Cooperating for the sake of water - The Israel experience

Abstract

Water coop er ation Cooperating for the sake of water – the Israel experience When ambassador Lenk first saw the reports on the widespread drought in South Africa, he felt compelled to act. As a son of Israel he is extremely familiar with issues of water scarcity. With its part-Mediterranean, part-desert climate, the lack of water has been an inherent part of Israel’s history from Biblical times. The latest significant drought, which lasted from 1998 to 2012 and stretched over the entire eastern Mediterranean, was reported by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to be the worst to hit the region in 900 years. Like many others countries in the world, including South Africa, Israel has seen an increase in the demand for water in recent decades due to economic development and population growth. This left the small country with a dilemma – how to grow water supply when natural resources are so scarce and said to become even scarcer in the face of climate change?

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