Environment
‘The true servants of the most gracious are those who tread gently on the earth.’
Quran, sura 25, verse 63
The Middle East is home to some of the most pressing environmental issues of our time. Indeed, there are few regions of the world where the human impact upon the environment has been quite so devastating. More than that, as one of the world’s largest oil-producing regions, the Middle East’s size far outweighs its contribution to the gathering global environmental crisis. There are pockets of good news, but the governments of the region have, in general, yet to realise the urgency of the situation. Given that environmental issues – especially water scarcity – are invariably transformed into security concerns in this part of the world, such delays in addressing environmental issues are luxuries that few governments will soon be able to afford.
For more information on travelling responsibly in the region, Click here.
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THE LAND
Wrapping itself around the eastern Mediterranean and with its feet on three continents, the Middle East acts like a pivot for some of the oldest inhabited regions on earth. Appropriately, for such an important crossroads, the Middle East is home to some epic landforms, from the deserts that engulf much of the region and high mountain ranges of the north to some of history’s most famous and important rivers.
Deserts
The world’s largest desert, the Sahara, does more than occupy Egyptian territory – it covers 93% of the country. Although the Egyptian case is extreme, other countries of the region face a similar situation with all of the attendant issues for land-use and water scarcity: 77% of Jordanian and Iraqi territory is considered to be desert, while the figure for Israel and the Palestinian Territories is 60%. Although deserts dominate much of the region, they’re rarely home to the sandy landscapes of childhood imaginings. Apart from the Saharan sand seas in parts of Egypt, sand dunes of any great significance are rare in a region where stony gravel plains are the defining feature.
Deserts, or at least the oases strung out across the wastes, have played an important role in the history of the region. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Syrian oasis of Palmyra (Click here), which became a crucial watering point for caravans travelling the Silk Road and between Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean. The oases of Egypt’s Western Desert (Click here), especially Siwa, served a similar function for trans-Saharan caravans.
The most accessible desert for travellers is Jordan’s Wadi Rum (Click here) with its exceptional sandstone and granite jebels rising from the sands. Stirring expeditions are also possible in Egypt’s Western Desert (which forms part of the Sahara) and the Negev (Click here) in southern Israel and the Palestinian Territories. For more information on desert expeditions, Click here.
Mountains
Although deserts dominate most popular perceptions of Middle Eastern landscapes, mountains provide plenty of their own drama, especially in Turkey and Lebanon. Eastern Turkey is simply glorious with seriously high mountains rising above 5000m – the 5137m-high Mt Ararat (Ağrı Dağı) is the highest mountain in the countries covered by this book, although Mt Damavand (5671m) in neighbouring Iran is the Middle East’s highest peak. Southeastern Anatolia offers windswept rolling steppe, jagged outcrops of rock that spill over into far north Iraq.
Elsewhere in Turkey, both the Black Sea and Mediterranean coasts cower beneath towering peaks, before giving way to the vast, high plateau of rolling steppe and mountain ranges of Central Anatolia.
In Lebanon, the Mt Lebanon Range forms the backbone of the country and towers over the Mediterranean. The range rises steeply with a dramatic set of peaks and ridges; the highest peak, Qornet as-Sawda, southeast of Tripoli, reaches over 3000m. South of Beirut are the beautiful Chouf Mountains. To the east the Mt Lebanon Range gives way steeply to the Bekaa Valley, which in turn yields to the Anti-Lebanon Range, a sheer arid massif averaging 2000m in height, which forms a natural border with Syria. Lebanon’s mountains peter out to the north, crossing the frontier with Syria, whose Mediterranean coast is separated from the rest of the country by the Jebel Ansariyya.
Rivers
It’s difficult to overestimate the significance of the rivers that flow into and through the Middle East. The Nile, which runs for 6695km, 22% of it in Egypt, is the longest river on earth and along its banks flourished the glorious civilisation of ancient Egypt. Other Middle Eastern rivers resonate just as strongly with legends and empires past. According to the Bible, the Euphrates and Tigris are among the four rivers that flowed into the Garden of Eden and they would later provide the means for the cradle of civilisation in Mesopotamia. The Jordan River, the lowest river on earth, also features prominently in biblical texts.
