Category Archives: Middle East

مستقبل تحلية المياة لمنطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال أفريقيا

By | | , , ,
3 Comments

تحلية المياه هي عملية معالجة للمياه يتم فيها فصل الأملاح من المياه المالحة لانتاج مياه صالحة للشرب. عملية التحلية تستهلك كمية كبيرة من الطاقة لانتاج الماء العذب من مصادر المياة المالحة. يتم ضخ الماء المالح في عملية التحلية وتكون المخرجات عبارة عن خط ماء عذب بالاضافة لخط أخر من المياة عالية الملوحه جداً. يوجد أكثر من 15000 وحدة تنقية مياه على المستوى الصناعي في العالم، بطاقة اجمالية تزيد على 8.5 مليار جالون يومياً. يتفوق أسلوب الترشيح بالأغشية في هذا المجال حيث تبلغ نسبته حوالي 44% من اجمالي الطاقة الاجمالية، يليه التحلية بالتسخين MSF بنسبة حوالي 40 %. وبالنسبة للمصادر، تمثل … Continue reading →

The Blue Belt Initiative: Promising Ambition To Transform Challenges Into Opportunities That Protect The Oceans

By | | , , ,
Leave a comment

It is good for the African continent to wrap itself with the belt of sustainability and the protection of marine biodiversity. What’s even better is for the ‘Blue Belt Initiative’ to launch from the furthest northwest point of the African continent (Marrakech, Morocco), a Mediterranean and African region, and in a global forum where the international community discusses a crucial issue for our planet’s security, the issue of climate. The “Blue Belt Initiative” started during the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (COP22), hosted by Morocco in 2016. The initiative serves as an international … Continue reading →

All You Need to Know About Renewable Energy in Jordan

By | | ,
7 Comments

Renewable energy systems have been used in Jordan since early 1970s. Infact, Jordan has been a pioneer in renewable energy promotion in the Middle East with its first wind power pilot project in Al-Ibrahemiya as early as 1988. In the recent past, Jordan has witnessed a surge in initiatives to generate power from renewable resources with financial and technical backing from the government, international agencies and foreign donors. However, renewable energy in Jordan remains largely untapped due to high cost associated with non-conventional energy resources and relatively cheap availability of oil and natural gas. Wind energy is feasible mainly in … Continue reading →

Storm Alexa – Positive Aspects for MENA

By | | , ,
1 Comment

The year 2013 saw history being made when Storm Alexa swept across the Middle East and North Africa bringing blizzards, torrential rain and icy winds to a region that hasn’t experienced such a storm in over 100 years. Storm Alexa caused devastating floods in Arab cities, such as Gaza, and power cuts in certain areas of Jordan. Heavy snowfall in Jordan covered the streets, hindering mobility and forcing people into their homes for several days. The storm has also brought hardship and misery upon the Syrian refugees enduring the bitter cold in fragile tents and makeshift shelters. Positive Aspects However, … Continue reading →

The Significance of Domestic Water Conservation

By | | , ,
17 Comments

The Middle East region is plagued by water scarcity and water management issues. Despite heavy investment in the water sector, water management remains a serious economic and environmental issue throughout the region. Overconsumption of water is a serious issue as per capita use of water in most of the Middle Eastern countries is several times more water than the global average. For example, on an average each UAE and Saudi Arabian resident consume 550 liters and 250 liters of water per day respectively. On the other hand, per capita water consumption in United Kingdom and Germany is 150 liters and … Continue reading →

Waste-to-Energy in Jordan: Potential and Challenges

By | | ,
1 Comment

Effective sustainable solid waste management is of great importance both for people’s health and for environmental protection. In Jordan, insufficient financial resources, growing population, rapid urbanization, inadequate management and lacking of technical skills represent a serious environmental challenge confronting local government. At the same time, energy remains Jordan’s top challenge for development. The energy needs to be produced in a sustainable way, preferably from renewable sources which have a minimum environmental impact. To face the future problems in waste management, as well as securing the demand of renewable energy, it is necessary to reuse the wasted resources in energy production. … Continue reading →

