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| July 2010 |
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This month a delegation of FoEME representatives were invited to present the Jordan River Rehabilitation Project to the European Union Parliament in a special workshop organized by the S&D Group. The presentation entitled "The Jordan River: Rehabilitation and Trust building: Friends of the Earth Middle East's Jordan River Rehabilitation Project" brought together EU Members of Parliament, parliamentary staff, policy advisers and external supporters. FoEME is currently working to advance support for a regional rehabilitation plan for the Lower Jordan River in partnership with both regional stakeholders and the international community. The FoEME delegation also presented the Jordan River Rehabilitation Project at UNESCO's office in Delft, the Netherlands and held a public event in Amsterdam.
To complement FoEME's recently released environmental flows study entitled "Towards a Living Jordan River: A Regional Strategy to Rehabilitate the Lower Jordan River", FoEME released this month a paper entitled "Environmental Flows and River Basin Management: Case Studies Towards Exploring Best Practices." The paper outlines best practice approaches for providing environmental flows to regulated river water systems in order to maintain their ecological health.
Visit our Jordan River press coverage page for recent articles from the Jordan Business Magazine, Green Prophet 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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Prior to the World Bank's Public Hearings on the Red Dead Conduit held in June in Jordan, Israel and Palestine, FoEME organized a media tour to see first hand one of the possible threats of this proposed project. The tour brought more than 40 journalists to see the experimental mixing pools of Dead Sea Waters and Red Sea Waters, shedding some light, but also more questions, on the environmental risks posed by this project.
FoEME staff and community activists participated in the Public Hearings in all countries. Together with academics, scientists and other organizations, FoEME voiced strong opposition to the way the World Bank is carrying out the Feasibility Study. Concerns were raised that not enough time is being given to scientists and experts to properly study the risks of the project, nor the alternatives that are on the table, and in particular, the rehabilitation of the Jordan River. 
Read more on our Red Dead Conduit / Public Hearing Process '10 page, that includes links to the 3 presentations given by the World Bank, as well as FoEME's comments, our media release and more.
FoEME's efforts on the Dead Sea are supported by the Green Environment Fund. | |
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The Official New 7 Wonders of the World have been elected by more than 100 million votes to represent global heritage throughout history. Through film, television, the Internet and books, people will be sensitized to the beauty of the world’s heritage, both man-made and natural, and be alerted of its destruction and decay.
The DEAD SEA is now in second place and needs your vote!!
If you haven't given your vote yet, please do so at their on-line voting site. | |
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This month FoEME launched a sustainable design competition to generate potential designs for the rooftop area of its Auja Environmental Education Center. The proposals should demonstrate a creative way to design rooftop amenities that reflect the Center’s purpose, local ecology, and environment. The program includes shading, seating, bird watching stations, and a refreshment area to the existing rooftop and site. The Auja Center design competition is open to students and professionals. A panel of FoEME staff will judge all submissions. More details on competition guidelines, submission guidelines, Auja Municipality, the site, and activities at the Auja Center can be found here.
For questions please contact [email protected].
Development of the Auja Center is supported by the Drosos Foundation. | |
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Following complaints of Israeli and Palestinian residents on air pollution originating from the industrial area that is built over the seam line between Tulkarem and Emek Hefer, FoEME has undertaken a campaign to expose the source of the pollution and identify solutions.
In the framework of the "Good Water Neighbors" project, a meeting was organized by the Deputy Mayor of Emek Hefer on June 24th in the industrial area, attended by a group of 10 residents from Tulkarem & Emek Hefer and hosted by the owner of one of the 7 factories operating in the industrial area and allegedly responsible for the air hazard. The owner promised his cooperation with the process. FoEME is also following up on this matter with the Israeli Ministry of Environment, the Tulkarem Governor and Mayor, and the Civil Administration.
The Good Water Neighbors project is supported by USAID, SIDA and the Belgium Foreign Ministry’s Peace Building Desk. | |
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"Like a Bridge over Troubled Waters" was one of the slogans Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian students chose to title their posters at the  CGIS youth camp last week.
The youth camps, which took place in the newly furnished Sharhabil Bin Hassneh EcoPark in Jordan, summarized a year of activity and field research by Water Trustees from 11 neighboring communities. During the camp, youth participated in fun activities, toured their surroundings and planned together a joint campaign after learning about each community's environmental challenges. Students and staff left the camp with a great feeling of hope and strength for a joint "greener" future. We look forward to holding the third CGIS camp with another 6 neighboring communities in mid July.
For photos of the camp, visit our Flickr photo page, and watch this video on our YouTube channel.
The Community GIS project is supported by the EU Partnerships for Peace program. | |
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BBC World Debate invited FoEME's Israeli Director, Gidon Bromberg, to be on an important panel of professionals for a discussion entitled "ARE WE RUNNING OUT OF WATER? Answering such questions as: Is there really a global water shortage, or are supplies just badly managed? Are business and government part of the problem or solution? If we fail to manage global water supplies what might the consequences for the World be - especially for the one billion people without a clean water supply?
The item will be aired 4 times a day on July 17 and 18th. Check your local TV scheduling times for BBC World Debate. | |
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