Environment and nature

Abdulla Balalaa, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Energy and Sustainability, United Arab Emirates

Interview

UAE official says opening Hormuz integral to any Iran deal, describes infrastructure damage 'manageable'

Abdulla Balalaa, UAE assistant minister of foreign affairs for energy and sustainability, spoke to Al-Monitor about the situation in the Gulf along with the UAE's focus on promoting privatization in the water sector and the 2026 UN Water Conference.

AFP via Getty Images

Oil fires, toxic air and water risks: Environmental cost of Iran war expands to region

The bombing of oil facilities in Iran and critical water infrastructure in the Gulf threatens the Middle East with long-lasting environmental destruction, as have similar tactics employed in previous conflicts.

An emergency vehicle drives through flood waters as residents are evacuated and relocated to other towns as preventive and emergency evacuations are carried out to move residents living near flood-prone areas following the weather alert and the rise in the water level of the Loukkos River, with flooding expected in the coming days, in Ksar El Kebir on Feb. 1, 2026.

Storm Leonardo displaces 140,000 as heavy floods hit northern Morocco

Heavy rains from the storm have flooded northern Morocco, prompting mass evacuations and straining emergency services.

This picture obtained from Iran's ISNA news agency shows a view of the fire in the forests of Chalus on Nov. 21, 2025.

Analysis

Iran’s mismanagement in focus as fires ravage 25-million-year-old forests

Prolonged wildfires are raging across Iran's northern Hyrcanian forests, highlighting mismanagement, insufficient resources and climate stress, and forcing volunteers and foreign aid to intervene.

A correspondent in Tehran

By A correspondent in Tehran

In Tehran, reporting on politics

Latest News

Syria attends Brazil’s COP30 as most Middle East leaders skip talks

France's President Emmanuel Macron and Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa look on during a bilateral meeting within the framework of the COP30 UN climate conference in Belem, Brazil, Nov. 6, 2025.

United Arab Emirates

Over 200 hospitalized in Tunisia’s Gabes as anger over pollution crisis grows

Residents of the city of Gabes carry placards during a demonstration on Oct. 15, 2025, to demand the closure of chemical factories.

Drought-stricken Iraq sends delegation to Turkey to discuss water cooperation

SABUR RASHID/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Wildfires ravage Syria’s Latakia for 4th day in row: What to know

Residents of the village of Shatha watch as a wildfire rages on the nearby hills, in the western Hama countryside in west-central Syria on Aug. 15, 2025.

Hatzeva field school.

Culture

Unique eco-art center to open in Israeli desert

The soon-to-be-created Art Laboratory for Future Ecologies in the desert Arava region in southern Israel was envisioned by Israeli international artist Galit Eilat.

ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images

Iran's Raisi links regional dust storms to Western hegemony

Tehran recently hosted a regional summit on addressing the dust storms that have ravaged the area over the past two years.

A picture taken on February 18, 2017, shows a general view of a bridge in the Iranian city of Ahvaz during a sandstorm.

UAE, Iran to cooperate to fight dust storms

Dust storms in the region have been severe.

An undated image of the FSO Safer.

Analysis

World looks away as oil disaster looms off Yemen’s coast

Time is running out to prevent what Yemen envoy Tim Lenderking warns will be a "massive oil spill the likes of which the world has not seen."

Elizabeth Hagedorn

By Elizabeth Hagedorn

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

A woman carries a quilt as she crosses a field in the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz on March 13, 2020, a year after the fall of the Islamic State's (IS) caliphate.

Culture

Women in north Syria collect wild plants, medicinal herbs to sell

Women in northern Syria, especially those who became the sole breadwinners for their children after losing their husbands during the war, are collecting wild plants and medicinal herbs to make ends meet.

Spring

Culture

Israeli actions threaten historic spring near Jericho

Ain al-Auja spring in the Jordan Valley is threatened with settlement expansion after Israel announced a plan to take over lands surrounding the area.

A male houbara bustard dances in order to attract females.

Culture

Egypt, UAE work to protect rare bird

Under a project carried out in cooperation with a conservation fund in the UAE, Egypt's Ministry of Environment released 2,000 Houbara bustards into a nature reserve to conserve the threatened bird species.

Rosenblum

Culture

Israel's EcoOcean to tell UN meeting of its work to clean Mediterranean

Participating at the United Nations Ocean Conference in Portugal, head of the Israeli NGO EcoOcean Arik Rosenblum explains the actions that they are taking to clean the seas and to protect marine ecosystems.

A Syrian beekeeper picks honey from his hives.

Culture

Beekeepers feel sting in northern Syria

Beekeeping in northwest Syria, which was once a traditional industry, faces challenges due to the war and its repercussions amid a lack of support.

This picture taken on Sept. 4, 2018, shows an anchor attached to a coral reef.

Sharm el-Sheikh gets $7 million to become green city for COP27

The Egyptian government, the UN Development Programme and the Global Environment Facility are aiming to transform Sharm el-Sheikh into a green city in the lead-up to the international climate conference in November.

Signature ceremony of the memorandum of understanding between Israel, Egypt and the European Union for the export on natural gas to Europe, EMGF 7th ministerial meeting, Cairo, Egypt, June 15, 2022.

Israeli energy minister inks deal to export gas to Europe via Egypt

Energy Minister Karine Elharrar hailed the signature this morning of a trilateral memorandum of understanding between Israel, Egypt and the European Union on the export of natural gas as a historic event.

An undated image of the FSO Safer.

US envoy urges funding for Yemen’s ‘ticking time bomb’

Envoy Tim Lenderking called on donor governments and the private sector to help prevent a dilapidated tanker in the Red Sea from spilling its cargo of oil.