Click here to listen to this timely interview with Clive Lipchin, Arava Institute’s Director of Transboundary Water Management.

The Arava Institute in Israel works to help Israel, Palestine and Jordan extend and share the scarce water resources in the area. The group’s ultimate agenda is to use the environment to promote peace. WPSU’s Emily Reddy talked with Clive Lipchin, the director of the Center for Transboundary Water Management at the Arava Institute, about managing water resources among nations in political conflict.

Longtime WRAP Board member Julie Weisman has been made an adjunct professor at the Francis King Carey School of Law at the University of Maryland. In this role, she will co-lead a grant-funded interdisciplinary practicum of students (law, MBA and public health) on a water related project in the Middle East. They will travel to a small town near Jericho which recently received, through a donor, solar panels to help pay the cost of deep drilling for water to irrigate crops in this arid region of the world. The students will work with the farmers and town leaders to help develop governance and business models so that the project can become scalable and sustainable.

The For My Earth project of the University of New Mexico in collaboration with WRAP recently developed an e-book titled, “One Raindrop at a Time: Environmental Peacebuilding and Education in Sur Baher, Jerusalem”. The book details the rainwater harvesting and environmental projects that WRAP and its partner schools have undertaken in Sur Baher, Jerusalem.
The proceeds from the e-book will be used to fund additional environmental and science education projects at the schools. By purchasing this book, you become a partner in this project.

Preview the book’s Cover, Forward and Table of Contents below.

For a $10 donation, WRAP will email you a PDF version of the e-book. Contribute to the future of environmental education at WRAP’s schools by clicking the button below.

An e-reader compatible version of the book will also be available in early 2017 from Apple and other e-book retailers. Check back for more details.

Problems? Questions? Contact info@wrapdc.org

Please be sure to provide your email address where requested during checkout.

Forward

This book is the first in a series of eBooks produced by the For My Earth (FME)
Project describing environmental projects that make a difference in the lives of students and their communities. The book is the product of collaboration between the FME Project and the Water Resources Action Project, Inc. (WRAP), a non-profit organization that seeks to improve water stewardship and environmental education in underserved communities in the Middle East. Environmental education about water is especially important in water-stressed areas of the world. It teaches children and adults how to investigate their use of water so they can make informed decisions about how to care for this important resource. In Israel and Palestine, environmental education can also play an important role in environmental peace building. This effort promotes peace in areas of conflict by finding a common ground to solve environmental issues that affect all people in the region. WRAP is proud to be one of the organizations of Israeli and Palestinian, Jewish and Arab environmentalists that are working together to build a foundation of mutual trust by finding creative and affordable solutions that will meet the freshwater needs of people in the region. We hope that this book is the first step in a project that helps students from Israeli and Palestinian schools find common ground in their concerns about their shared environment.

The first step in a WRAP project is the construction of a rainwater harvesting system to provide water that is needed by a school and utilized as a teaching tool. WRAP’s first projects were completed at two schools in the community of Sur Baher in East Jerusalem. The faculties at both schools are devoted to environmental education as a path to science literacy and vocational skills. The rainwater harvesting systems constructed by WRAP are an important part of their environmental programs. We are proud to produce this book to showcase the impressive achievements at both of these schools. The proceeds from sales of the e-book and hardcopy editions will be used to fund additional environmental and science education projects at the schools. By purchasing this book, you become a partner in this project.

Malcolm Siegel. PhD, MPH
Director, Operations and Education
Water Resources Action Project, Inc.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 – Where Our Stories Take Place
Chapter 2 – Environmental Peacebuilding in Israel and Palestine– What is it?
Chapter 3 – The Village of Sur Baher -Past and Present
Chapter 4 – The Sur Baher Girls School
Chapter 5 – Afak School for Learning Disabilities
Chapter 6 – Our Students and Teachers Tell You Their Stories
Chapter 7 – Learn More – Doing and Reading
Chapter 8 – Water Resources Action Project, Inc.
Chapter 9 – We Thank Our Contributors
Glossary

In partnership with the Water Resources Action Project (WRAP), a team from NASA DEVELOP undertook a project to utilize NASA Earth Observations to create a precipitation climatology of Jordan, Israel, and the West Bank to identify optimal rainwater harvesting locations for underserved schools in those regions. The results will aid WRAP in decision-making by identifying regions most suitable for low-cost, low-tech, rainwater harvesting alternatives.

Middle East Water Resources on Vimeo.

A new study by Drexel University’s College of Engineering examines the potential rainwater‬ collection benefits in four major U.S. cities. The study finds that rainwater systems could reduce potable ‪‎water‬ demand in these cities by 65% and reduce ‪‎runoff‬ by 75%.

Read more about the new study here: http://bit.ly/1p7QprD

June 30, 2016 | Washington, DC | Register

The Israel Water Summit, presented by the Jewish National Fund, will take place in Washington, DC on June 30, 2016. The Summit will focus on national and international water challenges and sharing Israel’s technological advancements and accomplishments including desalination, drip irrigation, water purification, and other techniques it has pioneered for decades. Brendan McGinnis, WRAP’s Executive Director, will be moderating a panel on U.S. National and Local Water Challenges. The event will feature water expert Seth M. Siegel, author of Let There Be Water: Israel’s Solution for a Water-Starved World, alongside a host of high-level water experts.

Registration is open through June 17 and there is no cost to attend.

For more information and to register, visit http://www.jnf.org/about-jnf/events/dc-water-summit.html

In April 2016, WRAP facilitated an environmental photo contest between students at the Sur Baher Girls School and Albuquerque Academy in New Mexico. Students from both schools submitted photos to the shared plant4peace blog depicting the importance of nature, and one winner was selected from each school. All of the wonderful photos submitted can be viewed on the blog, which the students from both schools use as a means to interact on environmental science topics.

Pictured below, a student from Sur Baher Girls School receives a certificate recognizing her as a winner of the photo contest during Sur Baher’s environmental science fair. Dani Livney represented WRAP at the awards ceremony. Also pictured are teachers from Sur Baher and a representative of one of WRAP’s partner organizations, EcoPeace Middle East.

During 2015, a collaboration was launched between the Albuquerque Academy in Albuquerque, NM, the Sur Baher Girls School in East Jerusalem, and WRAP. Teachers and their students worked together to develop a joint blog, plant4peace, to link the environmental clubs at the Academy and Sur Baher. Led by teachers Karen Temple Beamish from Albuquerque Academy and Zoubaida Salman from Sur Baher, the blog allows the students to share pictures and stories of their environmental projects.

At Sur Baher Girls School, the environmental club has been working on recycling, utilizing their rainwater harvesting system, and maintaining an herb garden, from which they create various environmentally friendly products to sell. At Albuquerque Academy, the environmental club has been exploring the local environment and tending their own garden, where they have planted spinach, lettuce, turnips, radishes, and other vegetables. The goal of the plant4peace blog is to allow students to share their experiences and what they learn about the environment around them, as well as build a meaningful connection between the schools, teachers, and the middle school students. WRAP’s role, led by volunteer Margaret Ferrato, is to assist in managing and maintaining the blog and arranging for timely translations. In 2016, the project partners will work to strengthen peer-to-peer interactions by linking students individually or in small groups.

WRAP’s 2015 Year in Review is now available, providing the latest updates on current projects underway, reports from our members most recent trip to the region, highlights of major milestones from the past year, and a look at what’s on the horizon for 2016.

To read the full Year in Review, visit http://bit.ly/1Zc9s0M.