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ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAM
The IPCRI Environment and Water Program has been in existence since 1994. It
aims to
promote effective cooperation between Israeli and Palestinians
concerned with the environment. It is IPCRI's conviction
that by working together on practical concerns relating to environment and
water representatives of the two communities can both help to save a
threatened environment and improve their understanding of one another's
concerns.
Over the years IPCRI has secured the active involvement of Israeli and
Palestinian ministries and agencies, academics from all the major
universities in both, Israel and Palestine, NGO representatives, and private
business. In cooperation with individuals from all these elements in civil
society it has undertaken
research projects, organized a serious of conferences and seminars,
promoted environmental mediation, undertaken development work on the ground
and put out a variety of publications.
The program since
its inception has had support from, among others, USAID, the European Union,
the German, Dutch, British, and Swedish governments, as well as from private
foundations.
The director of the
program, Robin Twite, was a career official in the British Council and has
worked on environmental issues as director of the IPCRI Environment and
Water Program for over a decade.
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1. Current Activities
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Ecological Wastewater Treatment
for Rural Communities
In the West Bank - Septic Tank to
Constructed Wetland
The mountain aquifer below the West Bank is a shared resource
between Israel and the Palestinians. Even though most of the fresh
water recharge takes place within the area on the Palestinian side
of the green line, the most important springs and the most
favourable pumping conditions can be found within the Israeli
borders. Therefore, the biggest amount of the aquifer's fresh water
- especially within the most productive western aquifer - is
abstracted and used by Israel, whereas the quality of the ground
water is mostly dependent on the environmental conditions within the
Palestinian territories. The aquifer is carstic, i.e. limestone
formations are dominant which allow infiltrating water to run as
underground streams, rather than being slowly filtrated through
ground-layers. Thus there is hardly any filtration and amendment of
water-properties during the water's passage from the mountain
surface to the groundwater level. This is why an elaborated waste
water treatment is crucial to the quality of the water in the
aquifer.
The
Ecological Wastewater Treatment for Rural
Communities in the West Bank
project is a true example of Palestinian/Israeli cooperation for the
common goals of environmental protection, public health and peace
between peoples.
The village of Om al Rehaan in the Jenin
Governorate in the West Bank has been chosen as the site of a pilot
project managed by IPCRI and financed primarily by the Government of
Japan with substantial contributions from the Governments of
Australia and New Zealand.
By the summer of 2009 all houses in the village
will have been provided with a waste water treatment system which
will benefit the villagers themselves and contribute to the long
term well being of the mountain aquifer.
It is intended to further extend this work by
providing similar systems to five other villages. IPCRI is working
closely with the Palestinian Water Authority and the Israeli
authorities in developing this activity.
Objectives
The main objective of this project is to provide
an ecological, low-cost, low maintenance, alternative to
conventional sewage treatment that can be implemented in rural
villages to provide wastewater treatment to residents and offset
pollution of the underlying aquifer by untreated sewage.
Israel has three main water sources: the Sea of
Galilee, the Coastal Aquifer, and the Mountain Aquifer. The Mountain
Aquifer is unique in that it is a shared fresh water resource
between Israelis and Palestinians. The recharge area of the Aquifer
includes most of the West Bank and some parts of Israel. The quality
of the groundwater is threatened mainly due to limited sewage
treatment for villages located in the West Bank. Untreated sewage
flows into unsanitary cesspits on the surface of the Mountain
Aquifer and percolates into the ground. Scientific data indicate
that portions of the Aquifer are already polluted by nitrate and
fecal coliform which are commonly found in wastewater.
The Solution
Many of the villages in the West Bank are
isolated and stand on rocky ground. To provide them with
conventional treatment systems is very expensive and such systems
are unlikely to be provided for many years. Therefore, sewage
treatment would best be achieved by an on-site, low-cost, simple,
natural solution, such as a septic tank to constructed wetland
system.
