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| December 2009 |
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This year's annual regional conference of the "Good Water Neighbors" project was held in Amman, Jordan on November 4-6, bringing together 250 mayors, other community leaders and active residents from the 25 participating communities to take part in discussions on shared water issues.
Participants were divided into three groups based on geographic / watershed orientation (Jordan Valley, Dead Sea, Mountain Aquifer), with short video clips that preceded main topics for discussions: "Why Cooperate?"; "My Neighbors Water Reality"; and "Influencing Decision Makers". The aim was to share and discuss the role of communities in the region's shared water resources and to offer a platform for continued dialogue.
It was the largest single gathering ever held by the project! You can read more about the conference on our blog page. | |
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FoEME staff was delighted to give a tour of the newly constructed Jordan Valley Environmental Education Center in Auja, Palestine, to representatives of the Belgium Foreign Ministry's Peace Building Desk, supporters of our Good Water Neighbors Project, of which Auja is a participating community.
With land donated by the local municipality and funds raised from several donors, the Center is now almost complete. The Center will teach visitors and students on the importance of the Jordan Valley, its water resources, geology, fauna, flora and its natural, historic and cultural heritage.
Another unique feature of the Center will be the running of a guest house on its second floor, with space for single or group visits, providing additional economic opportunities for the residents of Auja. | |
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The Good Water Neighbors partnering communities of Wadi Fukin and Tzur Hadassah recently learned that their joint petition to  halt the construction of the Separation Barrier, slated to be built between their two communities, has been rejected by the Israeli Military, following four years of silence on the issue. FoEME will now turn to the High Court to appeal the issue and seek to overturn the decision.
An urgent meeting was held with active community members in order to map out next steps and discuss possible future scenarios. Despite the atmosphere of continued tension in the region, the meeting resonated with the two communities expressing their commitment to work together now even more intensely than ever.
Visit our Good Water Neighbors Press Coverage page for a recent article by "The Elders", with reference to FoEME and the peacebuilding work of these two specific communities of our GWN project; on page 35; "The Future".
The Good Water Neighbors project is supported by USAID, SIDA and the Belgium Foreign Ministry’s Peace Building Desk. | |
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Mayors and stakeholders from Israel and Jordan involved in the Jordan River Peace Park initiative, convened for a meeting on the Peace Island, under the roof of the Old Train Station, reiterating their interests and commitments to promote the project, and answering questions proposed to them by visiting journalists.
The Studiosus Travel Agency, who plan to bring 1,500 visitors to the area in 2010, sponsored a week long tour for leading German speaking journalists to the region. The journalists learned about FoEME's proposed Jordan River Peace Park, our ongoing efforts to rehabilitate the Lower Jordan River, and our concerns about the ecological devastation at the Dead Sea. Studiosus anticipates that articles generated from this tour will attract tourists to sign up for their package trips that include the proposed Jordan River Peace Park sites. 
A group of US State Legislators also visited the Jordan River Peace Park this month to learn more about the politics of water in the Jordan River Valley and to the proposed transboundary park.
The Jordan River Peace Park project is presently being supported by the Studiosus Foundation, the Jewish Funders Network / Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund Matching Grant Initiative and the Blaustein Foundation. | |
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Building on last month's Jordan River Rehabilitation Project's Regional Advisory Committee which brought together key ministerial representatives and stakeholders to identify a course of action to restore the Jordan River, the Minister of Regional Cooperation and the Minister of Environment in Israel publicly declared their commitment to rehabilitate the Lower Jordan River. As a first step towards this commitment, the Ministry of Regional Cooperation will invest approximately 250,000 US Dollars to prepare preliminary plans for the rehabilitation of the Jordan River from Degania dam to Naharyim, a section that runs through Israel. In a second stage rehabilitation would take place from Naharyim to Bezek Stream, a section where the Jordan River forms the border between Jordan and Israel and would thus require a cross-border approach to rehabilitation.
Visit our Jordan River press coverage page for recent articles from AFP, Ynet, Sydney Morning Herald, Neues Deutschland, the Telegraph, The Age, Yahoo! News, and more.
The Jordan River Rehabilitation Project is supported by USAID, the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, the Green Environment Fund and the Global Nature Fund / Ursula Merz Foundation. | |
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Similar to last month's Community GIS "Taking Action on Water Hazards" youth camp held in Beit She'an for half the project's participating communities, a 2nd camp was held, this time in Wadi Rum, Jordan, for the remainder Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli communities.
The students compared their field research findings of hazards to water sources, with their neighboring community's results, reviewed actions to be taken in their common campaign, and also spent time hiking together and enjoying the beautiful surroundings of Wadi Rum.
The Community GIS project is supported by the European Union's Partnership for Peace program. | |
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FoEME held a Climate Change workshop this month entitled "The Role of Media in Reporting the Climate Crisis: A Round-Table for  Editors, Reporters, and Decision-Makers." The workshop, co-organized with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, included key note speaker Alex Kirby, former BBC environmental correspondent (by video-conference); as well as MK Nitzan Horowitz; Aviv Lavie, Ma'ariv; Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University; Youval Arbel, FoEME; and Tzur Mishal, Ecolnoa.
This event is part of an ongoing series of workshops to present FoEME's Climate Change Policy Notebook for Decision Makers, and leverage influential groups (such as the media) to create the political will needed to achieve successful climate solutions.
FoEME's Climate Change efforts are supported by the Heinrich Boell Stiftung. | |
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To our friends and supporters in London: you are invited to a Book Launch; “Climate Change and Energy Insecurity: The  Challenge for Peace, Security and Development”, edited by Felix Dodds, Andrew Higham and Richard Sherman, to which FoEME contributed an important chapter on the effects of climate change on the region's water resources.
The launch will take place atthe BT Centre in BTC-1 Auditorium on Friday 4th December 2009 at 7.30pm. The evening will begin with light refreshments and a number of speeches from some of the chapter authors followed by an opportunity to catch up with friends, colleagues and leading thinkers in the field of sustainable development.
Please RSVP to Beth Harrison at [email protected] | |
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