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Tired of Power Cuts, Gaza Turns to Solar

This picture taken on September 6, 2022 shows a view of solar panels placed atop a bakery building used to power it, in Gaza City in the Palestinian enclave. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)
This picture taken on September 6, 2022 shows a view of solar panels placed atop a bakery building used to power it, in Gaza City in the Palestinian enclave. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)
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Tired of Power Cuts, Gaza Turns to Solar

This picture taken on September 6, 2022 shows a view of solar panels placed atop a bakery building used to power it, in Gaza City in the Palestinian enclave. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)
This picture taken on September 6, 2022 shows a view of solar panels placed atop a bakery building used to power it, in Gaza City in the Palestinian enclave. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP)

Palestinians living in the Israeli-blockaded enclave of Gaza have long endured an unstable and costly electricity supply, so Yasser al-Hajj found a different way: solar power.

Looking at the rows of photo-voltaic panels at his beachfront fish farm and seafood restaurant, The Sailor, he said the investment he made six years ago had more than paid off.

"Electricity is the backbone of the project," Hajj said, standing under a blazing Mediterranean sun. "We rely on it to provide oxygen for the fish, as well as to draw and pump water from the sea."

The dozens of solar panels that shade the fish ponds below have brought savings that are now paying to refurbish the business, he said, as laborers loaded sand onto a horse-drawn cart.

Hajj said he used to pay 150,000 shekels ($42,000) per month for electricity, "a huge burden," before solar power slashed his monthly bill to 50,000 shekels.

For most of Gaza's 2.3 million residents, living under Hamas rule and a 15-year-old Israeli blockade, power cuts are a daily fact of life that impact everything from homes to hospital wards.

While some Gazans pay for a generator to kick in when the mains are cut -- for around half of each day, according to United Nations data -- ever more people are turning to renewables.

From the rooftops of Gaza City, solar panels now stretch out into the horizon.

Green energy advocates say it is a vision for a global future as the world faces the perils of climate change and rising energy costs.

Gaza bakery owner Bishara Shehadeh began the switch to solar this summer, by placing hundreds of gleaming panels on his rooftop.

"We have surplus electricity in the day," AFP quoted him as saying. "We sell it to the electricity company in exchange for providing us with current during the night."

Solar energy lights up the bright bulbs illuminating the bustling bakery, but the ovens still run on diesel.

"We are working on importing ovens, depending on electrical power, from Israel, to save the cost of diesel," said Shehadeh.

Both the bakery and the fish farm have relied partially on foreign donors to kick-start their switch to solar, although their owners are also investing their own cash.

But in a poverty-stricken territory where nearly 80 percent of residents rely on humanitarian assistance, according to the UN, not everyone can afford to install renewable energy.

Around a fifth of Gazans have installed solar power in their homes, according to an estimate published in April by the "Energy, Sustainability and Society" journal.

Financing options are available for Gazans with some capital, like Shehadeh, who got a four-year loan to fund his bakery project.

At a store selling solar power kits, MegaPower, engineer Shehab Hussein said prices start at around $1,000 and can be paid in instalments.

Clients included a sewing factory and a drinks producer, which see the mostly Chinese-made technology as "a worthwhile investment", he said.

Raya al-Dadah, who heads the University of Birmingham's Sustainable Energy Technology Laboratory, said her family in Gaza has been using simple solar panels that heat water for more than 15 years.

"The pipe is super rusty, the glass is broken... and I just had a shower and the water is super hot," she said during a visit to the territory.

But Dadah encountered obstacles when she tried to import a more sophisticated solar system for a community project in Gaza.

"Bringing them to the Gaza Strip has proved to be impossible," she said.

The advanced set-up includes more efficient panels and equipment that tracks the sun's path.

Such technology is being used by Israeli firms such as SolarGik, whose smart control systems factor in weather conditions and can harness up to 20 percent more energy than standard panels, chief executive Gil Kroyzer told AFP.

Across the frontier in Gaza, in the absence of such high-tech equipment, Dadah relies on the standard panels to power a women's center and surrounding homes in the strip's northern Jabalia area.

Despite the challenges, Dadah said solar energy remains a "brilliant" option for Gaza, with its copious sunlight: "It is really a very promising energy source, and it's available everywhere".

