In a region long marked by political divides, armed conflict, and environmental degradation, EcoPeace Middle East is quietly advancing the power of peacebuilding. Peace through education. Through its cross-border teacher tours in the Jordan Valley, EcoPeace is bringing together educators from Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian territories to address critical environmental issues.

EcoPeace has offices in Tel Aviv, Israel; Amman, Jordan; and Ramallah, located in the West Bank. It exists as one of the only organizations working together across these three locations. Their goal is ambitious, complex, and challenging: to utilize environmental challenges as a catalyst for regional cooperation. For two decades, their work has been shaped by a truth that transcends borders.

See Related Article: EcoPeace gets peacebuilding award

The Jordan River, stretching from the heights of Mount Hermon to the lowest point on Earth’s surface—the Dead Sea—is a symbol of biodiversity, religion, and culture. However, it has suffered from decades, if not centuries, of abuse. For years, raw sewage from countries, Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories, has been poured into its waters. More than 600,000 Jordanians and 60,000 Palestinians continue to discharge waste into the river basin. Additionally, multiple dams have altered the flow and the stretch of the river downstream from the Sea of Galilee, which is significantly polluted. 

Yet, the mindsets and actions of those living in areas surrounding the Jordan River are undergoing a change. Israeli initiatives are invested in cleaner water, infrastructure, and sewage treatment. Both state-led and NGO efforts drive this renewed focus on the restoration. These efforts are slowly but surely transforming once-over-polluted areas into zones of rehabilitation, use, and recreation. Increased cooperation, driven by EcoPeace, has allowed for coordinated responses to the shared environmental threat. These cooperation efforts are not only cleaning the Jordan River, but are also creating new channels for positive regional dialogue.

One of the most effective ways EcoPeace advances its mission is by targeting educators. Each year, the organization hosts educational conferences specifically designed for teachers, primarily those in biology, ecology, and related fields. Approximately 25 teachers from Israel, Jordan, and Palestine participate in each session. These sessions focus not only on the Jordan River being a shared resource and a symbol of regional interdependence, but also on the importance of preserving it. Additionally, they focus on the interactions between teachers from the conflicting groups.

They are designed to create empathy, cooperation, and inspire teachers to integrate transboundary environmental programming into their curriculum. Each session is followed up by support and guidance on how to engage students with the environmental peacebuilding material. Workshops used to take place in Jordan, with all participants traveling there. However, due to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, sessions are now held in Cyprus.

The teacher workshops and tours serve as a platform for both learning and dialogue. Regional-political complexities are not ignored; they are engaged, debated, and discussed. However, the program encourages participants to look beyond national and media narratives to instead focus on the common good. Helping educate the youth to provide a better environmental future. When teachers from Tel Aviv, Amman, and Ramallah examine the same stretch of polluted river, it creates a shared experience. The shared concern for the Jordan River, as well as other environmental issues, and, on a larger scale, the region, becomes the foundation for a deeper understanding.

EcoPeace’s work is not limited to the Jordan Valley. The organization is also active along the Alexander Stream and near the Dead Sea. Both areas, like the Jordan River, face enormous environmental stress. What all of these locations have in common is that all three participants within EcoPeace are affected. Both geographical ties and responsibility ties interconnect the Middle East. The typical mindset of “It is someone else’s problem” does not work. It takes teachers, the youth, and the region as a whole to come together to solve these problems because they are everyone’s.

EcoPeace’s strategy is dual, combining both bottom-up and top-down approaches. The bottom-up approach focuses on the aforementioned teacher workshops and trickles down education to the youth. The top-down approach focuses on EcoPeace’s efforts to collaborate with government officials and decision-makers, aiming to influence policy and regional environmental practices. 

