Nearly 65% of adults in the Arab region remain excluded from formal financial systems, according to a new report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). The Annual SDG Review 2025 paints a sobering picture of persistent financial exclusion that is undermining the region’s ability …
Abu Dhabi-based Masdar Group is looking to expand its renewable energy footprint in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). According to media reports, Masdar’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Ahmad Belhould, recently stated that Masdar Group is looking to invest aggressively in renewable energy projects in Egypt, Jordan, and …
Work on solar and wind energy projects in Jordan is likely to pick up swiftly in 2016 for companies that were awarded in projects in the recent auctions. According to media reports, two international companies are set up to start work on solar power projects, while an 80 MW wind …
AMMAN — Jordan on Sunday signed an agreement to build a $128 million solar-run power plant with a total capacity of 100 megawatts. The plant, which will be located in Al Qweira in the south of the country, will be owned by the government and financed by a grant from …
The main aim of this study was to evaluate the vulnerability of groundwater to contamination in the vicinity of Ramtha wastewater treatment plant using a modified DRASTIC method in a GIS environment. A groundwater pollution potential map was prepared using modified DRASTIC method by adding lineaments and land use/land cover …
High levels of air pollution engulfed the entire country Tuesday evening as a strong southeasterly wind flow caused a dust transport to Israel from Saudi Arabia and Jordan. With the dust levels expected to remain high through Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Ministry advised all sensitive population members, including those with …
Global freshwater vulnerability is a product of environmental and human dimensions, however, it is rarely assessed as such. Our approach identifies freshwater vulnerability using four broad categories: endowment, demand, infrastructure, and institutions, to capture impacts on natural and managed water systems within the coupled human–hydrologic environment. These categories are represented …
This report presents a model that analyses fossil fuel subsidy reform across 20 countries showing an average reduction in national GHG emissions of 11% by 2020, and average annual government savings of USD 93 per tonne of CO2 abated. With a modest recycling of resources to renewables and energy efficiency, …
A heavy sandstorm swept across parts of the Middle East on Tuesday, killing two people and hospitalising hundreds in Lebanon and disrupting fighting and air strikes in neighbouring Syria. Clouds of dust also engulfed Israel, Jordan and Cyprus where aircraft were diverted to Paphos from Larnaca airport as visibility fell …
This UNEP publication presents a critical analysis of successful cases for regulating wastewater treatment and management in six countries - Argentina, Austria, Finland, Jordan, Singapore and South Africa. It reviews procedures and processes in the implementation of wastewater legislation and may be useful for other countries in addressing the global …
Much of the Middle East and North Africa is set for acute water shortages and the region must do more to conserve water while expanding a series of pilot program including solar-powered water pumps, scientists and officials said on Tuesday. "The situation is critical," Essam Khalifa, a senior official from …
AMMAN – Jordan signed an agreement with Russia on Tuesday worth $10 billion that sets the legal basis for building the kingdom’s first nuclear power plant with a total capacity of 2,000 megawatts. Jordan imports nearly 98 percent of its energy from oil products and crude and is struggling to …
Jordan and Israel signed an agreement to go ahead with a World Bank-sponsored project to build a desalination plant in the Gulf of Aqaba and a pipeline linking the Red Sea with the Dead Sea. The plant will be built in the southern Jordanian port of Aqaba on the Red …
Too little is being done to control the spread of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, which has infected 50 people in Saudi Arabia so far this month, the World Health Organization has warned. The rising number of cases in health-care facilities indicates current infection-control measures are not being implemented, it says. …
ABU DHABI // The level of renewable water resources in Gulf countries is among the lowest in the world, according to a recently released regional food security report. The seventh Arab Environment: Food Security report by the Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) qualified the water situation in the …
The annual UN climate summit of 194 nations, scheduled to conclude Friday in Peru, finally finished in overtime on Sunday . The modest agreement that was reached keeps the process alive. However, while a deal was concluded, including agreement for the first time that all countries (not just developed states) …
An estimated 1.2 million Palestinians in Gaza still have no running water, according to report released by organization that has directors based in Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. As parties from the region prepare to gather in Cairo next week to discuss the reconstruction of Gaza, the environmental organization …
LONDON – Three years after Japan closed all of its nuclear plants in the wake of the Fukushima meltdown and Germany decided to shut its industry, developing countries are leading the biggest construction boom in more than two decades. Almost two-thirds of the 70 reactors currently under construction worldwide, the …
A new research project shares knowledge on strategies to build the resilience of farming systems in dryland, drought and flooded areas Coventry University recently launched EcoDry, an exciting three-year, €560,000 EC-funded project to share knowledge on strategies to build the resilience of farming systems in dryland, drought and flooded areas. …
Findings show cancer is an important problem in refugee settings and highlight the challenges and costs that health systems face when overwhelmed by massive influxes of refugees A study published in the Lancet Oncology journal reveals a high demand for costly cancer treatment among refugees from the recent conflicts in …
The Middle East's driest winter in several decades could pose a threat to global food prices, with local crops depleted and farmers' livelihoods blighted, U.N. experts and climatologists say. Varying degrees of drought are hitting almost two thirds of the limited arable land across Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the Palestinian territories …
