Retelling the story of water in the Middle East: Reflections on and about a conversation at the Dead Sea

Abstract

Water planning for Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Jordan has been strongly influenced by the narrative of development. The word "development" implies a narrative about how the less prosperous parts of the world can become more like the prosperous ones by producing goods and services for the world market, typically by using powerful technologies and exploiting natural resources. Development is usually a story of nation-building, but sometimes it also becomes a narrative about fostering regional cooperation. However, the narrative of "development" is not the only way to understand the relationship between the prosperous parts of the world and the less prosperous ones. Another story, sometimes referred to as the "post-development" narrative, emphasizes a past of unequal relations between countries and economies, and continuing inequalities. This narrative is also sensitive to the emergence of environmental degradation and a world environmental crisis. The lessons to be learned from this story are of the necessity for social and political cooperation rooted in a respect for ecosystem realities and natural limits. In contrast to "development," the key phrases of this story are "adaptation to nature" and seeing the benefits and assuming the real challenges of "letting nature take its course." This emerging "post-development" narrative suggests another approach to water planning and is used to examine the problems of the Dead Sea. The diversion of water resources for national development strategies is turning the area around the Dead Sea into a "sacrifice zone" where agricultural and tourist communities alike are at risk and the sea is shrinking dramatically. The regional development solution of a multiple billion dollar Red Sea-Dead Sea "Peace Conduit" could vastly increase the water supply in the region and raise the level of the sea, but the conduit would not address the related degradation of the Jordan River, and the project carries new risks to the water composition of the sea, the ecology of the Arava valley through which it would pass, and the Red Sea area of Aqaba/Eilat. The "post-development" critique of the development narrative suggests, instead, adapting to nature and letting nature take its course by exploring strategies for restoration of the Jordan River - Dead Sea watershed. © 2007 Springer.