The organization has been instrumental in advancing the “Green Blue Deal.” This is a project that entails Israel providing desalinated water to Jordan in exchange for energy. This is made possible due to Israel’s experience and expertise in desalination plants, along with Jordan’s expansive geographic area for solar and wind farms. Projects like this are designed to foster interdependence, where both countries rely on each other for mutual benefit. With interdependence comes cooperation, and with cooperation comes increased normalcy in relations.

Even amid rising tensions and conflicts, EcoPeace remains committed to its mission. In the aftermath of the October 7th attacks carried out by the terrorist organization known as Hamas, the organization maintained communication across all offices. Staff members checked in on colleagues from all sides, underscoring their commitment to preserving connection even during times of conflict.

See Related Article: The wind farms of the Middle East

The resilience of the educational programs is astounding. While many participants may enter tours with skepticism or strong preconceived notions, they often leave with new perspectives and a deeper appreciation. While political solutions remain improbable, educational ones are already in motion. 

See Related Article: The Blue Green Deal and climate pacts between enemies

EcoPeace aims to expand the teacher programs and increase its reach in the coming years. With more than 1,000 students already directly impacted by the initiative, the organization utilizes teachers as ambassadors for environmental peacemaking.

In a region where peace is scarce, EcoPeace offers a solution—one where educators plant the seeds of coexistence. 

To learn more about EcoPeace’s educational programs and environmental peacebuilding efforts, visit https://ecopeaceme.org.

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Over the last 30 years, the water level of the Dead Sea has dropped by more than 25 meters (82 feet). The Dead Sea, the lowest place on earth at 423 meters (1,388 feet) below sea level, has shrunk significantly in recent decades, attributable to unsustainable water management and over-exploitation of its mineral content. Degradation began in the 1960s when Israel, Jordan and Syria began to divert water from the lake’s main tributary, the Jordan River, for irrigation. An estimated 90 percent of the waters that histroically fed the Dead Sea are now being diverted by surrounding nations.

Gidon Bromberg, EcoPeace Middle East co-director, said the event was “a global call to save this amazing sea.”

Dead Sea shorelines touch Palestinian, Jordanian, and Israeli territories. Although locals and tourists from all three populations bathe in the sea, swimming across its entirety has never before been done. At dawn on November 15th, the swimmers set sail from Ein Gedi in Israel to Wadi Mujib in Jordan. They then began swimming the 17 kilometer (11 mile) course back to Israel, accompanied by medical support vessels, as the water can be deadly if ingested.

Only three swimmers failed to finish, due largely to dehydration. Four others swimmers took breaks on the support boat, including Palestinian lifeguard Yussuf Matari, 61, who was treated with IV fluids before resuming his swim. In a show o solidarity and sportsmanship, those who approached the finish first waited offshore so all could complete the race together.

“This was a challenge, not a race,” said Jean Craven, a founder of “Madswimmer,” a South African charity that participates in open water swims around the world to raise funds for children’s projects. “It was really great to see the camaraderie, you know, everyone trying to bring the slowest swimmers along with them.”

Learn more at the event website (link here) which paints a clear picture of why this natural and historical wonder warrants world attention:

• With its surface and shorelines at 423 m (1,388 ft) below sea level, the Dead Sea is Earth’s lowest elevation on land.
• At 377 m (1,237 ft) deep, it’s the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. Salt concentration in the Dead Sea is 33.7%. Compare that to the Mediterranean Sea, which is between 3.5% and 3.9%. Its saline levels are 8.6 times that of ocean water.
• 800 million cubic meters of water per year is needed to halt its continued deterioration

The event was co-sponsored by the Tamar Regional Council, EcoPeace Middle East, and World Open Water Swim Association.

More than 4,000 sinkholes have also formed along the Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian coasts since the 1980s, according to Israeli research, with more than 400 per year in recent years.

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The ‘Red-Dead’ project will build a plant near the Jordanian tourist resort of Aqaba that will desalinate water to be shared by Israelis and Palestinians. The brine left over from the desalination process will be channeled from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea by a 112 mile (180 km) pipeline.

