• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 2066 0

for details. But as long as water keeps coming out of the taps, daily lives more often involve struggles of a more immediate kind. Levels of waste – whether industrial outflow, sewage discharge or everyday rubbish – have reached critical levels across the region; recycling is almost nonexistent. At one level, the impact is devastating for local fishing industries, agricultural output, freshwater supplies and marine environments – Lebanon did not have functioning wastewater treatment plants until the mid-1990s, while up to 75% of Turkey’s industrial waste is discharged without any treatment whatsoever and only 12% of the population is connected to sewage treatment facilities. At another level, the great mounds of rubbish and airborne plastic bags provide an aesthetic assault on the senses for traveller and local alike.

* * *

Pollution in a Promised Land: An Environmental History of Israel (2002), by Alon Tal, is a comprehensive and inspirational ecological journey through Israel’s past century.

* * *

The related issue of air pollution is also threatening to overwhelm in a region where the motor vehicle is king. Take Cairo, for example, which is close to claiming the dubious title of the world’s most-polluted city. Airborne smoke, soot, dust and liquid droplets from fuel combustion constantly exceed World Health Organisation (WHO) standards (up to 259 micrograms per cubic metre of air, when the international standard is 50), leading to skyrocketing instances of emphysema, asthma and cancer among the city’s population. A startling feature article by Ursula Lindsey published in a March 2005 edition of Cairo magazine asserted that as many as 20,000 Cairenes die each year of pollution-related disease and that close to half a million contract pollution-related respiratory diseases every year. Cairo may be an extreme case, but it’s a problem facing urban areas everywhere in the Middle East.

Desertification, which is caused by overgrazing, deforestation, the overuse of off-road vehicles, wind erosion and drought, is another significant problem faced by all Middle Eastern countries, with the possible exception of Lebanon. The seemingly unstoppable encroachment of the desert onto previously fertile, inhabited and environmentally sensitive areas is resulting in millions of hectares of fertile land becoming infertile and, ultimately, uninhabitable. Jordan, Egypt and Iraq are on the frontline, but even largely desert-free Turkey is casting a worried eye on the future. While hotel owners in Cappadocia happily equip their rooms with Jacuzzis and mini-hamams, environmentalists fear that much of Turkey could be desert by 2025.

* * *

In the 149-country 2008 Environmental Performance Index, Israel ranked highest among Middle Eastern countries at 49th, followed by Jordan (70th), Egypt (71st), Turkey (72nd), Lebanon (90th), Syria (99th) and Iraq (135th).

* * *

And then there are the perennial issues of loss of biodiversity, soil erosion and unfettered building developments.

Those grasping for a glimmer of good news – and it’s only a glimmer – can take some comfort in the fact that reforestation programs have maintained (albeit meagre) forest levels for the past decade. There’s also a tiny but growing movement towards renewable energy sources as an alternative to fossil fuels. Israel has had commercial wind farms since 1992, while, for once, this is one area where Egypt has something to crow about. One of the largest wind farms in Africa and the Middle East is located at Zafarana, approximately halfway between Cairo and Hurghada. Due to the success of this project, numerous other wind farms are planned in towns along the coast.

Tourism

Has tourism placed serious strains on the environment in the Middle East? Yes. Is tourism itself part of the solution? Yes again.

* * *

According to the US Department of Energy, Israel has the largest carbon footprint (10.8 metric tonnes of CO emissions per capita) and is the 29th worst offender in the world followed by Lebanon (4.1), Syria (3.72), Turkey (3.14), Jordan