September 11th, 2009 @ kadraoui // No Comments
BAHRAIN will ban all imports of ozone depleting substances (ODS) from January, it was announced yesterday. All products containing such substances will not be allowed to enter the country and returned to their country of origin, said Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife directorgeneral Dr Adel Al Zayani.
These include automobile and truck air-conditioning units, refrigerators, freezers, dehumidifiers, water coolers, ice machines, air conditioning, heat pump units, aerosol products except medical ones, portable fire extinguisher, insulation boards, panels and pipe covers.
The decision comes after an international treaty last May challenged industries in Bahrain and other developing countries to find alternatives for hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), used mainly in air-conditioning and harmful to the ozone layer. According to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, developing countries are required to comply with new phase-out measures for HCFCs.
It obliges Bahrain and others to freeze their HCFCs consumption levels by 2013 and then comply with reductions of 10 per cent by 2015, 35pc by 2020, 67.5pc by 2025 and 97.5pc by 2030.
The remaining 2.5pc is restricted to the servicing of refrigeration and air-conditioning equipment existing between 2030 and 2040, but this is subject to review in 2025. Dr Al Zayani said the decision had been taken to reduce the impact of s u b s t a n c e s harmful to the ozone layer. “Our move has not begun recently as Bahrain ratified the protocol in 1990 and is committed to it.
“To follow it and for fear that the illegal substances will enter the country, the commission and customs have trained their officers on how to determine these substances and products.” He said to help protect the environment through the monitoring of (ODS) Bahrain hosted a training session for its customs officers. “Intensive training of customs officers needs to be undertaken to combat the emerging problem of illegal ODS trade that is threatening the success of the protocol. “Seventy-nine customs officers were trained to become environment inspectors when checking industrial substances harmful to the ozone at the Shaikh Khalifa Harbour and King Fahad Causeway. “Education Ministry technical and career education directorate trainers were also trained to prepare students and employees on how to deal with these substance.
“This comes as part of directives from commission chairman Shaikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa to invest in continuous development of individuals, the community and the environment in the country.”
Dr Al Zayani was speaking at a signing ceremony between the commission and the ministry, at the commission’s Salmabad office.
The agreement is to train cooling and air-conditioning technicians in technical schools on proper disposal of ODS. It was signed by Dr Al Zayani and ministry technical and career education directorate head Hassan Sulaibeekh and attended by United Nations Environment Programme representatives and other officials. Mr Sulaibeekh said the ministry’s training staff were ready to take on the mission, balancing technical responsibility with environment commitment.
Meanwhile, 150 technicians from factories and workshops divided in three groups will be trained in four centres, including Shaikh Khalifa Institute for Technology, Shaikh Abdulla Technical Boys School, Jidhafs Technical Boys School and Jabiriya Technical Boys School. The training, which will cost BD25,000, will be supervised by the Bahrain Society of Engineers.
rasha@gdn.com.bh
September 11th, 2009 @ kadraoui // No Comments
A conversation with a friend has me hankering for the green grass of home, not out of a desire to leave Bahrain but just for a refreshing taste of what there is so little of here.
My friend’s husband is from Scotland and they are fresh back from a month amidst the lochs and the heather – the thought of which has me salivating.
Bahrain has many things going for it but green it is not and for those of us who grew up amongst the rolling hills of the countryside, hedgerows, rivers and the rain, it can become a little suffocating.
Our home in my native Stafford, England, is surrounded by greenery at every turn of the head, yet here our children have only a concrete yard to run around in. Fresh summer breezes in England – though rare – carry the scent of a myriad plants, but here the winds sweep the heat and the dust ahead of them.
Our only window to the animal world here is the Al Areen reserve, where the heat is tolerable for only a few months of the year – though our daughters are each in love with its solitary camel. But compared to the magical sight of a herd of deer emerging out of the dawn mist on Cannock Chase, a beauty spot almost on our doorstep back home, the oryx dosing in the dust lose their appeal. Forgive if I seem to be putting Bahrain down, I’m not, but having grown up playing in a lush garden, or running through the fields nearby, tadpole net in hand, I can’t help but wish for the same for our children.
