More than 140 countries have agreed on a set of legally binding measures to curb mercury pollution, at UN talks. Delegates in Geneva approved measures to control the use of the highly toxic metal in order to reduce the amount of mercury released into the environment. Mercury can produce a range of adverse human health effects, including permanent damage to the nervous system. The UN recently published data ...

Most species at greatest risk from climate change are not currently conservation priorities, according to an International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) study that has introduced a pioneering method to assess the vulnerability of species to climate change. The paper, published in the journal PLOS ONE, is one of the biggest studies of its kind, assessing all of the world's birds, amphibians and cor ...

Flush a toilet in Beirut and the waste water is piped out a kilometer into the Mediterranean and expelled into the sea. Flush the toilet just about anywhere else, however, and the waste is deposited just a few meters away, using the nation’s coastline as a giant toilet bowl. Beach-goers are swimming in dangerous levels of their own filth at many public beaches and resorts in the country, according to testin ...

SPNL in partnership with the Fakha municipality and CREADEL social organization have declared on 6 May 2013 a new Hima site in the village of El Fekha in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains of Bekaa. The project funded by the CEPF, was launched in a ceremony attended by the SPNL team, CREADEL, and members from the municipality of El Fekha and local community, and embarked the journey of future sustainable use of com ...

Daily measurements of CO2 at a US government agency lab on Hawaii have topped 400 parts per million for the first time. The station, which sits on the Mauna Loa volcano, feeds its numbers into a continuous record of the concentration of the gas stretching back to 1958. The last time CO2 was regularly above 400ppm was three to five million years ago - before modern humans existed. Scientists say the climate ...

Bikeathon Association Lebanon kicked off on Sunday the first Bikeathon in Lebanon. One of the event's organizer Nada Zarour said to GPL web site that the event aims to promote cycling in Lebanon and raise awareness to alternative transportation methods that reduce traffic jam and environment pollution. ...

The Muhanna Foundation, a non-profit organization, launched a free mobile phone application called "Waffir" that aims to provide anonymous reporting of street lamps that are lit in daytime across Lebanon. It said that street lights that are turned on during the day constitute a waste of energy and resources to citizens and the government alike and, therefore, should be reported immediately. It pointed out t ...

A cooperation agreement has been signed by the Ministry of Environment (MoE) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). Through the agreement, the MoE will receive a grant for a total of almost $1 million from the UNEP’s Global Environment Facility (GEF) towards the implementation of a $2.3 million project for maritime development. The project includes developing a framework for sustainable manageme ...

According to data compiled by the Association of Car Importers in Lebanon, the number of newly registered car sales stood at 35,477 in 2012, rising by 9.3% from a total of 32,455 cars sold in 2011, noting that 92% of newly registered cars consist of those of smaller sizes. During the month of December 2012, newly registered cars totaled 3,428, against 2,743 in December 2011. Korea’s Kia ranked first in term ...

The Energy Ministry signed a $348 million contract with a Danish-German consortium to build new power plants in Jiyyeh and Zouk. Under the contract, Danish BWSC and German Man Diesel will build two plants, with a maximum capacity of 272 megawatts, at the same locations housing Lebanon’s two biggest power plants. Energy Minister Gebran Bassil has said that the construction would take between 15 months and 18 ...