This system is a natural “green” alternative to
conventional sewage treatment. The system is passive, relying on
gravity rather than on a series of electric pumps. Treatment is
performed by biological not chemical means and the treated water is
used for irrigation which would otherwise use potable water. The
septic tank/wetland system will replace the common cesspit currently
being used in rural West Bank communities. Wastewater collected in
the plumbing system of each home is conveyed by gravity to an
underground septic tank. Subsequently, the water from each tank is
piped to a shared wetland for additional treatment before it is
discharged as irrigation water for selected crops.
IPCRI believes that a practical approach to
problems such as that of sanitation lays the foundations for
understanding between those concerned with environmental problems in
Israel and Palestine.
GLOWA – Jordan River
The impact of climate change on
the Jordan Basin
GLOWA Jordan River is an
interdisciplinary project addressing the vulnerability of water
resources in the Jordan River Basin under global climate change. The
project is financed by the Federal Republic of Germany and includes
research teams from Israel, Germany, Jordan and Palestine. The
project aims to provide scientific support for long term management
practices and effective response to the potentially adverse effects
of global warming on the region.
Among areas of study are the extent
of climate change, the hydrology of the region, biodiversity issues,
agricultural practices, the impact of potential economic and social
change, and, of course, water management concerns.
GLOWA Jordan River has been active
since 2003. IPCRI joined the consortium in 2007 in Phase II of the
project and is a partner in Phase III which began in February, 2009
and will last for three years.
IPCRI's role is to work with other
members of the consortium to help ensure that the results of the
research undertaken as part of GLOWA, become known to as those
Israelis, Jordanians and Israelis who are directly involved in
decision making in the field of water management in the Jordan Basin
as well as to others with a direct interest in its future – the
"stakeholders" whose future either as residents of the region,
planners working in the area, or local government representatives,
will be directly affected by climate change. A series of workshops
will be held over the next three years designed to make this process
effective. .
IPCRI is also
working in parallel with a team from the University of Kassel under
the direction of Professor Joseph Alcamo which is preparing
scenarios into which will be integrated
both the
scientific findings of the research teams and the potential impact
of political and social change in the region. These scenarios,
together with another element in the GLOWA project WEAP, an on-line
data base into which the findings of GLOWA will be integrated and
presented in a user-friendly format, will enable decision makers to
make good use of the work being done under the GLOWA umbrella.
Full details about the GLOWA project
can be found on the website:
http://www.glowa-jordan-river.de/
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2. IPCRI Fact Sheets
During 2009 IPCRI will be
issuing a series of fact sheets designed to assist the well informed, but
not specialist, reader with an interest in the environmental problems of our
region get a better understanding of environment and water issues in our
region.
The first of these deals with
desalination and gives details both of current realities and plans for the
future.
Desalination – the solution to water scarcity in Israel, Jordan and
Palestine?
Water scarcity is recognized as a major threat to the future of Israel,
Jordan and Palestine.
It has
long been appreciated that desalination of sea water represents a possible
solution to the water problems of the three countries. This Fact Sheet sets
out the basic facts about desalination in the region and attempts to assess
the pros and cons of its use on a large scale.
Desalination in Israel
Until
the nineteen nineties,
desalination in Israel was limited to small brackish
water desalination plants serving remote settlements, not reached by the
national water supply grid and a single small plant in Eilat. The need for
seawater desalination on a large scale was not seriously considered since
fresh water was being provided by the transport of Sea of Galilee water via
the National Water Carrier (NWC). This fresh water supply expanded
utilization of local aquifers, effected distribution of blended surface and
ground waters to all customers through regional grids, and increased
agricultural water use efficiency and the partial shifting of agricultural
irrigation to recycled wastewater (Dreizin
et al, 2008, p. 133)
However in
the last decade of the twentieth century, attitudes changed as it became
clear that existing fresh water resources, however well managed,
would not be sufficient to meet increasing demand.
The fact
that the costs of desalination were progressively reduced by developments in
technology was also a key factor in making desalination a realistic option.
For further
information on this fact sheet please download the entire fact sheet from
the website by clicking
here.
3. PROPOSED
PROJECTS
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 International
Conference in Aqaba
- Creating a sustainable
Future - developing effective environmental cooperation between Israel,
Jordan and Palestine -
Only if there is effective cooperation between Israel, Jordan and
Palestine, can the environmental problems of the region be dealt with
and the people of the region given a sustainable future. While
cooperation at a government to government level is evidently crucial,
equally important are contacts between civil society. universities,
research institutes, non-governmental organizations, and those involved
in private business.