But the significance of these rivers is anything but old news. Even today, they provide the lifeblood for the people of Egypt (90% of whose population lives along the Nile), Israel and Palestinian Territories, Iraq, Jordan and eastern Syria, many of whom cling to the riverbanks for life support. Were it not for the rivers that run through these lands – hence providing a water source and narrow fertile agricultural zones close to the riverbanks – it’s difficult to see how these regions could support life at all.
For more information on the Euphrates River, turn to the boxed text, Click here.
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WILDLIFE
Animals
Occupying the junction of three natural zones, the Middle East was once a sanctuary for an amazing variety of mammals. Hardly any are left. The list of species driven to extinction by hunting and other consequences of human encroachment – among them, cheetahs, lions and Nile crocodiles – tells in microcosm the story of the irreparable damage that humankind has wrought upon the Middle Eastern environment. If you see anything more exciting than domesticated camels, donkeys and water buffaloes, you’ll belong to a very small group of lucky Middle Eastern travellers. To make matters worse, despite a growing awareness of what has been lost, official government policies to protect wildlife are as rare as many of the animals.
There are exceptions to this otherwise gloomy outlook. The most famous of these is the campaign to save the Arabian oryx (see the boxed text, opposite), while the Israeli initiative known as Hai Bar (literally ‘wildlife’) has also provided a small beacon of hope.
Begun more than 40 years ago, Israel’s Hai Bar program set itself the most ambitious of aims: to reintroduce animals that roamed the Holy Land during biblical times by collecting a small pool of rare animals, breeding them, then reintroducing them to the wild. As a result, the wild ass, beloved by the Prophet Isaiah, has turned the corner and may soon be off the endangered list. But the story of the Persian fallow deer is the one that really captured the public imagination. A small group of the species was secretly flown in from Iran in 1981 on the last El Al flight to leave before the Islamic revolution. These shy animals have taken hold in the Galilee reserve of Akhziv and around the hills that lead to Jerusalem.
Although casual wildlife sightings are rare, a dedicated expedition away from well-travelled routes, or a visit to a wildlife reserve (Click here), will definitely increase your chances of success. Desert expeditions in Egypt’s Sinai or Sahara offer the chance to see gazelle, rock hyraxes, fennec fox and even the graceful Nubian ibex. Trekking in the Chouf Mountains, south of Beirut, might also yield a rare sighting of wolves, wild cats, ibex and gazelle. Oryx, ostrich, gazelle and Persian onager, all of which are being reared for reintroduction to the wild, are on show at Jordan’s Shaumari Wildlife Reserve (Click here) in eastern Jordan, while Jordan’s striking caracal (Persian lynx), a feline with outrageous tufts of black hair on the tips of its outsized, pointy ears, is occasionally seen in Wadi Mujib (Click here) and Dana (Click here) nature reserves. The rare loggerhead turtle nests on some of Turkey’s Mediterranean beaches, including Dalyan (Click here).
BIRDS
In contrast to the region’s dwindling number of high-profile wildlife, the variety of bird life in the Middle East is exceptionally rich. As well as being home to numerous indigenous species, the Middle East, despite the critical loss of wetlands in Jordan and Iraq, continues to serve as a way-station on migration routes between Asia, Europe and Africa. Twice a year, half a billion birds of every conceivable variety soar along the Syro-African rift, the largest avian fly way in the world, which is compressed into a narrow corridor along the eastern edge of Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
Saving the Arabian Oryx
For many in the Middle East, the Arabian oryx is more than just an endangered species. Thought by some to be the unicorn of historical legend, the herbivorous oryx is a majestic creature that stands about a metre high at the shoulder and has enormous horns that project over half a metre into the air.
Adapted well to their desert environment, wild oryx once had an uncanny ability to sense rain on the wind. One herd is recorded as having travelled up to 155km, led by a dominant female, to rain. In times of drought, oryxes have been known to survive 22 months without water, obtaining moisture from plants and leaves.
Their white coats offered camouflage in the searing heat of the desert, providing a measure of protection from both heat and hunters, but the oryxes and their long, curved horns were highly prized and they were stalked relentlessly for them. In 1972, the last wild Arabian oryx was killed by hunters in Oman, which lead officials to declare the oryx extinct in the wild. Nine lonely oryxes left in captivity around the world were pooled and taken to the Arizona Zoo for a breeding program. They became known as the ‘World Oryx Herd’ and eventually grew to over 200 in number.
