Strategic development of water resources for the Jordan River Basin (Briefing 1.2)

Abstract

Already today, water management in the Jordan River basin requires enormous efforts to balance water availability and multiple needs of consumers and the environment. To limit the impacts of a growing gap between demand and increasingly unreliable natural water resources will be among the greatest challenges of the coming decades. Brief outlines of four different strategies to cope with problems of water scarcity in the region are presented, covering aspects of future demand as well as supply of water up to the year 2050. The four strategies are 1) “Poverty & Peace” Strategy (the premise of the water strategy under this scenario is to make peace and stimulate economic value), 2) “Willingness & Ability” Strategy (region wide cooperation on water issues together with the availability of financial resources help to develop an efficient and just regional water master plan), 3) “Modest Hopes” Strategy (the prosperity envisaged under this scenario leads to a politically stable situation in the region but only with limited cooperation on an informal level, i.e. exchange of knowledge and technologies) and 4) “Suffering of the Weak & the Environment” Strategy (this scenario represents the most vulnerable future with respect to climate change and the decrease and non-reliability of future water resources). In a final step the participants agreed on three measures which are considered necessary and possible as first steps to realize a water strategy: 1) A Regional Center for Water & Environmental Research aiming at research on water and environmental issues, education, training, and public awareness campaigns and finally technology development & transfer, including pilot studies. 2) Steps “towards harmonized planning” which cover aspects such as the identification of regional management issues, the sharing of information/data, national plans, and solutions, and the establishment of a joint technical committee to discuss specific issues. 3) Projects to be explicitly realized in regional cooperation: the Red Sea–Dead Sea Canal and sea water desalination in general, waste water treatment and the restoration of the Lower Jordan River. Stakeholders from the region elaborated a wide range of measures suitable to adapt the regional water sector to climate change including climate extremes under varying socio-economic development pathways. Under the scenarios assuming a prosperous future the focus of the water strategy is on using large scale high-tech options to develop sufficient new water to fulfill demands and minimize climate impacts. Managing the demand side by using full potentials of governance options to influence water using behavior and efficiency of water use (complemented by small-scale measures to develop additional water) characterizes strategies under economically stagnating futures. In addition, it became clear that timing is important and that particular attention should be paid to the time until large scale water projects are fully working: In some especially vulnerable areas of the region additional water is needed urgently, already today.