Programme - United Nations

Millennium Development Goal 7:
Ensure Environmental Sustainability
 Integrate the principles of sustainable
development into country policies and
programmes and reverse the loss of
environmental resources
 Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a
significant reduction in the rate of loss
 Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the
population without sustainable access to safe
drinking water and basic sanitation
 Achieve, by 2020, a significant improvement
in the lives of at least 100 million slum
dwellers
One of today’s greatest global challenges is access to clean water.
Many years of drought in Israel, coupled with an increased demand
from a rapidly growing population, have overexploited the country’s
limited natural water resources. Major water bodies, including the
Kinneret — Israel’s only freshwater lake — have dwindled to
critically low levels, threatening irreversible contamination of the
water supply and long-term ecological damage.
Over the past three decades, Jewish National Fund (JNF) has
worked to alleviate Israel’s chronic water shortage, primarily
through the construction of 250 recycled water reservoirs that
have increased the water supply by 12%. The JNF Parsons Water
Fund was established to expand upon this vital work. The Fund
supports initiatives that address water treatment and water quality
issues, pollution and trans-boundary challenges, with a focus on
recycling, developing alternative water sources, education, stream
and aquifer restoration, and research. These advancements and
technology not only benefit Israel, but also help countries around
the world struggling with water crises.
Among the many initiatives developed with numerous local and
governmental partners are: the MYWAS (Multi-Year Water
Allocation System), a national water management model that
seeks to achieve the most efficient national water resource
management and allocation; the Besor Restoration Project, a trans boundary project aiming to lay
the foundation for effective stream restoration for Israel’s largest dry river system and create an
operational model for addressing the region’s highly polluted
trans-boundary streams; numerous reservoirs which treat and
store hundreds of millions of gallons of water, crucial for
agricultural communities; and the Rainwater Harvesting School
Program, which has installed rainwater harvesting systems in 27
schools with a 5-year educational program focused on water
conservation and Israel’s water challenges.
The Middle East is a region of the world with perpetual droughts and extreme lack of bodies of
water. For this reason it is imperative that water technology be developed and fostered, while
working hand in hand with Israel’s neighbours. Israel has developed and continues to develop
technology to aid its own issues and those of its arid neighbours. The environmental policy and
technological advancements that Israel uses can be implemented in other countries on both a
structural level and for day-to-day practice, and moreover can be used to help solve the global water
crisis.
Moderator
Joseph Hess is a retired government technical manager and International
Aerospace Consultant. He was actively involved in fostering international
cooperation during his 40-year career. As a UN volunteer, he developed annual
workshops around the world to help developing nations use space technology
to improve the lives of their residents. Mr. Hess is past president of the JNF
Board of Orange County, past National Campaign Chairman, past Vice President
of Zones and Regions, a recipient of the Tree of Life Award, a recipient of JNF’s
Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Century Council member. In his current
position he is the liaison to the U.S. Forest Service, Vice President of the
International Arid Lands Consortium, and responsible for developing relationships with members of
Congress. During his tenure, JNF achieved NGO status at the United Nations.
Speakers
Sharon B. Megdal is Director of Water Resources Research Center and C.W. and
Modene Neely Endowed Professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
at the University of Arizona. Her work focuses on water management and policy.
Current projects include: comparative evaluation of water management, policy,
and governance in growing, water-scarce regions; meeting environmental water
needs; and transboundary aquifer assessment. Ms. Megdal is the lead editor of
Shared Borders, Shared Waters: Israeli-Palestinian and Colorado River Basin Water
Challenges (2013, CRC Press). She speaks regularly at international water
conferences in Israel and globally, where a frequent theme is the commonality and
transferability of solutions to water management challenges. She developed and
led the Israel Water Management Program in November 2012. She travels frequently to Israel,
where she collaborates with water professionals from the academic, governmental and private
sectors, and to Jordan, where she collaborates with researchers at the Royal Scientific Society. Ms.
