Water Treaties
Last week’s blog outlined the influence water can have on local security situations, specifically its role in conflicts in the Middle East. As the water wars rationale implies, these so-called water wars are based on water scarcity, competitive use and the countries being enemies due to a wider conflict. Picking up arms is not the […]
Water wars in the Middle East
“If many of the wars this century were about oil, those of the next century will be over water,”1 Ismail Serageldin, vice-president of the World Bank at the time, declared to Newsweek in 1995. Alongside the degradation of air quality and soil depletion, water resources’ quantity and quality are already defined as part of these […]
Reflections of an intern
My story with Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) began with a guide book. Coming for some time to Israel, I was willing to meet people and discover organizations that really make a change in this part of the world. Environment and agriculture being my field of interest, I paid particular attention to the […]
My FoEME internship…time to look back
After finishing my master’s degree in Physical Geography and Geoinformatics I was leaving Slovakia aiming to be active in implementing my academic knowledge and to learn more about problems with water management, pollution and treatment in the Middle East.
Op-Ed: In Israel, Water Prices Will Continue to Rise
On January 1st, the price of domestic water rose again in Israel. The cost of a cubic meter including sewage treatment is now 9.1 NIS for the first 3.5 cm a month and then 14.64 NIS for the rest. My neighbor reacted with frustration, “But we are blessed with such a good start to […]
Creating hope for the future at FoEME’s youth water trustee camp
As part of Friends of the Earth Middle East’s Good Water Neighbors youth program, yearly camps are organized where young members of different neighboring communities from Jordan, Palestine, and Israel come together to learn about their shared environment. On December 14th and 15th, such a camp was held at the Sharhabil Bin Hassneh EcoPark where […]
An international exchange: Kosovar delegation touring FoEME water initiatives
Earlier this year, six Good Water Neighbors (GWN) coordinators traveled to Kosovo as part of a partnership and exchange forged with the Forum of Civic Initiatives (FIQ). Last month we had a chance to host the second part of this exchange here in our region.
Protecting Ground Water study tour in Israel and Palestine: providing deeper insights of the region’s groundwater situation
On October 22nd, FoEME’s Protecting Ground Water project team launched the first day of the Protecting Ground Water Project’s study tour with the participation of a delegation from the Malaga Municipality in Spain, a partner to the project. This study tour follows on the recent FoEME staff to Malaga municipality this year. The purpose of […]
Cross border cooperation over industrial wastewater pollution – a Good Water Neighbors priority initiative
FoEME’s Good Water Neighbors project (GWN) launched one decade ago to raise awareness of the water problems shared by Jordanians, Palestinians, and Israelis.Over the last months, FoEME staff reached out to stakeholders, decision makers and funding bodies to identify the priority projects needing advancement in those communities. This consultation resulted in the development of Priority […]
Environmental Education
Although opinions differ about the existence of global warming, fact remains that human activity has a profound effect on our natural surroundings. These repercussions are potentially irreversible, and widespread. The clearest and most talked about example of such effects is of course the slow destruction of the Ozone layer. Additionally, human life and development have […]