Will the Jordan River Keep on Flowing?

Key middle-eastern countries (Jordan, Israel, Palestine and -- sometimes -- Syria) share the Jordan River -- a river that is stressed by drought and over-allocation. In this article, a director of EcoPeace/Friends of the Earth Middle East (the region's only multi-national organization) describes EcoPeace's two-pronged strategy to "save" the Jordan River:

The first is a program called Good Water Neighbors, in which we work with nine river communities — four Jordanian, three Israeli, and two Palestinian, all located on opposite banks — to conserve water and educate people about the value of the Jordan and its wetlands. The second, and more challenging, task is to persuade national leaders to make the tough choices that will revitalize the Jordan: charging more for water, removing large subsidies to agricultural water users, and adopting large-scale conservation programs.

 The so-called Red-Dead project would be rendered obsolete if nations bordering the Jordan would begin putting water back into the river. But with regional governments taking little action, Friends of the Earth Middle East has stepped in to push for measures that will gradually return water to the Jordan. Our approach is two-pronged: The first is a program called Good Water Neighbors, in which we work with nine river communities - four Jordanian, three Israeli, and two Palestinian, all located on opposite banks - to conserve water and educate people about the value of the Jordan and its wetlands. The second, and more challenging, task is to persuade national leaders to make the tough choices that will revitalize the Jordan: charging more for water, removing large subsidies to agricultural water users, and adopting large-scale conservation programs.

For decades now, conflict and human arrogance have been responsible for the demise of the Jordan. Cooperation in search of peace and sustainability is the only hope to restore it to health.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gidon Bromberg is the Israeli director of Friends of the Earth Middle East and was a Yale World Fellow in 2007.