حماية البيئة هدف إستراتيجي في رؤية السعودية 2030

By | | , ,
1 Comment

لعقود مضت وصمت أنماط الإستهلاك السائدة آنذاك بغير المستدامة (الإستهلاك المفرط في إنتاج وإستهلاك السلع والخدمات على حساب الإستنزاف الجائر للموارد الطبيعية و حقوق الأجيال القادمة)، فقد فرضت التحولات الاقتصادية والاجتماعية و البيئية ضغطا على الدول لإعتماد أنظمة تنموية وإقتصادية حديثة تراعي تحقيق التوازن بين الحفاظ على الموارد الطبيعية و تعزيز النمو الاقتصادي على نحو مستدام. ولذلك تعمل المملكة العربية السعودية في تشكيل سياساتها على النحو الذي يحمي ثروتها النفطية، ويحسن من كفاءة إستهلاكها للطاقة ويدعم إستخدم المزيج الأمثل للطاقة الذي يشمل الإستفادة من الموارد الطبيعية المتجددة (تذكر الرؤيا إمكانية السعودية في توليد الطاقة من الطاقة الشمسية وطاقة الرياح بحوالي … Continue reading →

Hazardous Wastes in UAE

By | | ,
2 Comments

The United Arab Emirates signed the Basel Convention* in November 1992 and established a legislation called ‘Regulation for Handling Hazardous Materials, Hazardous Wastes and Medical Waste (Law 24 of 1999)’. Article 12 of the law states ‘Transportation and disposal of locally produced hazardous waste through land borders, marine environment limit and air space shall be controlled in accordance with the rules, procedure and controls mentioned and specified in Basel Agreement and in coordination with Federal Environmental Agency’. UAE is not yet a signatory to Basel BAN amendments of Sep 1995 thus there is no mention of the Basel BAN amendments in … Continue reading →

Water Scarcity in MENA

By | | , ,
33 Comments

The MENA region is the most water scarce region of the world. The region is home to 6.3 percent of world’s population but has access to measly 1.4 percent of the world’s renewable fresh water. The average water availability per person in other geographical regions is about 7,000 m3/year, whereas water availability is merely 1,200 m3/person/year in the MENA region. The region has the highest per capita rates of freshwater extraction in the world (804 m3/year) and currently exploits over 75 percent of its renewable water resources. Due to burgeoning population and rapid economic growth, the per capita water availability … Continue reading →

Water-Energy Nexus in the United Arab Emirates

By | | , ,
2 Comments

The United Arab Emirates has been witnessing fast-paced economic growth as well as rapid increase in population during the last couple of decades. As a result, the need for water and energy has increased significantly and this trend is expected to continue into the future. Water in the UAE comes from four different sources – groundwater (44%), desalinated seawater (42%), treated wastewater (14%), and surface water (1%). Most of the groundwater and treated seawater are used for irrigation and landscaping while desalinated seawater is used for drinking, household, industrial, and commercial purposes. Water consumption per capita in UAE is more … Continue reading →

Artisanal Fishing in Morocco – Enormous Resources and Pressing Constraints

By | | ,
Leave a comment

In Morocco, artisanal fishing is a traditional activity based on canoes, generally made of wood, generally equipped with an outboard engine and a small crew of three people on average, fishing for benthic and surface species. Fishing is mostly based on the coastline and in estuaries and lakes. Morocco overlooks the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean with coastlines extending over more than three thousand five hundred kilometers, opening its shields to tens of thousands of fishermen. Artisanal fishing in the Moroccan Mediterranean Sea occupies a great place, due to the advantages it offers, especially the large mass of labor … Continue reading →

نظرة عامة حول جودة الهواء في الدول العربية

By | | , , ,
3 Comments

تدهورت جودة الهواء في الدول العربية خلال العقود القليلة الماضية ، حيث آرتفع معدل  انبعاثات ثاني أكسيد الكربون (CO2) إلى حوالي الضعف. كما ساهمت  التغييرات التي عرفها  قطاع الطاقة والتي استمدت من التجارب الناجحة في تطوير معدل النفاذ إلى مصادر الطاقة بعدد من بلدان المنطقة  في  إحراق المزيد من الوقود الأحفوري في محطات الطاقة الحرارية لتلبية الزيادة في الطلب على الطاقة. ازداد استهلاك الكهرباء بنسبة 75.5 في المائة ، مما أدى إلى إنبعاث ما مجموعه 766.5 مليون طن من ثاني أكسيد الكربون في عام 2015 ، مقارنة بـ 436.6 في عام 2006. كما آرتفعت الإنبعاثات الصادرة من قطاع النقل بسبب … Continue reading →