permalink

From: Stuart Schoenfeld

Jerusalem Post
Sep. 27, 2006 22:38 | Updated Sep. 27, 2006 22:47
Swanky Savyon is country's top waste producer, study shows
By NOAM PRIMAK

Savyon may have a reputation for having some of the fanciest homes in the
nation, but the upscale community also leads the country in a less desirable
area: its residents produce the most waste per person of any community in
Israel.

According to Enviroment Ministry data, the average Israeli produces more than
one and a half kilograms of waste every day, but Savyon residents produce
almost triple that much, at 4.47 kg. Following Savyon in producing the most
waste were Eilat (3.45); Ramat Efal (2.98); Tel Aviv (2.62) and Tiberias
(2.62). Jerusalem produces 1.26 kg. per person.

According to the ministry's annual report, Israelis produced some 5.7 million
tons of waste in 2005 - an average of 560 kg. per person per year, or 1.53 kg.
of garbage per day. The figures include industrial waste.

Plastics make up about 35% by volume of the garbage disposed of in Israel, while
paper products and cardboard account for about 29% (1995 figures). Organic waste
makes up 15% by volume, but 38% by weight.

In 1993, the government ordered the closing of most of the country's smaller
garbage dumps and the channeling of most solid waste to authorized disposal
sites. Hundreds of dumps were closed down, resulting in a shortage of available
disposal space.

Environment Minister Gideon Ezra said the percentage of waste being collected
for recycling has been growing in recent years. The rate of recycling has gone
up from just three percent of total waste collected in the early 1990s to 23%
in 2005.

Israel lags several years behind Europe and the United States in recycling. Ezra
estimated that a joint effort by the Environment Ministry and local authorities
could increase the rate of recycling to 35% - the current level in the US - by
2010.

Currently, local authorities are required to collect at least 15% of waste for
recycling.

Ezra said that recycling could be increased by levying a garbage disposal tax
and by encouraging the development of new recycling technologies.

Israel employs a combined plan known as Integrated Solid Waste Management that
aims to make waste disposal more efficient. The plan combines traditional
burial of solid waste in dump sites with efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle
waste materials.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1159193331484&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Posted by MEEF at 12:17 PM | Permalink

From: Stuart Schoenfeld
Jerusalem Post

Weizmann Institute looks to alternative energy future

Judy Siegel-Itzkovich, THE JERUSALEM POST Sep. 26, 2006
An ambitious multidisciplinary research initiative into alternative, sustainable
energy resources is being launched by the Weizmann Institute of Science, with
the goal of significantly advancing the search for solutions to the world's
most pressing energy problems. The Rehovot institute plans to raise significant
funds for its Initiative for Research in Sustainable and Alternative Energy,
which will support innovative scientific projects in the field.

"Developing alternative means of producing energy is a necessary step for
dealing with the continuing energy crisis," says institute president Prof. Ilan
Chet. "Creating fresh, sustainable methods of producing energy in the required
amounts will only be possible if we can gain the knowledge to invent completely
new technologies. The Weizmann Institute has an obligation to take a lead in the
global effort in this field. We believe we can help shape the planet's future."

Among the major global energy challenges confronting researchers and
policymakers is the sharp rise in demand for energy in recent years, fueled by
rapidly rising standards of living and expanding populations, especially in
China and India. Experts predict that if nothing is done to change current
patterns, energy demand will rise nearly 60 percent by the year 2030.

In addition, non-renewable energy sources such as fossil fuel are running out,
petroleum-based fuel supplies could be held hostage to political upheavals,
affecting the peace and security of Israel and the entire world, and the
continuing upward spiral of oil prices threatens the stability of the global
economy. Burning fossil fuels is a major cause of air pollution and increases
the accumulation of greenhouse gasses in the upper atmosphere, which may
already be causing global warming.

As Weizmann Institute scientists are concerned about this state of affairs, said
Chet on Tuesday, several of them have committed themselves to help search for
solutions.

Chemistry faculty dean Prof. Mordechai Sheves added: "The special nature of the
Weizmann Institute, with its emphasis on multidisciplinary scientific
cooperation, makes it one of the most promising places to pursue such
solutions."
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1159193323320&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

Posted by MEEF at 12:15 PM | Permalink

Storied Greenpeace vessel brings 21 crew members back to Lebanon to survey oil
spill, collect oyster samples and knit during their downtime

By Iman Azzi
Special to The Daily Star
Saturday, September 30, 2006

TABARJA: Most of the rainbows glimmering on the surface of the Mediterranean Sea
off the coast of Lebanon are the unfortunate results of the attack by Israeli
warplanes on the Jiyyeh power plant on July 12 and again three days later.
However, a larger, bolder and more ecologically correct rainbow has now entered
Lebanon's harbor, hoping to lend a hand, or a fin, to the clean-up efforts - the
Rainbow Warrior, pride of the Greenpeace fleet.

