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Environment and development AL-BIA WAL-TANMIA Leading Arabic Environment Magazine

314 - May 2024
Editorial
Forum
Najib Saab
Populism Destroys the Earth, Laws Protect it
Najib Saab
The threats to environment and climate policies around the world, posed mainly by the spread of populist movements
more...

Antonio Guterres
UN Secretary-General's Statement on COP29
Antonio Guterres
COP29 comes at the close of a brutal year – a year seared by record temperatures, and scarred by climate disaster, all as emissions continue to rise
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Global Climate Leaders
Global climate leaders want COP29 to succeed but call for urgent overhaul of the process
Global Climate Leaders
It has become clear that constructive, supportive ideas developed some time ago on the COP process have been misinterpreted in today’s context
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Mathis Wackernagel
MY OBSESSION WITH OVERSHOOT
Mathis Wackernagel
There is no other possible future than a regenerative one
more...
 
 
 
Meet the
 Editor-in-Chief Najib Saab 		 
 
Selected articles News
Ice stupas of the Ladakh desert: an ingenious solution to water scarcity – a picture essay 28/1/2025
Farmers in the northern Indian region used to rely on snow and glacier meltwater, but the climate crisis is disrupting the water cycle – which means new ways of storing water are needed ...more
 
Toxic waste from world's deadliest gas leak fuels protests in India 23/1/2025
Vegetable vendor Shivnarayan Dasana had never seen so many policemen descend on his village in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. ...more
 
Natural disasters in the past 12 months have been the most costly and impactful stretch of extreme weather in America in 90 years 18/1/2025
Experts at AccuWeather say extreme weather events and disasters in the past 12 months have had the costliest and most widespread impacts that Americans have faced in nearly a century.    ...more
 
Arab-Israeli Environmental Cooperation: A Controversial Path to Peace Amid Ecocide 28/11/2024
On August 30, 2024, amid the Israeli aggression on Lebanon, Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced that Lebanon joined the Saudi-led Middle East Green Initiative (MGI), describing the step as crucial, especially for southern border towns and villages that are suffering significant environmental and agricultural damage. ...more
 
CO2 & Waste-Derived Bioplastics: Pioneering Sustainable Manufacturing 22/11/2024
As the world grapples with the environmental impact of traditional plastics, bioplastics derived from carbon dioxide (CO2) and waste materials present a promising solution. This emerging sustainable market seeks to address two critical global challenges: reducing greenhouse gas emissions and managing waste. By converting CO2 and waste into useful bioplastics, scientists and companies are pioneering technologies that could revolutionize the way we produce and consume plastics. ...more
 
The blue-green sustainable proteins of seaweed may soon be on your plate 15/11/2024
The protein in sea lettuce, a type of seaweed, is a promising complement to both meat and other current alternative protein sources. Seaweed also contains many other important nutrients, and is grown without needing to be watered, fertilised or sprayed with insecticides. However, the proteins are often tightly bound, and their full potential has not yet been realised on our plates.  But now researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden, have found a new way to extract these proteins three times more efficiently than before – and this progress paves the way for seaweed burgers and protein smoothies from the sea. ...more
 
Industry royally champions sustainable floriculture project led by Coventry University 9/10/2024
Coventry University is leading a project to reduce plastic, packaging and waste in the British cut-flower industry. ...more
 
Major boost in carbon capture and storage essential to reach 2°C climate target 27/9/2024
Large expansion of carbon capture and storage is necessary to fulfill the Paris Climate Agreement. Yet a new study led by Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden and University of Bergen, in Norway, shows that without major efforts, the technology will not expand fast enough to meet the 2°C target and even with major efforts it is unlikely to expand fast enough for the 1.5°C target. ...more
 
Europe’s deadly floods are glimpse of future climate 25/9/2024
Central Europe's devastating floods were made much worse by climate change and offer a stark glimpse of the future for the world's fastest-warming continent, scientists say. ...more
 
Which Countries Should Pay for International Climate Finance? 18/9/2024
The world needs trillions of dollars annually to combat climate change, but questions remain as to where that funding will come from. Most at stake are poorer countries that are the least protected — and hardest hit — from the increasing ravages of heat waves, storm surges and other extreme weather events exacerbated each year by climate change. Many of these countries lack the resources to undertake a rapid and just transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy without external help. ...more
 