In 1978 four male and four female oryxes were transported to Jordan and three more were sent from Qatar the following year. In 1979 the first calf, Dusha, was born and the oryx began the precarious road to recovery. By 1983 there were 31 oryxes in Shaumari Wildlife Reserve in eastern Jordan, where large enclosures and their treatment as wild animals served to facilitate their eventual release into the wild. In a landmark for environmentalists the world over, a breeding group of oryxes was reintroduced into the wild in the Wadi Rum Protected Area in 2002, a measure that has sadly not been as successful as hoped. Further efforts to reintroduce the oryx into the wild are continuing in other parts of the country.
Israel claims to be the world’s second-largest fly way (after South America) for migratory birds and the Society for the Protection of the Nature of Israel (SPNI; Map ; 
in Israel 03-566 0960; www.teva-tlv.org/eng_home.html) has an excellent map and guide, the Bird Trails of Israel, detailing 14 bird-watching centres.
Other organisations worth contacting include the following:
International Birding & Research Centre (www.birdsofeilat.com)
International Birdwatching Center of the Jordan Valley ( in Israel 04-6068396; www.birdwatching.org.il)
International Center for the Study of Bird Migration (www.birds.org.il)
Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Al-Fayoum Oasis, and Wadi Araba in Jordan also receive an enormous and varied amount of ornithological traffic. Egypt alone has recorded sightings of over 430 different species.
MARINE LIFE
The Red Sea teems with more than 1000 species of marine life, and is an amazing spectacle of colour and form. Fish, sharks, turtles, stingrays, dolphins, corals, sponges, sea cucumbers and molluscs all thrive in these waters.
Coral is what makes a reef a reef – though thought for centuries to be some form of flowering plant, it is in fact an animal. Both hard and soft corals exist, their common denominator being that they are made up of polyps, which are tiny cylinders ringed by waving tentacles that sting their prey and draw it into their stomach. During the day corals retract into their tube, displaying their real colours only at night. Most of the bewildering variety of fish species in the Red Sea – including many that are found nowhere else – are closely associated with the coral reef, and live and breed in the reefs or nearby sea-grass beds.
It’s well known that the world’s coral reefs and other marine life are under threat from the effects of global warming, but there are plenty of local causes that threaten a more imminent death. This is especially the case in the Red Sea waters off Hurghada where, conservationists estimate, more than 1000 pleasure boats and almost as many fishing boats ply the waters. Fifteen years ago, there was nothing to stop captains from anchoring to the coral, or snorkellers and divers breaking off a colourful chunk to take home. However, due largely to the efforts of the Hurghada Environmental Protection & Conservation Association (Hepca; www.hepca.com) and the Egyptian National Parks Office in Hurghada, the Red Sea’s reefs are at last being protected. Set up in 1992 by 15 of the town’s more reputable dive companies, Hepca’s program to conserve the Red Sea’s reefs includes public-awareness campaigns, direct community action and lobbying of the Egyptian government to introduce appropriate laws. Thanks to these efforts, the whole coast south of Suez Governorate is now known as the Red Sea Protectorate. Over 570 mooring buoys have been set up at popular dive sites around Hurghada and marine rangers from the Egyptian National Parks Office police the waters. A symbolic ‘reef conservation tax’ has also been introduced.
Although less celebrated, the marine environment of the Mediterranean also faces considerable challenges. As late as the mid-1990s Lebanon still did not have a single functioning wastewater treatment plant, and raw sewage was pouring into the sea. A number of treatment plants have since been rehabilitated and new ones built, but offshore water quality remains a concern. In 2006, during the Israel-Hezbollah war, things again took a turn for the worse after Israeli aircraft bombed the coastal power plant at Jiyyeh, south of Beirut. An estimated 15,000 tonnes of fuel oil spilled into the sea, threatening wildlife, marine life and delicate ecosystems, as well as the livelihoods of local fishermen.
