Comments of EcoPeace/ FoEME to World Bank Public Hearing concerning Red Dead Conduit Project

These comments are prepared by EcoPeace/ Friends of the Earth Middle East, a regional organization that brings together Israeli, Jordanian, Palestinian environmentalists for the purpose of providing independent civil society input to the World Bank hearings scheduled for Feburary 2013. They build on the 14 earlier reports and comments published and submitted by FoEME.

The governments of our region (Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian) have been discussing the possibility of linking the Red Sea with the Dead Sea since 2002. In the more than 10 years that have passed, the World Bank, at the request of our governments, and at a cost of US$16.5 million, has undertaken studies to answer 3 declared objectives of the project.

• Save the Dead Sea from environmental degradation
• Desalinate water and/or generate hydro-electricity at affordable prices in Jordan, Israel and the PA
• Build a symbol of peace and cooperation in the Middle East

The key studies undertaken are summarized in two main reports; a Draft Feasibility Study (FS) dated July 2012 and a Study of Alternatives (SA) (preliminary draft report) dated September 2012. The feasibility study was the key document requested by our governments encompassing several sub studies (Dead Sea, Red Sea) and an Environmental and Social Assessment (ESA). In addition the World Bank, initially contrary to the wishes of our own governments, but under civil society pressure, commissioned a Study of Alternatives that compare the Red Dead options with other alternatives that either fully, partially, or in combination might advance the declared objectives.

FoEME believes that the two main World Bank commissioned studies when considered together reveal that the Red Dead Conveyance option is the least affordable and least desirable from an environmental and economic perspective in reaching the three stated objectives of the project. 

Click here for the full comments in English.
Click here for the comments in Hebrew.

The controversial Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance project is designed to channel some 1.2 billion cubic metres of water 180 kilometres from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea: http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/water/opinions/the-red-dead-water-conveyer-can-avoid-a-dead-end.html (Batir Wardam)

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Another perspective on the Red Dead Project: "More Dead Than Red", by Pierre Klochendler
http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/02/more-dead-than-red/

Environmental concerns reach fever pitch over plan to link Red Sea to Dead Sea (Nature)
http://www.nature.com/news/environmental-concerns-reach-fever-pitch-over-plan-to-link-red-sea-to-dead-sea-1.12515

Read also (in Arabic): 
خبراء يتخوفون من نتائج "ناقل البحرين" حول ضخ مياه محلاة على بيئة البحر الميت
http://www.alghad.com/index.php/article/607787.html

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References:

Contact information	Elizabeth Ya'ari, Jordan River Rehabilitation and SWIM-JR Projects Coordinator , Friends of the Earth Middle East (email: elizabeth@foeme.org) Phone: 03 5605383 Fax: 03 5604693 / Skype: elizabeth.koch
News type	Inbrief
File link	http://foeme.org/uploads/13606843611~%5E$%5E~FoEME_Position_Paper_on_WB_RDC_Public_Hearing_2013_English.pdf
File link local	FoEME_Position_Paper_on_WB_RDC_Public_Hearing_2013_English.pdf (PDF, 169 Kb)
Source of information	Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME)
Subject(s)	AGRICULTURE , ANALYSIS AND TESTS , CHARACTERISTICAL PARAMETERS OF WATERS AND SLUDGES , DRINKING WATER , DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION : COMMON PROCESSES OF PURIFICATION AND TREATMENT , ENERGY , FINANCE-ECONOMY , HYDRAULICS - HYDROLOGY , INFORMATION - COMPUTER SCIENCES , INFRASTRUCTURES , MEASUREMENTS AND INSTRUMENTATION , METHTODOLOGY - STATISTICS - DECISION AID , NATURAL MEDIUM , POLICY-WATER POLICY AND WATER MANAGEMENT , PREVENTION AND NUISANCES POLLUTION , RIGHT , RISKS AND CLIMATOLOGY , SANITATION -STRICT PURIFICATION PROCESSES , SLUDGES , TOURISM - SPORT - HOBBIES , WATER DEMAND , WATER QUALITY
Relation	http://www.emwis.net/thematicdirs/news/2013/01/red-sea-dead-sea-water-conveyance-study-program
Geographical coverage	Israel,Jordan,Palestine,
News date	13/02/2013
Working language(s)	ENGLISH , HEBREW