World’s strongest battery paves way for light, energy-efficient vehicles 12/9/2024
When cars, planes, ships or computers are built from a material that functions as both a battery and a load-bearing structure, the weight and energy consumption are radically reduced. A research group at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden is now presenting a world-leading advance in so-called massless energy storage – a structural battery that could halve the weight of a laptop, make the mobile phone as thin as a credit card or increase the driving range of an electric car by up to 70 percent on a single charge. ...more
 
A method that paves the way for improved fuel cell vehicles 14/8/2024
More efficient and longer-lasting fuel cells are essential for fuel cell-powered heavy-duty hydrogen vehicles to be an alternative to combustion fuelled counterparts. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have developed an innovative method to study and understand how parts of fuel cells degrade over time. This is an important step towards the improved performance of fuel cells and them becoming commercially successful. ...more
 
Empowering women – a key to both sustainable energy and gender justice 13/8/2024
Involving women in implementing solar energy technologies in developing countries not only has great climate impact. A new study published in Nature Energy and carried out by researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, shows that empowering women through energy care work can change unjust, gendered norms and long-lived injustices. ...more
 
Could Australia become a green hydrogen superpower? 9/8/2024
“If you remember being a kid and blowing up a balloon or into a milkshake, your cheeks got sore because there is an energy penalty associated with bubble formation.” ...more
 
New Study: The price tag of phasing-out coal 15/5/2024
Coal phase-out is necessary to solve climate change, but can have negative impacts on workers and local communities dependent on coal for their livelihoods. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and Central European University in Austria have studied government plans for coal phase-out around the world and discovered that more than half of such plans include monetary compensation to affected parties. This planned compensation globally amounts to USD 200 billion, but it excludes China and India, the two largest users of coal that currently do not have phase-out plans. The study shows that if China and India decide to phase out coal as fast as needed to reach the Paris climate targets and pay similar compensation, it would cost upwards of USD 2 trillion. ...more
 
Toxic chemicals can be detected with new AI method 2/5/2024
Swedish researchers at Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg have developed an AI method that improves the identification of toxic chemicals – based solely on knowledge of the molecular structure. The method can contribute to better control and understanding of the ever-growing number of chemicals used in society, and can also help reduce the amount of animal tests. ...more
 
High-precision diaphragm metering pump makes the “Electrolysis Made in Baden-Württemberg” system demonstrator fit for industrial application 14/4/2024
Effective decarbonization of German industry – and with it, the achievement of the climate targets with a secure energy supply at the same time – is unthinkable without the expansion of hydrogen technologies. Since they are a carbon-free energy source, they do not release any emissions during combustion. Hydrogen is also suitable as a storage medium to compensate for fluctuations in renewable energy production, since it can be produced via electrolysis using any power source. As part of the "Electrolysis Made in Baden-Württemberg" project, which was completed in 2023, the Baden-Württemberg Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research (ZSW) has now strengthened the region as a hydrogen location for the long term. With the participation of 40 companies, a scalable system demonstrator for alkaline pressure electrolysis with an output of 1 MWel was engineered. The pump specialist LEWA from Leonberg, Germany, also contributed to the success of the project: an ecoflow diaphragm metering pump with Ex motor feeds the water required for hydrogen production into the process. As of 2026, the system will continue to operate in the H2 GeNeSiS model region and feed hydrogen into the new pipeline along the Neckar River. ...more
 
Arab Forum for Environment and Development Participates in the Fourth Saudi Media Forum 21/2/2025
The Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) participated in the Fourth Saudi Media Forum 2025 in Riyadh. ...more
 
Two-thirds of the Earth’s surface experienced record heat in 2024. See where and by how much – visualised 21/2/2025
In oceans and on land, from the north to the south pole, records were smashed for the monthly average temperature. ...more
 
Melting glaciers caused almost 2cm of sea level rise this century, study reveals 21/2/2025
Decades-long research shows world’s glaciers collectively lost 6.542tn tonnes of ice between 2000 and 2023. ...more
 
Europe greenwashing with north Africa’s renewable energy, report says 21/2/2025
European countries are extracting renewable energy from Morocco and Egypt to “greenwash” their own economies, while leaving north Africans reliant on dirty imported fuels and paying the environmental costs, a Greenpeace report says. ...more
 
Fog harvesting could provide water for arid cities 21/2/2025
Capturing water from fog - on a large scale - could provide some of the driest cities in the world with drinking water. ...more
 
Gulfood 2025: UAE brand extracts drinkable water from conference room air 20/2/2025
Ma Hawa uses water generation technology to produce drinking water from any location. ...more
 
