A healthy and thriving Dead Sea due actions we take today.
Our plan:
To ensure that the Israeli government adopts and implements a policy that combines two courses of action:
- The renewal of water flow in the Lower Jordan River, the main historical water source of the Sea, based on the ‘Northern outline’.
This includes up to 300 million cubic meters of fresh water from the Sea of Galilee plus an additional 400 million cubic meters of from treated wastewater facilities along the Jordan Valley. - To bring the Israeli government to include within the framework of designing the new concession for the ‘Dead Sea Factories’ (by 2030) an incentive to become a sustainable production process i.e.
- Reduce the volume of seawater evaporation that is used in today’s production.
- Return water to the Dead Sea.
Through these actions it will be possible to stabilize the Sea’s level and ensure its existence.
How we operate:
- Preparation of professional policy content.
- Increasing public awareness and exerting public and political pressure to convince and harness decision makers.
- Recruiting relevant parties in Israel, in the region and the world to act on this issue, while taking advantage of the historic window of opportunity we currently face.
The opportunity:
Since the 1960’s, when Israel built its National Water Carrier, water flow into the Lower Jordan River was completely cut off. This was due to the need to use fresh water from the Sea of Galilee for drinking and irrigation purposes. Today, desalination has become Israel’s main source of water and the Sea of Galilee is planned to become the regional strategic water reservoir that receives the desalinated Mediterranean water, that will also serve as a source of water for the Kingdom of Jordan.
- As part of the recent groundbreaking principal agreement signed between Israel, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, an exchange of desalinated water from Israel in the amount of up to 300 million cubic meters per year is planned in exchange for renewable energy from Jordan, funded by the United Arab Emirates government. The streaming of this amount of water down the Lower Jordan, will allow some of it to be channeled, combined with the flow of wastewater – into the Dead Sea. Such an outline will allow, beyond the stabilization of the Dead Sea level, for the restoration of the Southern Jordan Basin as well as significant economic, touristic, and agricultural development in the poorest areas of Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, thereby also contributing to regional stability. According to estimates, this could lead to a jump in the region’s GDP from 4 billion USD to 73 billion USD by 2050.
- In parallel, the current concession for the ‘Dead Sea factories’ in Israel ends in 2030. As part of the preparation for its end, a government process has begun to design the terms of the future concession and its tender. We must ensure that the mistakes of the past are not repeated. Environmental conditions, sanctions and economic incentives must be implemented in the future concession.
- The convergence of these two opportunities creates an unprecedented historical window in the coming years to address the two fundamental factors for the disappearance of the sea.
Goals for 2023:
- Passing a government decision to prepare a government plan for the rehabilitation of the Southern Jordan basin.
- Passing a government decision regarding the transfer of water to the Kingdom of Jordan by way of the River (and not via pipes).
- Mobilization of international support in principle to finance water procurement for the Kingdom of Jordan.
- Publication of a civil draft calling for economic and environmental principles of the next concession, to be placed on the government's table and supported by elected officials.
- Cancellation of the right of refusal in the existing concession law to prevent the non-introduction of environmental conditions to the new concession and the extension of it in its existing format.
Main activity plan for 2023:
- Public campaigns and field activity to influence decision makers and elected officials to pass government decisions and legislation.
- Preparation and publication of professional content in order to influence policy makers processes.
- Launch of an international body/ forum shared by international organizations, governments, religious bodies, and research institutions, working to mobilize public support to finance the restoration of Southern Jordan Basin, the flow of water into the River, and the treatment of sewage by the River's riparian.
- Promoting exposure and international involvement in order to create incentives, “in house” pressure, including the launch of a viral campaigns with prominent international figures calling on leaders to act to save the Dead Sea.
- Cancellation of the right of refusal in the existing concession law to prevent the non-introduction of environmental conditions to the new concession and the extension of it in its existing format.