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Cutting Off Rhinos' Horns is a Contentious Last Resort to Stop Poaching. New Study Found it Works

A de-horned rhino grazes in South Africa's Pilanesberg National Park, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
A de-horned rhino grazes in South Africa's Pilanesberg National Park, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
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Cutting Off Rhinos' Horns is a Contentious Last Resort to Stop Poaching. New Study Found it Works

A de-horned rhino grazes in South Africa's Pilanesberg National Park, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
A de-horned rhino grazes in South Africa's Pilanesberg National Park, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Cutting off the horns of sedated rhinos with a chainsaw has been viewed by wildlife conservationists in Africa for more than 30 years as a necessary evil to save the iconic endangered species from poaching.

They hoped the drastic action was working, but evidence was scarce.

Now, a study published Thursday in the academic journal Science has found that dehorning rhinos has led to a large reduction in poaching in game reserves in and around the Kruger National Park in northern South Africa — an area that's home to 25% of the world's rhinos and is especially vulnerable to poaching.

The results of the seven-year study that ended in 2023 are seen as long-awaited evidence that removing rhinos' horns — which needs to be done every one to two years because they grow back — helps them survive, even if the animals lose part of their makeup.

Consistently reduced poaching The conclusions seem obvious. Lucrative illegal markets in parts of southeast Asia and China crave rhino horns for use in traditional medicines, and removing the rhinos' horns take away what poachers are after.

But Tim Kuiper, a biodiversity scientist at South Africa's Nelson Mandela University and the lead author of the study, said it was new to have long-term data from multiple sites on dehorning rhinos. He said the study, conducted between January 2017 and December 2023, focused on 11 reserves in the Kruger area and compared data from eight that dehorned their rhinos against the three that didn't.

It also analyzed data from the reserves before and after they dehorned their rhinos.

The study showed that dehorning consistently reduced poaching, Kuiper said. It found that the dehorning of more than 2,000 rhinos resulted in a 78% reduction in poaching in those eight reserves, providing some confirmation that such an invasive intervention was worth it.

“It is a big part of what a rhino is, having a horn,” The Associated Press quoted Kuiper as saying. “So having to remove it is kind of a necessary evil, if I can put it that way. But it’s very effective. There’s no doubt it saved hundreds of rhinos' lives.”

South Africa has the largest numbers of black and white rhinos. Namibia, Zimbabwe and Kenya also have significant populations. There are around 17,500 white rhinos and 6,500 black rhinos left in the world, with black rhino numbers reduced from 70,000 in 1970 to less than 2,500 by the time poaching reached a crisis point in the mid-1990s, according to the Save the Rhino organization.

Dehorning was not always accepted Dehorning rhinos started in southern Africa as early as 1989. It has not been accepted without question.

There has been opposition from animal rights activists but also questions from conservationists over what impact it has on a rhino's wellbeing, and what a future might look like with more hornless rhinos.

Vanessa Duthe, a rhino researcher in South Africa not involved in the study, said rhinos use their horns to defend themselves against predators, to compete for territory and, in the case of black rhinos, to look for food. There is also evidence that dehorned rhinos adjust their movements to live in smaller ranges, she said.

She said conservationists don't know the full impacts of dehorning, but research had found it had no adverse effect on rhinos' breeding rates or mortality rates.

“What we do know is that the benefits of dehorning by far outweigh any ecological cost that we’re aware of today,” Duthe said. She said dehorning a rhino now takes around 10 minutes and the process causes minimum distress.

Blindfolds and earmuffs are put on sedated rhinos during dehorning, which also provides an opportunity to microchip rhinos and collect samples that aid research.

Only one part of the battle Conservationists agree that dehorning alone will not end rhino poaching and Kuiper said he saw it as a short-to-mid-term solution.

Other efforts like more effective law enforcement and better support for game rangers on the frontline are key.

While South Africa has helped pull rhinos back from the threat of extinction, more than 400 rhinos a year are still killed by poachers in the country.

The dehorning study was a collaboration between scientists from three South African universities, Oxford University in England and game reserve managers and rangers. It also involved the South African National Parks department, the World Wildlife Fund and the Rhino Recovery Fund.