Developing world urges rich nations to defy Trump’s ‘climate nihilism’ 20/2/2025
Developing countries are calling on the rich world to defy the US president, Donald Trump, and bridge the global chasm over climate action, before the goal of limiting global temperatures to safe levels is irretrievably lost. ...more
 
Sweden's top court rejects Greta Thunberg lawsuit on climate action 20/2/2025
Sweden's Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that Greta Thunberg and hundreds of other activists cannot proceed with a class action lawsuit that had sought to force the state to take stronger action against climate change. ...more
 
US paper industry asks Trump to seek lighter EU deforestation rules 20/2/2025
The U.S. paper and pulp industry is lobbying President Donald Trump's administration to ask the EU to declare the United States deforestation-free, a step that could make it easier for exporters to meet the bloc's new environmental rules. ...more
 
Early warning system for climate tipping points given £81m kickstart 20/2/2025
An ambitious attempt to develop an early warning system for climate tipping points will combine fleets of drones, cosmic ray detection and the patterns of plankton blooms with artificial intelligence and the most detailed computer models to date. ...more
 
Fossil fuel industry accused of seeking special treatment over oilfield emissions 19/2/2025
Experts have accused the fossil fuel industry of seeking special treatment after lobbyists argued greenhouse gas emissions from oilfields should be treated differently to those from other industries. ...more
 
Brazil targets illegal logging in major Amazon raids 19/2/2025
Brazilian environmental agents seized the equivalent of more than 5,000 truckloads of timber in an operation targeting one of the most heavily logged regions of the Amazon rainforest in recent weeks, officials told Reuters. ...more
 
German election: Climate and environment take a back seat 19/2/2025
Germany has expanded wind and solar energy but failed to cut back on fossil fuel use in the transport sector. Environmental issues did not feature prominently in the election campaign — unlike the last time around. ...more
 
Sunscreen’s impact on marine life needs urgent investigation, study finds 19/2/2025
The chemical compounds that block UV rays may lead to bleaching of coral and a decrease in fish fertility. ...more
 
Cities at highest risk as climate change increases heatwave mortality: Study 19/2/2025
Heatwaves are known to raise several health and economic risks, including increased human mortality, drought and water quality, wildfire and smoke, power shortages, and agricultural losses. ...more
 
Earth is already shooting through the 1.5°C global warming limit, two major studies show 18/2/2025
Earth is crossing the threshold of 1.5°C of global warming, according to two major global studies which together suggest the planet's climate has likely entered a frightening new phase. ...more
 
Brazil asks UN to ditch proposed levy on global shipping 18/2/2025
Brazil has asked the UN to throw out plans for a new levy on global shipping that would raise funds to fight the climate crisis, despite playing host to the next UN climate summit. ...more
 
Germany Set to Scale Down Climate Ambitions 18/2/2025
Two years ago, Thyssenkrupp AG, the nation’s biggest steelmaker, was awarded €2 billion ($2.1 billion) in subsidies to help pay for a hydrogen furnace. It was the biggest-ever commitment of its kind, and a high point in Germany’s planned transition to clean fuel. ...more
 
The rewilded golf courses teeming with life 18/2/2025
From Scotland to California, golf courses are being rewilded – with lofty aims to benefit both people and nature. ...more
 
Cambridge scientists turn pollution into fuel in climate breakthrough 18/2/2025
Solar-powered reactor takes inspiration from photosynthesis to turn CO2 into car fuel. ...more
 
Abu Dhabi introduces tougher penalties for environmental violations 17/2/2025
In a new move to bolster environmental conservation, the Environment Agency — Abu Dhabi (EAD) has rolled out new regulations that impose stricter administrative penalties on those whose activities harm the environment. ...more
 
World's sea-ice falls to record low 17/2/2025
The world's frozen oceans, which help to keep the planet cool, currently have less ice than ever previously recorded, satellite data shows. ...more
 
Extreme weather expected to cause food price volatility in 2025 after cost of cocoa and coffee doubles 17/2/2025
Trend towards more extreme-weather events will continue to hit crop yields and create price spikes, Inverto says. ...more
 
Brake pad dust can be more toxic than exhaust emissions, study says 17/2/2025
Microscopic particles emitted from brake pads can be more toxic than those emitted in diesel vehicle exhaust, a study has found. ...more
 
Global Water Expertise to SIWIs new board 17/2/2025
The Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) has appointed a new board with broad international representation and high-level expertise in the areas of water and climate. Comprising leading experts and key stakeholders with extensive experience in global water issues, the new board further strengthens SIWI’s role in advancing water resource management worldwide. ...more
 
 
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