Plants
Middle Eastern flora tends to be at its lushest and most varied in the north, where the climate is less arid, although after millennia of woodcutting Turkey and Syria are now largely denuded. Only the Mediterranean coast west of Antalya and the Black Sea area and northeast Anatolia still have forests of considerable size.
In Lebanon, the Horsh Ehden Forest Nature Reserve is the last archetype of the ancient natural forests of Lebanon and is home to several species of rare orchids and other flowering plants. The cedars for which Lebanon is famous are now confined to a few mountain-top sites, most notably at the small grove at the Cedars ski resort (Click here) and the Chouf Cedar Reserve (Click here) in the Chouf Mountains. For more information about Lebanon’s cedars see the boxed text, Click here.
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NATIONAL PARKS & WILDLIFE RESERVES
In a region where governments face a legion of serious social, political and security issues, it’s perhaps remarkable that there are any national parks at all. As it is, most of the region’s officially protected areas are national parks and wildlife reserves in name only. Optimists may call them admirable statements of intent. The cynics would probably prefer to describe them as attempts to create token projects as a means of showing goodwill without having to do much at all to protect the environment. The truth, which varies from country to country, lies somewhere in between. Yes, it’s a good thing that these parks and reserves exist, even if only because their resemblance to recreation areas encourages locals to actively experience and thus think more about their environment. But most parks are poorly patrolled and poorly funded, calling into question their long-term effectiveness.
Syria and, for understandable reasons, Iraq are bottom of the class when it comes to setting aside protected areas. Apart from a handful nature reserves that you may never realise you’ve passed through, Syria has one of the lowest ratios of protected areas to total land area of any country in the Mediterranean region.
Next comes Egypt, which has set aside 23 ‘protected areas’, although their status varies wildly and government funding is negligible. The Nile Islands Protected Area, which runs all the way from Cairo to Aswan, suffers from the fact that no one really knows, least of all the government, which islands are included, and most are inhabited and cultivated without restriction. At the other end of the scale, Ras Mohammed National Park (Click here) in the Red Sea is an impressive symbol of what can be done when the government puts its mind to it.
Nearly 25 years ago the Jordanian government established 12 protected areas, totalling about 1200 sq km, amounting, in total, to just 1% of Jordan’s territory. Some were abandoned, but the rest survive thanks to the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN; www.rscn.org.jo), Jordan’s major environmental agency. Its activities include saving animal, plant and bird species from extinction; conducting public-awareness programs among Jordanians, especially children; sponsoring environmental clubs throughout the country; training guides; promoting ecotourism; fighting against poaching and hunting; and lobbying against mining. The limited resources of the RSCN are used to maintain and develop six of Jordan’s reserves, including the impressive the Shaumari Wildlife Reserve (Click here) and Dana Nature Reserve (Click here).
Lebanon comes under the category of ‘trying hard, but could do better’. Most national parks have a ‘Friends Association’, offering both environmental and practical information for visitors. The most impressive site is undoubtedly the Chouf Cedar Reserve (Click here), which, at 50,000 hectares, covers an astonishing 5% of the country’s entire area and is home to 30 mammal species and six cedar forests, including three that contain old-growth cedars.
In recent years, thanks to EU aspirations, Turkey has stepped up its environmental protection practices. The growing number of protected areas includes 33 national parks, 16 nature parks and 35 nature reserves. It also includes 58 curiously named ‘nature monuments’, which are mostly protected trees, some as old as 1500 years. Sometimes the parks’ regulations are carefully enforced, but at other times a blind eye is turned to such problems as litter-dropping picnickers. Visitor facilities are rare.
The Middle East’s star environmental performer is undoubtedly Israel due to its strong regulation of hunting and a system of nature reserves comprising some 25% of the land. However, the parks are not without their problems. Many are minuscule in size and isolated, providing only limited protection for local species. Moreover, many of the reserves in the south are also used as military firing zones. One of the best reserves to visit for wildlife in Israel is Ein Gedi (Click here), on the shores of the Dead Sea.
Local Environmental Organisations
Middle Eastern governments may be lagging behind the rest of the world when it comes to environmental protection, but they’re being shown the way by others. There are a number of impressive NGOs with an environmental focus in the region, such as Friends of the Earth Middle East (www.foeme.org) with Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian offices, or one of the following organisations:
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Israel & the Palestinian Territories
For more information on Israeli environmental groups, see the boxed text, Click here.
