Author: Kerstin Schnatz

They are infamous, a great way to meet new people and loved even by state delegates: The parties of civil society groups during the yearly climate summits.
This year’s party took place on a beach in the middle of the desert, about an hour’s drive away from Doha. We went there to soak up the atmosphere as well as for some late night networking.

Author: Kerstin Schnatz

Goosebumps were guarenteed today, when 1000 people marched the streets of Doha. It was the first time that civil society groups had organized a climate march in the Middle East. The Qatari government, who has not allowed any sort of civil action like this before in the country, showed solidarity with the activists. Doha is currently hosting the 18th United Nations Climate Summit which is expected to end on Friday, December 7th.

Watch our video from the climate march:

Climate March at COP18 in Doha, Qatar – the first march in modern Qatar history from DW_Global Ideas on Vimeo.

Jordan's government has approved a revolutionary new green project that could transform the country's desert into a green oasis and provide basic necessities like food and water to boot. An environmental technology group called the 'Sahara Forest Project' is creating a massive facility in the desert city of Aqba that promises to turn transform sun and seawater into food, energy and clean drinking water.

 

And to top it all off, the facility could combat climate change too by pulling in large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. An MSN article on the project describes more of the details, including how the solar power plant and the greenhouse system will work.

 

The facility in Aqba will actually be a demo plant so developers can see how it works before creating more. And it could be up and running as early as 2012. Is this the way of the future for desert landscapes? Would this kind of project work in your country?