We chose the expat lifestyle and it has brought us many benefits in this welcoming and largely safe country.
But I fear at times that our adult choice is depriving our children of some of the magic I knew as a child and of the variety of flora and fauna that such a small desert island cannot offer.
What the children do have though is a diversity of people and they play with others of almost every nationality and creed imaginable, which is not something they would get at home. Actually, even in saying that I am wrong, for the only home they have known is here and not England – which leaves me worrying that we are also denying them their roots. But that’s the manic depressive in me sneaking out, for there is plenty of time in their lives to enjoy the best of both worlds. For now though, I’d like a little grass between my toes!
lhorton@gdn.com.bh
September 10th, 2009 @ kadraoui // No Comments
THE troubled Tubli Bay has been given a new lifeline with plans for a full cleanup and rehabilitation project within six months. It will entail fixing and rerouting sewage networks in the area, improving operations in the Tubli Sewage Plant and fixing damage caused by reclamation. Factories surrounding the bay will be forced to adopt new environment friendly technologies to avoid any possible shutdown, said Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environ-ment and Wildlife head Shaikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa. He said the bay was now on its way to “flourish” again with the available budgets being approved by the government and referred to the Works Ministry, which will carry out work,.
The government initially took action to rehabilitate and protect the bay after a black patch of sewerage discharges surfaced in June 2007, leading to a huge damage to marine resources.
The Cabinet decided to assign a specialised company to assess the bay’s environmental problems. It completed its report last September and presented it to the ministerial services and public utilities committee. This was approved on Sunday, Officials and environmentalist have been complaining for years that the bay’s conditions have deteriorated due to the lack of water flow following reclamation work on the new Sitra Causeway. Councillors claimed last month that thousands of fish have been dying everyday due to mounting sewage and there were constant complaints from residents about the worsening stench in the area.
“His Majesty King Hamad is really concerned about the welfare of the bay and this is why protection methods were sought before it is destroyed beyond repair,” said Shaikh Abdulla, who is also Southern Governor. “The ministries and government bodies concerned perhaps did not think that the issue is a priority or considered it less important than other projects. “Now, the real work will begin and all sewage networks in the area will be fixed and rerouted. “Operations in the Tubli Sewage Plant will be further improved and work will be carried out to improve the flow of water currents, which were destroyed by reclamation. “The factories surrounding the bay will also be either forced to adopt new technologies or closed down. Rusty factories are already on their way to be closed down without any negotiation.” Shaikh Abdulla said the bay was now being given a new lifeline.
“The marine life will flourish, the birds will love to come back and the mangroves will grow once again,” he said. Companies can now bid for a contract to remove the sludge, which is said to have seeped into the bay from
the Tubli sewage plant over several years. Contractors will have to tackle the sludge by surrounding it with sand and treating it with substances designed to break it down. A Royal Decree considering the bay’s remaining area of 13.5sq km as a protected zone was issued in 2006 after parliament launched a probe into large numbers of lands being sold inside the bay.
The Manama and Centra Municipal Councils and the Municipalities andAgriculture Affairs Ministry have already outlined the bay’s size, whose area is more than 13.5sq km. The Royal decree, issued in August 2006, determines the bay’s size as 13.5sq km.
Clean
There is no agreement yet on whether owners of lands in the bay, which are no reclaimed yet, should be compensated or not. Shaikh Abdulla said that it was not the commission’s duty to compensate land owners. The Works Ministry said last September that the method selected to clean up the bay included surrounding the sludge within the confines of sand walls and metal plates. It said that this would ensure that the contaminants do not spill further into the bay. It is hoped officials will be able to restore mangrove swamps to the area once it is cleaned up.
alaali@gdn.com.bh