Ancient Rice Terraces of Batad 1/7/2012 Meryl Haddad

With traffic that is probably worse than Beirut’s and noise from its peculiar modes of transportation (jeepneys and trikes), the rush of Manila can get to be too much. After about two weeks of dealing with the hazards found in the capital, it was decided by my friends and me to head out of metro Manila for the weekend and into the wilderness of the Philippines. Batad was our destination, a village surrounded by nature in Northern Luzon, and a 10 hour bus trip from metro Manila. ...more

‘People’s Summit’ in the Streets of Rio 1/7/2012 Gabriela Speziali

Outside the borders of Riocentro, where the official document of Rio+20 was produced, the debate of sustainable development was propagated by people´s voice in more than one hundred side events ...more

Rio the States the people 1/7/2012 Cynthia Fleury

As in Copenhagen, the last weekend before the arrival of Heads of State and Government, the final document for Rio +20, The Future We Want, still had many loopholes and unanswered questions. Brazil then took further negotiations in hand, speeding up the tempo and offering to agree on a less ambitious document. ...more

ARZ Green Building Rating System 1/6/2012 Samir Traboulsi

The ARZ Building Rating System is the first Lebanese green building initiative of international standard with its certification process being administered by the Lebanon Green Building Council (LGBC). ...more

Ecological Footprint and Sustainability Options in the Arab Countries 1/6/2012 AFED 2012 Annual Report

The 2012 AFED report will analyze sustainability options in Arab countries, based on a survey of available renewable resources (biocapacity) and consumption (footprint). ...more

War on Resources in South Sudan 26/5/2012 Boghos Ghougassian

The Republic of South Sudan is the youngest country on Earth. It got its independence in July 2011. South Sudan has an area of approximately 640,000 km2. It is situated in the Nile river catchment area, which flows into a low and vast flood plain covering much of South Sudan. Altitudes of lands vary from 400m to 3,000m above sea level. ...more

Startling Treasures in Mexico’s Underwater Caves 1/5/2012 Paul Jeffrey

Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula is a relatively flat landscape where no rivers flow as the rain sinks quickly into the limestone and runs unseen to the sea. The ground is pocked by vine-draped sinkholes — cenotes, as they are called locally — where the roofs of underground caverns have collapsed. ...more

The National Bioenergy Assessment for Lebanon 1/4/2012 Hassan Harajli

Each nation must know itself like each person must know him or herself. A nation must know the socio-economic conditions of its people, such as their income levels, education attainment, the equality between the sexes and various groups, and so forth in order to best put forth policies and programs that will ensure progress and development. ...more

Restoration of Wadi Hanifa Wetlands 1/4/2012 Mohammad Al-Asad and Wael Al-Samhouri

The Wadi Hanifa watershed is an oasis located in the heart of the Najd Plateau in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is a natural water drainage course for an area of over 4,000 square kilometers and a unique geographical feature in this dry region. ...more

Efficient Lighting Activities in the Middle East and North Africa 1/4/2012 Ibrahim Abdel Gelil

Electricity for lighting is responsible for 19% of total end-use electrical consumption and for 6% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This equals the total emissions from Germany and Japan combined. Over the next 20 years, global electricity consumption for lighting is expected to increase by 60%. ...more