Galilee Society (www.gal-soc.org) Israel’s leading Arab-Israeli environmental activism group.
House of Water & Environment (www.hwe.org.ps) An up-and-coming Ramallah-based NGO with strong professional staff and expertise in water.
Life & Environment (www.sviva.net) An umbrella group that’s a valuable portal for reaching dozens of Israel’s grassroots environmental groups.
Palestine Hydrology Group (www.phg.org) A very professional, water-oriented NGO that conducts research and projects, primarily in the West Bank.
Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI; www.aspni.org) The largest and oldest of Israel’s environmental organisations.
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Jordan
Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN; www.rscn.org.jo) The Jordanian environment’s best friend.
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Lebanon
Association for Forests, Development and Conservation (www.afdc.org.lb) Runs reforestation, fire-fighting and ecotourism programs.
Greenline (www.greenline.org.lb) One of Lebanon’s biggest volunteer-based environmental NGOs.
Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (www.spnlb.org) A dynamic organisation that’s committed to conserving Lebanon’s wildlife.
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ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Name an environmental issue and chances are that the Middle East is struggling with it.
Water scarcity is undoubtedly the primary long-term environmental concern for most people in the Middle East; Click here for details. But as long as water keeps coming out of the taps, daily lives more often involve struggles of a more immediate kind. Levels of waste – whether industrial outflow, sewage discharge or everyday rubbish – have reached critical levels across the region; recycling is almost nonexistent. At one level, the impact is devastating for local fishing industries, agricultural output, freshwater supplies and marine environments – Lebanon did not have functioning wastewater treatment plants until the mid-1990s, while up to 75% of Turkey’s industrial waste is discharged without any treatment whatsoever and only 12% of the population is connected to sewage treatment facilities. At another level, the great mounds of rubbish and airborne plastic bags provide an aesthetic assault on the senses for traveller and local alike.
The related issue of air pollution is also threatening to overwhelm in a region where the motor vehicle is king. Take Cairo, for example, which is close to claiming the dubious title of the world’s most-polluted city. Airborne smoke, soot, dust and liquid droplets from fuel combustion constantly exceed World Health Organisation (WHO) standards (up to 259 micrograms per cubic metre of air, when the international standard is 50), leading to skyrocketing instances of emphysema, asthma and cancer among the city’s population. A startling feature article by Ursula Lindsey published in a March 2005 edition of Cairo magazine asserted that as many as 20,000 Cairenes die each year of pollution-related disease and that close to half a million contract pollution-related respiratory diseases every year. Cairo may be an extreme case, but it’s a problem facing urban areas everywhere in the Middle East.
Desertification, which is caused by overgrazing, deforestation, the overuse of off-road vehicles, wind erosion and drought, is another significant problem faced by all Middle Eastern countries, with the possible exception of Lebanon. The seemingly unstoppable encroachment of the desert onto previously fertile, inhabited and environmentally sensitive areas is resulting in millions of hectares of fertile land becoming infertile and, ultimately, uninhabitable. Jordan, Egypt and Iraq are on the frontline, but even largely desert-free Turkey is casting a worried eye on the future. While hotel owners in Cappadocia happily equip their rooms with Jacuzzis and mini-hamams, environmentalists fear that much of Turkey could be desert by 2025.
And then there are the perennial issues of loss of biodiversity, soil erosion and unfettered building developments.
Those grasping for a glimmer of good news – and it’s only a glimmer – can take some comfort in the fact that reforestation programs have maintained (albeit meagre) forest levels for the past decade. There’s also a tiny but growing movement towards renewable energy sources as an alternative to fossil fuels. Israel has had commercial wind farms since 1992, while, for once, this is one area where Egypt has something to crow about. One of the largest wind farms in Africa and the Middle East is located at Zafarana, approximately halfway between Cairo and Hurghada. Due to the success of this project, numerous other wind farms are planned in towns along the coast.
Tourism
Has tourism placed serious strains on the environment in the Middle East? Yes. Is tourism itself part of the solution? Yes again.