The agreement was signed In Jordan by  the Israeli National Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Minister Silvan Shalom and Jordan’s, Water and Irrigation Minister Hazim el-Naser.

Nasser said that if the agreement is implemented correctly it would secure 30 million cubic metres (mcm) of freshwater for Palestine to cover its water deficit.

The plan is also crucial to providing a source of fresh water to Jordan, which faces a severe shortage of water, and to rescuing the shrinking Dead Sea. In return for its share of the desalinated water, Israel will double its sales of fresh water to Jordan from the Sea of Galilee.

Shalom said the project would provide water for farmers in southern Israel and drinking water for the north of the country.

“This is the most important and significant agreement since the peace treaty was signed with Jordan,” Shalom said, referring to a peace agreement between Israel and Jordan in 1994.

Eventually the Red-Dead project envisages transferring up to 2 billion cubic metres of water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea annually.

The agreement is the result of a memorandum of understanding signed by Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian officials in December 2013. It is being sponsored by the World Bank.

The project will cost around $900 million. It will take nearly three years to complete.

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Traditionally Palestinians have had to rely on Israel for their electricity. They do import some electricity from Jordan and Egypt, but it’s done little to reduce their dependence on Israeli energy suppliers. It’s estimated that around 80 percent of Palestinian electricity is imported.

The electricity tariff in the Palestinian authorities is also about 15 percent higher than in Israel, even though the GDP for Palestine is much lower. Palestine is a territory poor in wealth, but also in natural energy resources such as natural gas and fossil fuels which can be generated into electricity. Energy security is a controversial topic.

The opening of the 710 kW first phase of the planned 1.5 MW Dead Sea Photovoltaic Generating Plant has gone some way in improving the situation, offering drastically lowered energy prices for Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem. The plant uses solar cells, also known as photovoltaic cells, and turns sunlight into electricity and is the biggest photovoltaic (PV) installation producing electricity in Palestine.  It’s based near Jericho and is 258 meters (846 ft) below sea level.

The organization, Future for Palestine, is funding the $1 million solar project. It’s headed by Salam Fayyad, the former prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority. Future for Palestine has already been subsidizing electricity bills for 5,000 families suffering from poverty in East Jerusalem which amounts to $14 per family and reduces their bills by an average of 25%. To ensure this support for Palestinian families would be sustainable in the future, the organization decided to fund the new solar project.

Msader for Energy systems, the Palestinian company who built the plant, wanted to build and design and a solar energy system that would give long-term, reliable energy output in desert climate conditions with very hot and dry weather. Abelnaser Dwaikat, the managing director of the firm told Green Prophet that there was a need to promote and develop a resilient and sustainable energy supply for Palestinians. He said: “ It is crucial to focus on reducing dependence on energy imports and increasing the utilization of renewable energy sources available in Palestine.”

Given the high number of sunny days in Palestine, increased reliance on solar energy is very feasible. Yet Abdelnasser noted that there were challenges with the introduction of this type of green energy. “Solar PV and photovoltaic systems are yet to fully take off in Palestinian areas due to high initial costs associated with such systems,” he said.

Yet he believes that in the future these systems will be a leading source of clean and independent energy for the Palestinian people. “It’s a very potential market for solar energy as already the Palestinians are using 80% of solar thermal heating and the photovoltaic system should be the same percentage in the coming year, Mr Dwaikat said.”

The second phase of the Dead Sea Photovoltaic Generating plant will start in mid-2015 and should be delivered by end of this year.

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Christian pilgrims to Israel may be thrilled to have a chance to bathe in the historic Jordan River, believed to be the original baptismal river of Jesus. It’s clean, safe and totally free.

Pilgrims arrive to the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee (where mysterious objects are still being found) at Yardanit, get off the bus and within a few hundred yards are themselves in the river in white robes.

I can understand the appeal but was put off by the whole idea that these pilgrims aren’t really baptizing in a river, but a standing pool created for tourism. The real river actually starts as a sewage pump outlet further downstream.

