Culture of Water Program

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Project ID

Project Title

Culture of Water Program

Type

Water Cooperation Initiative

Focus Areas

Research, capacity building, conference: water security, IWRM, water for agriculture

Geographic Scope

Middle East: Israel, Jordan, Palestinian territories

Lead Organization(s)

Peres Center for Peace

Project Partners

Mainly Jordan, Israel, Palestinian territories, in addition international entities.

Financing

Timeframe

Started 2002

Status

Project website(s)

http://www.peres-center.org/SectionProject.asp?cc=01090203

Contacts

Contents

Description

Water security is a common concern for all Middle Eastern nations, thereby presenting an opportunity for regional cooperation. With this in mind, the Agriculture Department of the Peres Center has teamed up with Jordanian, Israeli and international entities, to devise a comprehensive program entitled "Culture of Water" which was launched in 2002. The program emphasizes the need to transfer technologies and disseminate new methods to attain better economic use of water for the benefit of the Jordanian, Israeli and Palestinian agricultural sectors.


Over the past four years, the Center of Excellence in Jordan – which the Peres Center established within the framework of this initiative – has been advancing different methods of efficient water use. New crops grown under water saving technologies have produced impressive results, and have great economic promise, generating up to three times the income of traditional crops. For example, considerable progress has been made regarding the use of saline water to grow halophyte crops, including the successful acclimatization of the salicornia crop.

Multiple groups comprised of Israelis, Jordanians, Palestinians, Iraqis, Japanese and others have visited, and continue to visit, the Center of Excellence in Jordan, in order to learn about these new water saving techniques. Additionally, a distance learning program has been launched with modules in English and Arabic, serving the farming and rural communities of the Middle East.


Such efforts have been complemented by various workshops that have been held to share information accumulated through the project, including a conference for 30 Jordanian, Israeli and Palestinian experts and decision-makers in water issues, held in March 2006. During the workshop, the latest technologies to promote the efficient use of water and the reuse of treated sewage water were presented, and visits to the Ramat Hanegev and Yoav/Lachish R&D Centers in Israel were held, allowing participants to view demonstrations regarding reuse of marginal (waste and saline) water.


The ‘Culture of Water’ programme also included:

  • A Forum on Economic Cooperation between Jordan and Israel in July 2007 held in Wittenberg, Germany;
  • A Workshop for Jordanian and Israeli professionals in March 2007 on Water Resources Management for Agricultural and Urban Use; and
  • A conference for Jordanian, Israeli and Palestinian experts and decision-makers on water issues.


Level of involvement: Universities and research institutes, farmers, communities.

Expected Outcomes

Achievements: Results and Impact

Lessons for Replication

References

See also

External Resources

Attachments

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