The Rainbow Warrior is a Greenpeace boat licensed in the Netherlands but
designed to serve the world. It just returned to Lebanon for the second time in
as many months. The Warrior's crew is neither trained nor equipped for oil-spill
clean-up, but Greenpeace has partnered up with Italian scientists and academic
researchers at the American University of Beirut to help track the movements of
the oil slick and collect oyster samples for study.

"This trip is quite different than other Greenpeace missions. It came up
suddenly and we had to react. We usually work with more advanced planning,"
says Captain Mike Finkin of the operation, the first Greenpeace mission he has
led. A member of Greenpeace for 10 years, he previously campaigned for the
salvation of blue-fin tuna off the coast of Marseille. He has been sailing for
20 years.

Jim Footner, a British member of Greenpeace's land-locked team, agrees with
Finkin's assessment: "An oil spill is an extra-curricular activity. The
regional team is not prepared to deal with such an event on top of their normal
duties, so we send in help."

Greenpeace deployed the Rainbow Warrior "to assess how oil has contaminated the
water," Footner explains. "The damage here has been fairly prolific and oil
spills are region-wide problems. You can't just put a box around the oil."

The Warrior is one of three in a Greenpeace fleet that includes the Esperanza
and the Arctic Sunrise. When it first came to Lebanon last month, the Warrior
helped transport over 75 tons of essential medical supplies, including dialysis
equipment, drugs and fuel, part of a collaboration between Greenpeace and
Medecins Sans Frontieres, from August 2-10. At the time, the Warrior dared to
sail during the Israeli-imposed sea blockade while larger ships remained docked
far off shore in safer waters. A white-and-red Medecins Sans Frontieres banner
still hangs over the cargo hold of the Warrior.

Everything else about the boat, including the color, is green. The Warrior does
not use a motor but sails to move among the waves. The ration for necessary
electricity on board is 0.3 cubic meters of fuel a day. Running a motor would
increase fuel usage by 1.7 cubic meters. Plus, smiles Finkin, "she moves faster
anyways with the sails in the right wind."

All metal components of the Warrior's exterior are painted green, with a bold
rainbow displayed on either side (one side has been repainted more recently but
the difference is minimal). The Warrior is currently flying the Dutch, Lebanese
and Greenpeace flags. There is a red hammock swinging on deck for crew members
who desire even more rocking motion.

For Finkin, originally from South Africa, the oil has become an additional yet
unwanted guest on a ship that already has a crew of 21, representing 15
nationalities.

"It's dirty. Really, it gets everywhere. Our divers come back and it's on their
gear, on their skin. I was looking at footage of the operation off the coast of
the power station. It's horrific. The tar is a foot thick," Finkin says.

When the crew is not sailing or diving, most prefer quiet time or individual
relaxation during their downtime, of which their isn't much.

"I write stories," Finkin admits. "Some knit. Others play cards or read. The
electrician is learning to play the fiddle. He can do the wedding march."

Below deck and away from the oil sludge are double-occupancy sleeping cabins, an
information-technology room filled with countless dials and switches, a library
with dozens of Lonely Planet guidebooks and photos of past Greenpeace aquatic
endeavors. There is a sewing machine with colorful spools of thread in the
cargo hold as well - ready to be used by the more domestically minded members
of the crew for making promotional material for their activism campaigns.

This is the second Greenpeace ship to take the name Rainbow Warrior. The first
Warrior, built in 1957, was bombed on July 10, 1985, by French secret service
agents in Auckland harbor. The first ship was thus a casualty in the campaign
against nuclear testing. One crew member was killed in the explosion.

Although this current mission is being carried out in coordination with the
Lebanese Navy and the ship appears to be out of harm's way, the crew cannot
ignore the tragedy that occurred in Lebanon during the summer's war.

Finkin's only visit to the dry land of Lebanon nearly brought him to tears. He
and his crew took a half-hour look at Beirut's southern suburbs, an area that
the Israelis bombed on a daily basis during the war.

"I saw huge lorries going past with rubble and I stood watching people and my
heart grew heavier. If I had stayed any longer I would have started to cry,"
the captain says.

Meanwhile, underwater, Greenpeace diver Regina Srerichs explores the damage
Israel has wrought on Lebanon's seas.

"The first dive at the power plant there was a lot of oil on the seabed,
everything was covered in oil, it was between the stones and a viscous layer on
the water's surface," she says. "This dive was cleaner."