A series of dams on the Sea of Galilee block water from flowing to the River Jordan. The story is really sad. What ends up in the real “river” is effluent and all types of waste, and those brave souls who disregard the warning and dip into the water on the Jordan side far downstream are taking their lives into their hands.

By the time this wastewater flows down to its final destination it is merely a trickle of sewage, if it reaches the end at all.

This is what I learned a few years ago while on a Jordan River tour with the eco group Friends of the Earth Middle East. (That’s me above checking out the sewage pipe at the Jordan River’s source).

Local newspapers are now reporting that the Israeli Government along with various interest groups have decided to turn on a pump from the Sea of Galilee to restore the Jordan River’s native habitat. Some 1000 cubic meters of water will be pumped into the river every hour.

Recharging the Jordan River is a great idea our friends at Friends of the Earth maintain, but much more water will be necessary to bring it up to healthy levels, they assess.

They say that some 30 million cubic meters a year will not be enough to renew the Lower Jordan River. Something magnitudes bigger, 400 and 600 cubic meters would be needed for restoration, and Israel should allot 220 million cubic meters to do its part. It should be noted that the Jordan River is shared between three major stakeholders: Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan. Peace making over a river important to all people is a very easy way to start real peace efforts on the ground.

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Palestinian villagers have joined forces with Israeli environmentalists to stop the separation wall from destroying ancient agricultural artefacts which will soon be declared a world heritage site by UNESCO

Ancient stone-walled terraces and a unique natural irrigation system in the village of Battir near Bethlehem may have been spared destruction from an Israeli metal and concrete separation barrier. This is particularly good news as the unique agricultural landscape is soon to be declared a world heritage site by UNESCO. In a provisional ruling last Thursday, the Israeli High Court of Justice agreed that the Israeli state must come up with an alternative to constructing the separation wall through the village in order to prevent damage to its ancient agricultural terraces. Friends of the Earth Middle East and the residents of Battir both filed a petition stating that the concrete separation wall would cause irreversible damage to the unique agricultural terraces.

The decision by Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority to support the case at the last minute is believed to have bolstered the case that protecting the site was in the public interest.”The barrier will destroy the cultural and natural heritage of Battir,” said Gidon Bromberg, director of Friends of the Earth Middle East to The Guardian. “International and Israeli experts believe this area is worthy of protection. It’s all about preserving the way things have been done for thousands of years.”

Battir is believed to be one of the earliest examples of terraced agriculture. Around a billion stones were collected generation after generation with the terrace repaired every winter and slowly expanded. Most of the terraces lie within the Israeli side of the border although some terraces run within the West Bank. According to the Guardian, the terraces stretch more than 325 hectares and trees and crops are water by a natural irrigation system dating back to the Roman era. This channels water from seven springs and is operated by a co-operative of the eight main extended families of the village.

The decision by the Israeli High Court was understandably met with praise. “We’re pleased the court urged the Defense Ministry to reconsider the security options to form a balance of interests combining the protection of Battir’s terraces and a security alternative,” said Bromberg to Haaretz. The provisional ruling gives the state 90 days to reexamine the fence’s construction and the security arrangements. Sadly, the logic of the separation barrier remains unquestioned and so an alternative to the problematic section of fence will be proposed.

For more on Palestine-Israel environmental issues see: 

Mapping Palestine’s Green Civil Society

 Gaza Unliveable by 2020 and its Water Undrinkable by 2016

Refugee Camp in Bethlehem Sprouts Green Rooftops

Palestine/Israel: A Stunning Tale of Peace, Water and Walls

:: All images via Gillafiume./Flickr.

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Last week was the annual ‘Made in Palestine 2012’ fair showcasing local Palestinian innovations. Now in its seventh year, the fair was co-sponsored by the Swedish NGO Diakonia and by Al Nayzak, a Palestinian organization. There were two exhibitions, one in the West Bank, at the Ramallah Cultural Palace exhibition hall, and one in the Gaza Strip. Together they showcased over 20 scientific innovations, including green technology, agricultural tools and mobile applications related to food and health.