Megdal serves as President-Elect of the National Institute for Water Resources and is an elected
member of Board of the Central Arizona Project. She holds a Ph.D. degree in Economics from
Princeton University.
Clive Lipchin serves as the Director of the Center for Transboundary Water
Management at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in Israel. Born in
South Africa, Mr. Lipchin immigrated to Israel in 1991 and received a master’s
degree in desert ecology from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He
received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Michigan in 2003. At the Arava
Institute he teaches a multidisciplinary course on water management in the
Middle East. Mr. Lipchin oversees research projects, workshops and conferences
that focus on transboundary water and environmental problems facing Israel,
Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. His specialty is in water resources
management and policy. Currently, he is coordinating a project funded by the European Union that
studies conflict and cooperation in river basin management in Europe and the Middle East. Mr.
Lipchin is also coordinating a USAID funded project on mitigating transboundary wastewater
conflicts between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and is conducting research on watershedbased management and restoration for cross-border streams in Israel/Palestine funded by the JNF
Parsons Water Fund. He has published and presented widely on the topic of transboundary water
management in the Middle East and has served as senior editor on two books.
Seth M. Siegel is a businessman, writer and Jewish communal activist. Mr. Siegel
is currently at work on a book on Israel’s water resources. He has had Op-Ed
essays on Middle East water issues published in the New York Times and the Wall
Street Journal. Aside from his writing, Mr. Siegel has spoken in the US and in
Israel on water issues, including at the WATEC conference, the AIPAC Policy
Conference and Israel National Radio. He has been seen dozens of times on
national and cable television, including “The Today Show,” NBC Nightly News, Fox
News, CNN and CNBC, and has been quoted many times in major print media
discussing business topics. He has been the founder of several successful
businesses, three of which are now international companies.
United Nations and UN-Related
Resources
Other Resources
UN Water
http://www.unwater.org/
United Nations Global Issues: Water
http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/water/
International Decade for Action: “Water for Life”
2005-2015
http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/
United Nations University Institute for Water,
Environment and Health
http://inweh.unu.edu/
United Nations Habitat: Water and Sanitation
http://unhabitat.org/urban-themes-2/waterand-sanitation-2/
World Water Development Report 2014, Water
and Energy
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/naturalsciences/environment/water/wwap/wwdr/2014water-and-energy/
UNDP, Water and Ocean Governance
http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/o
urwork/environmentandenergy/focus_areas/wat
er_and_ocean_governance/
World Health Organization, Global Analysis and
Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water
(GLAAS)
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/gl
aas/en/
United Nations Environment Programme
http://www.unep.org/gemswater/
The Post-2015 Water Thematic Consulation
http://www.worldwewant2015.org/water
UN Water Talks
http://un-water-talks.unesco-ihe.org/
UNICEF: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene
http://www.unicef.org/wash/
Water Resources Research Center
https://wrrc.arizona.edu/
Arava Institute for Environmental Studies
http://arava.org/
Center for Transboundary Water Management
http://arava.org/arava-research-centers/centerfor-transboundary-water-management/
US Forest Service International Programs, Middle
East
http://www.fs.fed.us/global/globe/europe/midea
st.htm#3a
Jewish National Fund
www.jnf.org
The JNF Parsons Water Fund
http://www.jnf.org/work-we-do/ourprojects/water/water-projects/waterprojects.html
Seth M. Siegel, “Israeli Water, Mideast Peace?”
New York Times, 16 Feb. 2014.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/17/opinion/isr
aeli-water-mideast-peace.html
Seth M. Siegel, “A Middle East Accord—No
Diplomats Needed: Israelis, Palestinians and
Jordanians agree on a project to address water
scarcity.” WSJ, 6 Jan. 2014.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424
052702303345104579282062737273526
Jewish National Fund, “Water Knows No
Boundaries: JNF Water Mission Explores
Collaboration Between Mideast Countries”
JewishBoston.com, 24 Feb. 2011.
http://bit.ly/1r185AA