Srerichs, a diver since 1986, has witnessed such an oil spill before - after the
collision of two oil tankers in the Baltic Sea. "This is worse," she declares.

For oil to settle into the seabed it is necessary that it finds something to
grab onto or it will it keep moving with the current. The Greenpeace diving
team started at Jiyyeh and worked its way north up the coastline, helping to
map where the oil has, or has not, settled.

"There is not much left above the water. It's all sunken below," says Footner,
noting the importance these maps will be for the oil clean-up crews.

"Most of the poison you can't see," adds Srerichs, who has been diving since
1986. "I won't touch the fish, not north of Jiyyeh until I hear the results
from the scientists. It all depends on their results. Maybe the sample will
bring good news."

As samples, the team collects 60 oysters from each dive spot and averages three
dives a day. As the Rainbow Warrior sails her way from Beirut to the Palm
Islands off the coast of Tripoli, with a possible stopover in Byblos, and then
eventually away from Lebanon altogether, her crew will continue to test the
seas, anxious about what will be found next, along with the rest of the world.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=75802

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=75869

Posted by MEEF at 12:12 PM | Permalink

Daily Star staff
Tuesday, October 03, 2006

BEIRUT/NAIROBI: An international team of experts will begin an assessment
Tuesday of the environmental damage in Lebanon caused by the recent conflict. A
press released issued by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) said
Monday the team, led by and working in close cooperation with the Lebanese
authorities, will be visiting and sampling sites thought to present potential
risks to human health, wildlife and the wider environment.

These include the Jiyyeh power plant 28 kilometers south of Beirut which
discharged an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 tons of fuel oil into the
Mediterranean after being hit in mid-July; Rafik Hariri International Airport,
where fuel tanks were set alight as a result of repeated bombing; and the
Maliban glass factory in the Bekaa Valley, destroyed by an air raid on July 19.

The team also plans to assess pollution risks at many damaged drinking-water,
sewage-treatment and hospital-facility sites.

Achim Steiner, UN undersecretary general and UNEP executive director, said:
"There is an urgent need to assess the environmental legacy of the recent
conflict and put in place a comprehensive clean-up of polluted and
health-hazardous sites."

The decision to undertake a post-conflict assessment follows a request in early
August from the Environment Ministry.

Steiner said that the UNEP "expects to have a comprehensive report on sites and
locations in need of decontamination and clean up before the end of the year. -
The Daily Star
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.aspedition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=75869

Posted by MEEF at 12:06 PM | Permalink

==== Message forwarded from Arisha Ashraf

The First Regional Scientific Conference on Traditional Arabic and
Islamic Medicine

Amman, Jordan August 8-10, 2007

Call for Papers:

We would like to invite all bodies and institutions, research centers,
and interested parties working on Arabic medicinal plants to
participate in The First Regional Scientific Conference on Traditional
Arabic and Islamic Medicine to be held in Amman, Jordan. The
conference will discuss historical and cultural aspects of Arabic and
Islamic medicine, and its contributions to modern medicine and human
well-being. The global scientific research on medicinal and aromatic
plants, pharmaceutical research, clinical trials, and international
legislation and intellectual property rights on Arabic and Islamic
medicinal plants of the region will also be reviewed.

Submission Guidelines:

Abstracts to be considered for oral presentation (or posters) should
include an outline of 1,000 words (2 A4 pages including Tables,
Figures and References if needed ). The Abstracts should be prepared
in a MS Word compatible format, on A4 size paper with margins of 2.5
cm. Only black and white colours are allowed. Abstracts should be
prepared in Times New Roman font using single spacing throughout the
text. The title should in bold-face type using 14 point font, while
the body of the abstract should be in plain text in 12 point font.
Please underline the presenting author. Insert one line between the
title and author name(s), one line between author name(s) and their
affiliation(s), and one line between the affiliation(s) and
the beginning of the text. The total size of the document must be
less than 4.5 megabytes. Abstracts should be sent via e-mail in an
attached file to medplantamman@gmail.com by 31 January 2007.

Papers to be considered for publication should be submitted in full
text in Microsoft Word format not more than 4,500 words (8 A4 pages)
conforming to eCAM guidelines for authors (www.ecam.oupjournals.org ).
The deadline for submission of a full manuscript for review by the
Scientific Committee is 28 February 2007 . Manuscripts should be sent
via e-mail in an attached file to medplantamman@gmail.com.

Our conference website will be active by the end of October:
www.arabic-islamic-medicine.com

Posted by MEEF at 11:47 AM | Permalink