One participant, Afnan Hamad, a 23-year-old chemical engineering graduate from An-Najah National University in Nablus, told IPS that he hopes to someday be the first supplier of alternative fuel in Palestine. “We designed a device to convert plastic waste into gasoline, kerosene and diesel fuel,” he said.

Environmental education and organic farming are growing increasingly popular in the West Bank. Much of the fair celebrated work from young scientists, including inventions by many young Palestinian women. At another booth in Ramallah, 20-year-old computer engineering student Rasha Saffarini, and her colleagues Isra’ Al-Qatow and Abdullah Al-Qatow, showcased their cell phone application called ‘Healthy Gate,’ which helps users calculate healthy food choices and set corresponding alert-reminders.

“Our families are very proud and so are we,” said to Hamad. “We invented something new for Palestine.”

::IPS

Image of scientist via Shutterstock

Read more about green innovation in Palestine:

Organic Farming Boom in Palestine

Investing in Ramallah’s Children Key to Sustainability

Get a Green Loan From the Green Palestine Investment Company

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Eid began Friday and will end Monday, the last day of the Hajj. When traveling in Palestinian cities, I have always marveled at the street art communities make to welcome pilgrims home.

Eid al-Adha is also known as the Holiday of Sacrifice, the Feast of the Sacrifice, the Major Festival, the Greater Eid and Bakrid.

Fires, ritual animal slaughter (and sharing that meat with the poor), and feasts are among the cherished celebratory customs.

There has been much debate about the role of meat in the celebration. In 2011, Jordanian Princess Alia spoke about the importance of humane animal slaughter when celebrating Eid al-Adha.

There is a growing awareness that customs in some areas of the Middle East, such as making bonfires by burning trash and tires, can harm the environment. Dr. Hammoud al-Awdi, a sociologist at Sanaa University in Yemen, recently told Al-Shorfa:

“This custom [burning trash] might harm the environment. But it comes from the countryside, where children would collect firewood and place it in piles to burn on the eve of Eid.”

Many Muslims around the world are proactively engaging the ancient traditions in new ways, seeking to revive more sustainable, traditional practices and create new environmentally conscious ways to celebrate.

For many families in the Middle East, this year’s holiday has been marked by fear and bloodshed. In Syria, innocent civilians were killed near a children’s playground in Daf al-Shok, a Sunni residential neighborhood in southern Damascus. And al-Awdi said that public fear is also tangible in Yemen’s capital.

To celebrate, he said people stroll in the city’s gardens, or take quick trips, but are careful to return home before dark.

Read more about Muslim holidays:

Eid Al-Adha: The Muslim Festival of Meat?

Jordan’s Princess Alia Calls for Humane Animal Slaughter Ahead of Eid al-Adha

7 Tips for a Sustainable Eid-ul-Adha Festival

Image of pilgrims in Mecca via AHMAD FAIZAL YAHYA, Shutterstock 

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The Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem estimates that over half the households in Gaza are food insecure, and almost 80 percent of households in Gaza are reliant on relief support. The institute estimates there are up to 550,176 food insecure persons in the West Bank, 22 percent of the population, and 829,954 in the Gaza Strip, around 52 percent. In the West Bank, those living along the border and separation barrier experience higher levels of food insecurity. These dire circumstances need innovative, domestic solutions.

The conflict with Israel isolates Palestinians in countless ways, impeding movement, trade, and access to water. It further complicates the rising risk of food insecurity. But mobile technologies provide Palestinians greater access to employment and information. Today an estimated 90.6 percent of Palestinians use mobile phones. Businessman Murad Tahboub told The Guardian that the IT industry is resilient to political turmoil.

