Friends of the Earth Middle East: "Good Water Neighbors" Annual Regional Conference

Friends of the Earth Middle East divided up its annual "Good Water Neighbors" regional conference this year, holding one for the Jordan River / Dead Sea communities entitled "One Basin – Conflicting Visions" in Amman Jordan, on November 2^nd -3^rd; and one for the Mt. and Coastal Aquifer communities, entitled "A Water Agreement Cannot Wait", in Jerusalem, on Nov. 30^th.

The conference in Amman included 150 Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian mayors, municipal representatives, community residents as well as water experts from all the countries to discuss the different development plans being undertaken for the Jordan River / Dead Sea Basin.

Following presentations by planners from the 3 countries, interesting discussions were held asking "What are the conflicting visions?", "What is our interest in a shared vision?  Pros?  Cons?" and "How do we move forward?"  Read more on our blog page...

Among the 120 guests in the conference in Jerusalem, were MK Yoel Hasson, Head of the new 'Lobby for Water Security' from the Israeli Parliament, Fouad Bateh, senior advisor to the Minister of Water in Palestine, Michael Zaideh, Strategic Planning from the Israeli Water Authority, a representative of the Quartet, Prince Firas from Jordan, water experts, international water law experts from academia, and mayors and residents of our Good Water Neighbors project.  

A new Model Water Agreement was presented to participants. The cross border municipal experience of our Good Water Neighbors communities was highlighted in this event, with discussions and examples given of the difficulties in dealing with the present Joint Water Committee, and calling for a new structure / institution to be created.  For more information, visit the website event page that includes links to the press releases, the agenda, a summary of the conference, and the Oral Presentation given by the speakers.

--------------

On November 22^nd, the ‘Lobby for Water Security in Israel’ was launched at the Knesset, attracting parliamentarians, water experts, activists and concerned residents from all over the country. The Lobby, headed by MK Yoel Hasson (Kadima party), aims to raise awareness regarding the water crisis and to encourage wise investments in the development of water resources, as well as regional cooperation on shared waters.

Friends of the Earth Middle East played a central role at the event. The lobby took shape in the context of our ‘Transboundary Advocacy of Parliamentarians’ project (TAP), which encompasses joint efforts of Palestinian, Jordanian and Israeli residents to advocate at the government level on the shared water issues of their communities.  The TAP project was presented at the event and Israeli activists from the project were able to highlight their concerns of their own water realities and their neighbors' water reality, and called for more equitable and sustainable cross border cooperation on water issues.

Contact information	Mira Edelstein, Resource Development, Friends of the Earth-Middle East (FoEME): P.O.Box 840252, Amman 11191 Jordan / 8 Hanegev St., Tel-Aviv 66186 Israel / P.O. Box 421 Bethlehem, PA (email: info@foeme.org ; mira@foeme.org ; gidon@foeme.org) Phone: +962-6-5866602/3, Fax:+962-6-5866604 / +972-3-5605383, Fax:+972-3-5604693 / +972-2-2747948, Fax:+972-2-2745968
News type	Inbrief
File link	http://foeme.org/www/?module=projects&record_id=32
File link local	FOEME_annual-conference2010.pdf (PDF, 160 Kb)
Source of information	Friends of the Earth-Middle East (FoEME)
Subject(s)	HYDRAULICS - HYDROLOGY , METHTODOLOGY - STATISTICS - DECISION AID , NATURAL MEDIUM , POLICY-WATER POLICY AND WATER MANAGEMENT , PREVENTION AND NUISANCES POLLUTION , RISKS AND CLIMATOLOGY , WATER DEMAND
Relation	http://foeme.org/www/?module=events&record_id=71
Geographical coverage	Palestine, Jordan, Israel,
News date	10/12/2010
Working language(s)	ENGLISH