This conference will give the opportunity for the participants to
contribute to the development of long term cooperative projects and to
share information vital to all parties. Currently cooperation is limited
- there are few long term research projects involving professionals from
the three countries and, generally speaking, contacts between those
concerned with environment and water problems are weak. This state of
affairs must change.
If you want to read more click
here!
Desalination
Together with international partners
IPCRI is actively preparing a project to form form a consortium of
environmental NGOs and Environmental Academic Research centers from
each country on the Mediterranean (except for Libya). There will be
one environmental NGO and one environmental academic research
center. The project is supposed to be funded by the European Union within the
framework of the Regional Capacity Building Initiative.
If you want to read more click
here.
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4. PAST
ACTIVITIES
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Between 1999 and
2004 IPCRI organized a program on environmental
mediation in cooperation with the Consensus
Building Institute, Boston, USA and its director
– Professor Larry Suskind: The program involved
a course lasting 120 hours held in Israel and
Palestine at which twelve Israelis and twelve
Palestinians in the techniques of developed by
the Consensus Building Institute. The
participants included leading environmentalists
from both communities and had financial support
from the Rasmussen Foundation in Boston. A new
NGO, the Joint Environment Mediation
Service(JEMS)
was established and
two cross border environmental conflicts were
worked upon. However the outbreak of the Second
Intifada in September 2000 limited the ability
of JEMS to resolve these. Work was, however,
carried out over an eighteen month period on a
long standing conflict at the Nahal Salman
National Park in the Galilee which pitted the
National Parks Authority against residents of
communities bordering on the Park. Twenty eight
stakeholders were involved in the mediation
which resulted in a signed agreement designed to
limit conflict over the future of the Park and
its protection.
IPCRI is still
actively encouraging the spread of environmental
mediation techniques in both Israel and
Palestine.
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IPCRI
participated in the OPTIMA
(OPTImisation for Sustainable Water MAnagement) Project,
that brought together 14 partners from 12 different
Mediterranean countries. The project was supported by
the European Union.
OPTIMA
worked to improve efficiency in the use and
allocation of water in the Mediterranean region,
especially in the coastal zone of the South and East, in
order to ensure sustainable development where economies
are developing, and land use and demography are
changing.
The case
study for which IPCRI was responsible aimed to work with
Israelis and Palestinians in cooperation with the
relevant water authorities and international experts, on
how to best the Wadi Zoema/ River Alexander basin can be
managed to their mutual advantage. The primary
investigators of the case study in Israel/Palestine were
Dr. Nir Becker, Haifa University and Marwan Haddad, An
Najah University.
In the
final year, the main focus was put on the collection of
data and the involvement of stakeholders. All the
partners in the project attended meetings in Malta and
in Turkey.
Further details obtainable from the
OPTIMA website:
http://www.ess.co.at/OPTIMA/
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IPCRI
was a partner in a project concerned with securing
Palestinian involvement and with course planning during
the first NATO sponsored
Advanced Study Institute which was held in the
Arava Institute for Environmental Studies (AIES) in
Israel. The ASI is was entitled "Integrated Water
Resource Management in the Middle East". The goal of
this Advanced Study Institute is to bring professionals
together in the field on water management from NATO,
partner and Mediterranean Dialogue countries to examine
and discuss interdisciplinary approaches to water
management and its relevance to environmental security.
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Cooperation with the Stockholm International Water
Institute 2003/2006), namely in the course of the World
Waster Week in Stockholm where IPCRI had organized a
seminar in Water and Agriculure in the Middle East. More
information about the World Water Week and IPCRI's
participation can be found
here
and on the website
http://www.worldwaterweek.org/.