“Checkpoints and borders don’t matter,” he said. “As long as you have access to electricity and a phone line, the basics of your business are in place.”

Foreign investors are increasingly interested in developing Palestinian technology, natural resources and solar power. The IT industry in particular has seen a 64 percent increase in foreign business since 2009. And it is still growing. Such mobile technology and networks are intrinsically tied to food security in the Middle East.

A recent report by the World Bank found that mobile and digital technologies have immensely positive impacts on a developing community’s agricultural industry. Mobile phone technology was linked to increased entrepreneurship and proactive strategizing among Moroccan farmers. Another study cited in the World Bank report found that introducing mobile phones could reduce grain price dispersion by 6.4 percent and reduce price variation by 12 percent in just one year.

Palestinian companies and institutions are investing heavily in education, hoping to arm their text-happy youth with the knowledge needed to confront challenges like environmental degradation and food security. The Palestinian Authority and Ramallah City Hall are currently working together on an environmental education initiative that hopes to reach 4,000 students in 14 schools across the city.

“Our difficult circumstances over the past 100 years mean that education is now our only asset,” said Tahboub. “It was the one thing we could carry with us.”

::Wall Street Journal

Image of cell phone and window via Shutterstock

Read more about Palestine:

Gaza Man Makes Electric Car in a Day

Israel and Palestine Join Hands to Build Eco-Park

Get a Green Loan from the Green Palestine Investment Company

The post Could Phones Revolutionize Palestinian Agriculture? appeared first on Green Prophet.

MADE is encouraging Muslims to embrace ethical living this Ramadan and to break their fast with Fair-trade

A UK-based organisation called MADE is asking Muslims to look again at the way that their food is traded and to consider going Fair-trade this Ramadan. As they explain, whilst many Muslims are concerned about whether their food is halal or not very few investigate whether it has been ethically traded. And yet, trade justice is an important principle in Islam and Muslims have a responsibility to ensure that they do not consume products that contribute towards injustice.

“We live in an economically unjust world where producers of our food do not earn the income they are due,” MADE explains. “As consumers we have an Islamic responsibility to ensure that our money is not supporting injustice.” They they go on to quote the Qur’an which reads: “Give full measure and full weight in justice, and wrong not people in respect of their goods” (11:85). The ‘Fair Trade in Islam’ campaign aims to increase awareness about the importance of ethical consumption and fair trade in the Muslim community.

Another branch of the fair-trade campaign is focused on encouraging Muslims to buy fair-trade Palestinian good so that Palestinian producers are able to earn a sustainable living for their families. “Palestinian farmers believe passionately in their right to be able to produce and sell products from their own land despite all the existing difficulties,” MADE explains. “With the support of British Muslim consumers, Palestinian farmers hope to be able to increase production so they can stand on their own feet.”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiNxZkrzsBw[/youtube]

The ‘Fair-trade in Islam’ initiative is part of MADE’s Ramadan 2012 ethical living campaign. As well promoting fair-trade, they have been busy curating discussions around bottled water and encouraging people to ‘Drink Tap!’. At recent Islam-related events, they have screened films exposing the environmental impact of bottled water and encouraged people to invest in re-useable bottles instead. As they explain, high consumer demand for bottled water has a high and unecessary impact on our environment. The ‘I Drink Tap!’ campaign is “about encouraging Muslim communities to give up wasteful and environmentally harmful bottled water and drink tap water instead.”

The MADE in Europe campaign in is partnership with Zaytoun & Oxfam. MADE in Europe is also a proud member of the Stop Climate Change Coalition, the UK’s largest group of people dedicated to action on climate change and limiting its impact on the world’s poorest communities.

::MADE

For more on a green Ramadan see:
“Host Greener Iftars At Mosques” Is Imam Zaid Shakir’s Ramadan Message (VIDEO)
Ramadan Food Waste & Green Tips for Cutting it Down
Vegetarian Ramadan Recipes From the Middle East (PHOTOS)

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