The Middle East is not alone in having greedily eyed the benefits of mass tourism and thumbed its nose at environmental sustainability. In Egypt, for example, some of the coastal resorts of the Red Sea and Sinai Peninsula are textbook cases of ill-conceived development that threaten to destroy the pristine natural beauty that drew tourists in the first place. Stretches of the Mediterranean coasts of Lebanon and Turkey aren’t far behind. Indeed, Greenpeace Mediterranean (www.greenpeace.org/Mediterranean) considers tourism to be one of the major causes of coastal destruction in Lebanon. It cites the dozens of yacht ports, ‘land reclamation’ projects and hotels that have been established illegally along the coast. Further afield, sites such as Petra are now considering limiting the number of visitors to lessen the human wear and tear on the monuments and surrounding landscape.
The environmental impact of mass tourism on such places extends beyond the visible scarring that destroys the views. Destroyed coral reefs and the overexploitation of finite resources such as water are just a few of the environmental consequences for a place that’s being loved to death by tourists. Flow-on effects include rising prices for locals and local economies that are dependent upon tourism, leading to the abandonment of traditional industries (such as fishing) and ways of life.
But things are changing, albeit slowly. Private tourism operators and, to a lesser degree, the governments of the region are finally waking up to the fact that environmental sustainability is an important consideration for many travellers. Crucially, they’re also discovering that self-funding efforts to reverse environmental destruction and protect the last vestiges of wilderness will be amply rewarded by this new breed of traveller.
Consequently, ecotourism initiatives, though still very much in the minority, are appearing across the region. Israel and the Palestinian Territories is leading the way with Jordan also putting in an extremely strong showing thanks to the tireless work of the RSCN, whose projects in the Dana Nature Reserve (Click here) in particular are models for marrying tourism to environmental sustainability. Lebanon’s ecotourism projects are few but increasingly impressive, while Turkey is (very) slowly getting its act together. Egypt and ecotourism are taking a long time to come together with only a handful of private programs, although the work being done by the Hurghada Environmental Protection & Conservation Association to overturn decades of tourist-related damage to coral reefs is an initiative worth supporting. Syria and Iraq still lag far behind. Given that the latter has next to no tourists, Syria is undoubtedly bottom of the class, although its efforts to preserve its old cities are worthy of praise.
Water wars
It’s often said that the next great Middle Eastern war will be fought not over land but over water. There are already signs of tension. Syria and Iraq have protested to Turkey because it is building dams at the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates, while Egypt has threatened military action against Sudan or any other upstream country endangering its access to the waters of the Nile. But the greatest potential for a conflict based on water centres on Israel and the outstanding water disputes it has with all of its neighbours.
A third of Israel and the Palestinian Territories’ fresh water comes from rain, melting snow and natural spring water from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The Sea of Galilee, known to Israelis as Lake Kinneret and a popular recreational area for Israelis, receives all of its water from the Golan’s run-off and from the Jordan River, which passes through the disputed territory. The Golan is also home to an increasing number of Jewish settlers, not to mention profitable farms.
And yet this is land that will almost certainly have to be returned if there is ever to be peace between Israel and Syria. Not surprisingly, given the significance of the Golan Heights to Israeli agriculture, there has been strong opposition within Israel to any deal that cedes the Golan to Syria. As one Israeli farmer told the BBC in 2008, ‘For us it’s life and death. I wouldn’t count upon anyone else to say it’s going to be OK. I’d rather the water be in my hands, especially round here – you can’t trust people’s words.’ For their part, local Palestinian farmers and the Syrians argue that Israel has already abused the finite resources of the region and can’t be trusted to care for the Golan’s natural resources. To support their argument, they point to dangerously low water levels, rising salinity and increasing levels of toxic algae in the Sea of Galilee; experts agree that excessive human activity is to blame.
This general scorecard of the countries in the region is reflected in our GreenDex, which recognises sustainability at tourist sites and businesses, whether for their environmental practices or for preserving traditional ways of living. In particular, the Israel and Palestinian Territories and Jordan have a number of exciting initiatives on offer.
For information on how to reduce your environmental impact, Click here. And for a look at the broader impact of tourism on the Arab world, pick up a copy of the excellent Beaches, Ruins, Resorts: The Politics of Tourism in the Arab World by Waleed Hazbun.
