On January 24, Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) Amman office brought together Jordanian decision makers and activist residents from the 8 Jordanian Good Water Neighbor communities to discuss the findings of FoEME’s economic analysis of policy options for water conservation in Jordan.
Attendees included Jordanian parliamentarians from the Water and Agriculture Committee; representatives from the Ministries of Agriculture, Ministry of Environment, and Ministry of Planning; water experts; and community members who were all introduced to the Jordan River Rehabilitation project including technical studies by FoEME on a proposed solution framework.
The participants discussed the role of various stakeholders in the community, each with their own legitimate interests in water supply, and how to balance these competing interests. Community members had the opportunity to raise their concerns directly with the policy-makers present. Their main message was the need to create a holistic policy for water management based on more effective demand management and for institutionalized participation of the public and civil society in decision making in the water sector.
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.
The “Transboundary Advocacy to Parliamentarians” project is supported by the European Union’s Partnerships for Peace program.
Friends of the Earth Middle East, Tel Aviv office partnered with the Mi-La organization in holding its annual “Around the Kinneret” Choral Music Festival. Over 1,000 participants from choirs around Israel participated in the festival with this year’s theme calling for the Rehabilitation of the Lower Jordan River!
This was an exceptional opportunity for FoEME to show hundreds of people select stations on our Jordan Valley Neighbors Path tour and to show them first-hand the challenges facing the River. Participants were invited to sign a petition and sent letters to the Israeli Prime Minister calling for the rehabilitation of the Jordan River to be a project of national priority.
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.
The Good Water Neighbors project is supported by USAID, SIDA and the Belgium Foreign Ministry’s Peace Building Desk.
As part of our CGIS project, this week 12 Israeli Geography and Ecology teachers completed a GIS course at the Ruppin Academic College in Emek Hefer. Teachers learned the basic principals and tools for using GIS for mapping and analyzing spatial and environmental data. The teachers look forward to incorporating GIS in the classroom and will encourage students to conduct active research in identifying environmental hazards and pollution sources.
The CGIS project uses these maps as a tool to promote environmental campaigns.
The “Community GIS” project is supported by the European Union’s Partnerships for Peace program.
FoEME has updated its many “Neighbors Path” tours recently, by publishing new, updated brochures and by posting explanation boards at selected path ‘stations’.
The purpose of the “Neighbors Paths” are to show the natural and cultural heritage of each one of our Good Water Neighbor communities and to learn about the interdependent nature of our water resources, and the need to work in a cross border fashion in order to preserve them. The tours are designed to educate and empower local residents and national and foreign tourists alike. Over 20,000 people have already participated in these tours since their inception 3 years ago.
The Good Water Neighbors project is supported by USAID, SIDA and the Belgium Foreign Ministry’s Peace Building Desk.
This past weekend, students from 3 schools in the Jordan Valley, one each from Israel, Jordan and Palestine, met at FoEME’s EcoPark in Jordan to learn how to develop an effective campaign using the media of filmmaking. Film experts, one from each country, guided the youth in sessions throughout the weekend, with cameras, tripods, and lots of good spirit.
The focus of the film being produced will be on the Jordan River and water disparities between the countries along the Jordan Valley. Using film as the means of a joint campaign is both exciting for the youth involved and can be very effective with great potential for broad viewing through new media.
The Jordan Valley Youth Leadership project is supported by the Yad Hanadiv Foundation.
Much work has been done on the Jordan Valley Environmental Education Center in Auja, Palestine this month. The building has recently been painted with an oasis design, and outdoor “educational groves” are being developed in the outside courtyard.
Each “educational grove”, or station, will showcase good environmental practices, such as solid waste separation and reuse (a composting station), grey water recycling and reuse, a constructed wetland, solar technologies as well as edible (herbs) and water wise plants. A large amphitheatre made of old tires and discarded materials, covered over and colorfully painted, is nearly completed. This will give the many youth that come to the Center – to learn about the Jordan Valley and the environment – a central outdoor seating area.
The Auja Environmental Education Center is supported by the Drosos Foundation.
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