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Organization of the IPCRI Conference Second
Israeli-Palestinian-International Conference "Water for
Life" which took place in Antalya, Turkey, on October 10th
- 14th
2004. The objective
of the conference was to provide an on-going forum for
fruitful dialogue, development of mutual understanding
and mutual respect between Israeli, Palestinian and
other Middle Eastern and international water
specialists. The conference aimed to present subjects of
interest for water scientists, engineers, economists,
lawyers, administrators, managers and policy makers. The
goal was to provide a basis for improved cooperation
between the peoples of the region and the international
community in developing, managing and protecting their
scarce shared water resources and for the promotion of
“Water for Life” for the benefit of all the nations of
the region. You can read more about the conference by
clicking
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Click
here for general information.
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Click
here for the Conference Announcement.
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Click
here for PowerPoint presentations of the
conference.
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Click
here for conference papers on the
Israeli-Palestinian water issue.
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Click
here
for the Joint Statement of the Participants.
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Click
here
for information about the proceedings which were
published in 2005 by the Springer Verlag.
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A three day residential
seminar on the problem posed by the Disposal of Solid
Waste in Israel and Palestine took place in November
1999. It was attended by senior officials of the Israeli
and Palestinian Ministries of the environment and
health, by the city engineers of Hebron, Bethlehem,
Salfit and other local authority officials, and by
representatives of the World Bank. The seminar was
designed to secure agreement about future collaboration,
and resulted in significant, practical recommendations,
some of which are currently being implemented.
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A
two-week cooperative training program in partnership
with the Nature and National Parks Protection Authority
of Israel and the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture
designed to improve the capabilities of Palestinian
staff responsible for the Management of National
Parks, Open Spaces, and Forests. The program took
place in July 1999, half in Israel and half in
Palestine.
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IPCRI collaborated in the
organization of the GIPRI's Water for Peace Conference
which took place in Geneva, Switzerland in March 2006.
The conference was supported by the Geneva Environment
Network and UNESCO and it was organized with the
collaboration of IPCRI and many academics belonging to
the Universities of Geneva.
The conference dealt with the
Israelis-Palestinian water problems, with the aim of
giving a contribution to the Israeli-Palestinian road to
peace. More information can be found at
ww.gipri.ch.
5. PUBLICATIONS
Proceedings of the IPCRI Conference on Micronutrient Deficiency
Conditions in Israel and in Palestine and their Prevention. The
proceedings are published in the “Public Health Review” Volume
28 (ISSN 03010422) and came out in March 2001. The conference
was attended by high-level doctors, nutritionists, officials
from both Israeli Ministry of Health and the Palestinians
Authority, as well as scholars from abroad and a powerful
delegation came from the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta,
Georgia. It represents an innovative attempt to look at a
serious long-term problem and to change the direction of public
policy in both Israel and Palestine.
Proceedings of an International Conference on Public Awareness
on Environmental Issues in Israel.
This Conference was held in January 2000, and
attended by over 150 Israeli and Palestinian Environmentalists
(both from ministries and the non-governmental sector), by
representatives of the media, and by industrialists and others
to whom the environment is a direct concern. The participants
heard from senior activists from abroad about the work they were
doing – these include the Secretary General of the Green Party
of Germany and the director of the worldwide Unilever
environmental Program.
Publication
in 1994 of Our Shared Environment,
a book of articles, ten written by Israelis and ten by
Palestinians, on different aspects of the environment of the
region. This text remains a basic reference source.
Publication of 1993 of the first book written jointly by
Israelis and Palestinians on the long-term challenge of sharing
water resources in the region.
This book, A Proposal for the Development of a Regional Water
Master Plan, helped set the stage for Israeli-Palestinian
cooperation on long-term water management.
Publication
in 2007 of a book as a follow up to the 2nd
Israeli-Palestinian International Conference on Water for Life
in the Middle East held in Antalya, Turkey in October 2004. The
book titled "Water Resources in the Middle East,
Israel-Palestinian Water Issues From Conflict to Cooperation" is
the 2nd
Volume in the Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security
and Peace. This source is a compilation authored by a group of
leading Palestinian, Israeli and international water experts
edited by Hillel Shuval of Hadassh Academic College and Hassan
Dweik of Al-Quds Universtiy.
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Administration
The director of the IPCRI Environment Program is Robin Twite.
He can be contacted at: robin@ipcri.org
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