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 …
Hazards of the proposed canal The proposed canal, dubbed Two Seas Canal, will pump water from the Red Sea to a height of 230 m above sea level, transport it along the Araba valley and then run down into the Dead Sea. The downhill flow will be harnessed to generate …
The United Nations warned as recently as last week that climate change harbours the potential for serious conflicts over water. In its World Water Development Report of March 2009, it quotes UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noting the risk of water scarcity
Jerash refugee camp is one of the ten official Palestinian refugee camps located in Jordan. It is inhabited by about 28,000 people who originally fled from Gaza, Palestine, in 1968, as a result of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Wastewater has been used for irrigation in Jordan for several decades. Some …
It has been a hot, dry summer in the Middle East, and as water levels have plunged, political tensions have risen. In early July, Israel's Water Authority unveiled plans to combat what it called "the worst water crisis in the nation's history". Environmental campaigners responded by slating the Water Authority …
Mideast Can Avert Impending Water Crisis - World Bank MOROCCO: April 11, 2008 RABAT - The Middle East is overusing limited water resources and the amount of water available per head will halve by 2050, leading to social strains as more people quit the countryside, the World Bank said on …
The sharp rise in oil prices over the past year has provided a massive economic boost for many Arab states. In Jordan, however, it has forced the government into a delicate balancing act in order to preserve political and fiscal stability. Unlike most of its neighbours, Jordan does not sit …
Zarqa City faces a major problem in its urban planning and design. Four main obstacles surround the city. From the north the location of heavy industry such as the Jordanian Refinery, the thermal plant for producing electricity and the purification unit to treat the wastes of the capital Amman and …
The southern Mediterranean region faces one of the most important water crises in the world. The combination of aridity, foreign dependency, climate change, misallocation of the resources and escalating human demand make water supply a primary issue for health, economy and poverty reduction. In this context, institutional reform of the …
reuse of wastewater for irrigation is touted as an environmentally sound practice. But little is known about its long-term effects. A recent study from Jordan says that the frequent use of treated wastewater can affect plant growth and crop yield. Researchers say the use of wastewater has to be continuously …
Water contamination led to the resignation of two ministers in Jordan following pressure from media and opposition parties. Jordan's water minister Mohammad al-Alem and health minister Saad Kharabsheh resigned on July 29 after being held responsible for hundreds falling ill with diarrhoea and high fever earlier in the month in …
The Dead Sea could end up living up to its name in less than 50 years. The saltiest water body in the world may cease to exist if its surface level continues to recede at the present rate of one metre every year. In order to arrest this trend, Jordan …
us president George W Bush's position on a recent trade agreement with Jordan sends mixed signals on the issue of whether his administration will enforce the use of labour and environmental safeguards in trade relations. The us-Jordan Free Trade Agreement (fta) was negotiated in October 2000. It is considered
following an outbreak of the foot-and-mouth (fmd) disease and the authorities' incapability to handle the situation, the Indian meat exports have declined dramatically
in the recent months, water has become a major bone of contention between Israel and Jordan. Recently, a ceremony to inaugurate a peace park on the border between the two countries was cancelled because Jordan insisted that Israel should fulfil its commitment, under the 1994 Jordan-Israel peace treaty, to supply …
In the last decade pan evaporation measured at the Southern Dead Sea has significantly increased. Wind, temperature and humidity measurements at the Dead Sea starting in the 1930s as well as 3-D model simulations all seem to indicate a statistically significant change in the local climate of the Dead Sea …
The largest flying creature ever- a pterosaur called Arambourgiania philadelphiae that lived some 65 million years ago -has been identified by British and German palaeontologists as the owner of an elongated neck bone which was found in Jordan in 1943. The pterosaur had a wingspan of 12 metres. Wrongly identified …
Although a great deal of hype surrounds the Israel-Jordan peace treaty signed in mid-October envisaging cooperation in many areas, adequate water supply still seems a distant mirage for Jordan. With fast dwindling underground water resources and stringent water rationing, the only straws which Jordan can clutch at is, Israel's commitment …
CLOSE on the heels of the bitter land wars in the West Asia comes the bitter conflict over water. Israel and the West Bank Palestinians are at odds over scarce water; its Arab neighbours - Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria all contend that they have considerable legal rights to the …