The Dead Sea is Dying Dr Alon Tal
The Dead Sea is the lowest place on earth and probably one of the hottest. The high resulting evaporation produces an astonishing salinity of 31%, about nine times higher than the oceans, making a dip in the Dead Sea a very salty experience. The high mineral concentrations mean incredible buoyancy and great photo opportunities – get a snapshot of your travel companions happily sitting upright on the water reading newspapers. The water’s oily minerals also contain salubrious properties. German health insurance covers periodic visits to the Dead Sea for psoriasis patients to luxuriate in the healing waters.
Sadly, no natural resource in the Middle East shows more signs of impact from relentless population growth and economic development than the Dead Sea. Technically, the sea is a ‘terminal lake’ into which the Jordan River, along with other more arid watersheds, deposits its flow. Despite the folk song’s characterisation of the River Jordan as ‘deep and wide’, in fact it has never been much of a gusher. When Israeli and Jordanian farmers began to divert its water to produce a new agricultural economy in the 1950s, the flow was reduced to a putrid trickle and the Dead Sea began to dry up.
In 1900, the river discharged 1.2 trillion litres a year into the Dead Sea, but water levels in the river today are barely 10% of the natural flow. The Jordanian and Israeli potash industries in the southern, largely industrial Dead Sea region exacerbate the water loss by accelerating evaporation in their production processes. The impact is manifested in sink holes, created when underground salt gets washed away by the infiltrating subsurface freshwater flow. Particularly ubiquitous on the western, Israeli side of the Dead Sea, the ground literally opens up – with people, farming equipment and even trucks falling in. Perhaps the most acute environmental consequence, though, is the 27m drop in the sea’s water level and the long and discouraging walks now required to reach the edge of the retreating beach.
Several solutions have been considered to bring water back to the Dead Sea. A ‘Med–Dead’ canal utilising the height drop from the Mediterranean Sea was discarded because of the prohibitively expensive price tag. But a similar pipeline from the Red Sea is seriously being considered. Dubbed the ‘Peace Conduit’, the project would pipe water from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Dead Sea’s southern shore, producing hydroelectricity as well as a desalination plant that would provide water to Amman. Environmentalists question the anticipated unnatural water chemistry reaction and the seismic instability of the area. The World Bank, however, recently decided that the US$5 billion project was sufficiently serious to justify a $15 million feasibility study.
Dr Alon Tal is a professor in the Desert Ecology Department at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University.
Water
To understand the extent of the Middle East’s water-scarcity problem, consider this: Jordan has just 140 cubic metres of renewable water per capita per year, compared to the UK’s 1500. Jordan’s figure is expected to fall to 90 cubic metres by 2025. Anything less than 500 cubic metres is considered to be a scarcity of water. Another study suggests that Jordan currently uses about 60% more water than is replenished from natural sources. By some estimates, Jordan will simply run out of water within 20 years. Although many of these problems are attributable to growing populations in an arid land, poor water management practices are to blame – half the water consumed in Amman and the neighbouring cities of the Palestinian Territories is lost in leakage.
Relatively rich Israel must also shoulder its share of the blame. Since the 1960s Israel and the Palestinian Territories has drawn around one-third of its water from the Jordan River (which is also used by Jordan and the Palestinian Territories). The river has now been reduced to a trickle, half of which is 50% raw sewage and effluent from fish farms. But Israel remains optimistic about its future water supplies, largely because of its use of reverse osmosis technology, which will soon manufacture 20% of Israel’s water supply. A breakthrough in the efficiency of the membranes through which sea water is filtered has allowed for a substantial drop in prices: for 50, new drinking-water plants along the Mediterranean coast can produce 1000L of water. The energy demands of these facilities are prodigious, and their discharged brine, which contains concentrations of chemicals and metals, adds to marine pollution when returned to the sea.
For its part, Jordan has begun to allocate millions of dollars to water projects. The joint Syrian-Jordanian Wahdah Dam on the Yarmouk River was recently completed, giving power to Syria and water to Jordan (mainly for Amman and Irbid). Jordan is also building a 325km pipeline from Disheh to Amman at a cost of US$600 million to tap nonrenewable fossil water from Diseh near Wadi Rum, and has plans for a series of desalination plants.