Water Issues in the Middle East Society, Environment, Religion: Listening to the Voice of Civil Society

Time: April 4, 2007
Venue: Tyršův Palace, Prague; Marble Hall

List of participants:
Murad Bino, Inter Islamic Network on Water Resources, Jordan
Shaul Manor, Peres Center, Israel
Isam Sabbah, Galilee Society Regional Resource and Development Center
Robin Twite, Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information, Israel/Palestine

Program:
Points of departure

• Brief presentations by the participants on their focus and the work of their organizations (10 minutes each)

• Powerpoint may be used; printed materials sent by the participants can be distributed

Closed Workshop: Administration and Development of Water Sector: Position of Non-Governmental Organizations

• Moderated discussion, participants are requested to prepare some thoughts and initiatives for discussion

• Questions to be addressed:

• How serious is the depletion, pollution and degradation of water resources? Is it time to change the current approaches?
• Big projects (e.g. Red Sea – Dead Sea) – What social and environmental risks are threatening?
• Is distribution of water resources fair and equitable? Does social inequality get reflected in water availability?
• What does civil society and religion have to say?
• Should some water-intensive agriculture be maintained or eliminated
• To what extent should water-related services be privatized?
• What is the current role of non-governmental organizations and what is the ideal one?

Closed workshop: Is there an Ethos of Water in the Middle East?

• Moderated discussion, participants are requested to prepare some thoughts and initiatives for discussion

• Questions to be addressed:

• Can the specific Middle Eastern experience with water resources be summarized and formulated? How? Are there values and lessons learned?
• What can the Middle East contribute to the global view (water as a UNDP priority, Millennium Development goals etc.)
• The importance of education about water, its consumption and treatment
• Shared water resources – do they bear more potential for conflict or cooperation?
• Can water resources become one the few focal points for a peaceful and sustainable resolution of conflicts in the Middle East???

Public roundtable: “Water and Drought in the Middle East: the View of NGOs”

• Presentations by the participants (ca. 10 minutes each) for the audience and ensuing question-and-answer session; presentations should not go into much depth but rather give an overall picture of the pressing problems, needs and opportunities from the participants’ view (i.e. should explain the situation)

• Powerpoint may be used, but oral presentations will be sufficient

• Audience: representatives of Czech non-governmental organizations and development community, young people (students), general public

Conclusions and recommendations

• Brainstorming and discussion
• Focus: Where to go next? What role should civil society play? Where can each participant’s organization do a major share of work? Can Forum 2000 also tangibly contribute?
• A list of recommendations...