| | Arab Environmentalists! Unite!
| | By Najib Saab
November-December 1999
Before you finish reading this page, the lungs of 160 million Arabs would have been filled with ten billion liters of polluted air, deserts would have expanded few hundreds of meters and 75 million Arabs would have drunk polluted water. While the population of the Arab countries will exceed 340 million at the beginning of the 21st century, Arab environment continues to deteriorate steadily and unchecked. The fact is that 160 million Arabs live in air-polluted cities, 75 millions have no access to clean drinking water, and drought is spreading to cover the last five percent of Arab green lands, while desert constitutes more than 95 percent of the total area. Before the sun sets today, the size of waste mountains in the Arab region will increase by more than 76,000 tons, as we produce some 30 million tons of wastes annually. | | more... | |
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| | "Save the waves" … pollute the seas!
| | By Najib Saab
September-October 1999
"Save the Waves" reads the slogan on buttons displayed by the crew and hostesses working on the cruise ships of a multinational tourism company. Over the years, the ships of this company carried tourists around the Caribbean islands under the slogan "Save the Waves". | | more... | |
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| | Boycott the environmental circus
| | By Najib Saab
July-August 1999
Around the World Environment Day this time of the year, environment becomes a popular subject in mass media and among the public. This verbal momentum needs to be encouraged if it supports spreading environmental awareness through lectures, debates, radio and TV programmes and field activities. But exploiting environmental occasions for the promotional campaigns of certain commercial ventures is a practice that should be rejected and exposed. Even worse, certain sectors of the media have become victims of commercial campaigns camouflaged by environmental mottoes, designed to tame the public opinion. | | more... | |
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| | Environment: A Second Class Ministry
| | By Najib Saab
May- June 1999
Introducing ministries of environment and public environmental bodies have for long been the goal of environmentalists in the Arab countries. We have always followed their activities with enthusiasm in every Arab country. However, the presence of such environmental institutions will remain useless unless they have power, authority and political clout. Some Arab ministries of environment have actually turned into ornaments, incapable of implementing any significant programme. | | more... | |
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 | | | Arab Environment in 10 Years | | | ARAB ENVIRONMENT IN 10 YEARS crowns a decade of the series of annual reports produced by the Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) on the state of Arab environment. It tracks and analyzes changes focusing on policies and governance, including level of response and engagement in international environmental treaties. It also highlights developments in six selected priority areas, namely water, energy, air, food, green economy and environmental scientific research. |
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