Ayman Abou Hadid Green Agriculture in Egyptian Desert: Combining Solar Power with Irrigation Efficiency  28/5/2015

Climate change has negatively affected wheat and maize yields both regionally and globally...more

Roberto Capone CIHEAM at Expo Milan 2015: Food Consumption Patterns and the Mediterranean Diet  25/5/2015

In the framework of Expo Milan 2015, theinternational Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) in general and its Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (CIHEAM-Bari) in particular have carried out different activities dealing with sustainable food consumption and production with a particular focus on the sustainability of Mediterranean food consumption patterns and the Mediterranean diet. In this box we focus on two activities: the international event “Med Diet Expo 2015”and Feeding Knowledge program....more

Ashok Khosla What makes us modern?  12/5/2015

With three simple Latin words, “Cogito, ergo sum”, Rene Descartes gave birth nearly four hundred years ago to the school of philosophy that sustains the whole of modern science. “I think, therefore I am” ...more

NAHLA HWALLA Nutrient Security: An Essential Element of Food Security  17/4/2015

Although food security encompasses availability, accessibility, utilization, and stability, nutrition security is often neglected. Nutrition security is an essential element of food security, and because sound nutrition requires more than just enough energy for every man, woman, and child, human needs can only be satisfied through a diversity of macro- and micronutrients to ensure good health and prevent disease....more

NAJIB SAAB Benefit from the sun. It’s here to stay  30/3/2015

In his inaugural speech at the last World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, Sultan Al-Jaber, a minister of state in the United Arab Emirates and chairman of Masdar, the architecture and ecology, or “arcology,” project, said: “Renewable energy is a critical component for building a sustainable future and has today changed from an expensive alternative to a competitive technology of choice.” On the day of his speech the price of oil dropped to $40 per barrel, after declining from $120/barrel a few months earlier, and a record of $143/barrel in August 2008. When a minister in a key oil-producing state takes such a stance at such a particularly crucial time, it must express a radical shift in energy markets. Renewable energies have become an indispensable component of the energy mix, irrespective of fluctuations in oil prices. ...more

NAJIB SAAB Green Economy for a Real Arab Spring  18/2/2015

Four years ago, I addressed the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD) in Montenegro, to present an Arab perspective on regional priorities. This was at the onset of the uprisings that started in early December 2010. At that time, we hoped for what was referred to as the “Arab Spring” to usher in a new direction for economic and environmental sustainability....more

Ashok Khosla To prevent harm or to do good?  20/1/2015

Environmental activism has traditionally been concerned with “preventing harm”, particularly the harm that is associated with the side effects of social and economic activities....more

NAJIB SAAB Thirsty Energy or Hungry Water?  5/12/2014

The World Bank chose “Thirsty Energy” as title for its report on the energy-water nexus. If we were to produce such a report for the Arab region, the title could better be “Hungry Water”- as production of water eats the bulk of Arab energy....more