Applied Environmental Diplomacy (AED) is the practice of turning shared environmental challenges into entry points for partnership, trust, and lasting change. Communities on opposite sides of a conflict often depend on the same water sources, face the same climate risks, and need the same infrastructure. That shared reality, and the relationships built around addressing it, can become the foundation for something more durable than any political agreement alone. The Arava Institute has been developing this approach since its early days and implementing it on the ground for more than a decade, in one of the world's most complex conflict environments.
The Middle East is at a tipping point. The war in Gaza has caused immense human suffering, widespread displacement, has deepened mistrust and set back decades of environmental and infrastructure advancement. In addition to the war’s prolonging impact on regional instability, climate change is also accelerating water scarcity, food insecurity, and resource competition across a region already under enormous strain.
In this context, Applied Environmental Diplomacy is not an idealistic proposition. It is a pragmatic one. Environmental and social challenges do not pause for political resolution. Communities need water, energy, and sanitation now, regardless of what is happening at the political level. The joint actions required to address those needs (sustained, practical, and built on real relationships) may be one of the few paths available for rebuilding communities, restoring essential systems, and fostering trust across the lines that matter most.
Sessions will address reconstruction, security, Israeli policy options, and the role of civil society in shaping the public conversation.
Environmental Diplomacy on the ground
We design and deploy decentralized water, energy, and sanitation solutions in communities affected by displacement and political violence across the West Bank, Gaza, the Naqab/Negev, and the broader region. These projects serve as proof of concept – for the technologies themselves, for the cross-border partnerships that make them possible, and for the premise that environmental joint action can succeed even under the most difficult political conditions.
Community Capacity Building
We work directly with communities to build the knowledge, cross-border relationships, and institutional capacity needed to sustain joint environmental action over time. This is the long-term strategy of AED – ensuring that the trust and practices built through individual projects takes root at the community level and endures beyond any single funding cycle.
Cross-Border Convening and Diplomacy
Through our work, we bring together Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian, and regional practitioners, experts, and institutions around topics of water, energy, food security, and ecosystem recovery. This includes Track II diplomatic forums, expert working groups, and regional conferences on shared environmental challenges. The aim is not only dialogue but the concrete initiatives, agreements and relationships that dialogue makes possible.
Education and Fellowship
Through the Arava Institute's academic program, short programs and the AED Accelerator Fellowship, we cultivate the next generation of environmental practitioners and peacebuilders by equipping emerging leaders with the skills, networks, and cross-border experience to advance environmental diplomacy within their own environs.
Reviving 2,000-year-old date palms to explore ancient agriculture, biodiversity, and future resilience.
The Center for Arid Socio Ecology has been studying ecosystem services of the Arava since 2010 and the project is ongoing.
The project focuses on integrating native plant species into agricultural systems and community landscapes in the Arava region.
The project integrates decades of agricultural research with applied innovation, with the goal of establishing a sustainable, locally based argan oil industry in the region.