Dr. Elaine
Solowey

Dr. Elaine Solowey is a researcher emerita, desert agriculture expert, and leading authority on arid-land ecology and medicinal plants. For decades, her work has focused on developing innovative agricultural solutions for desert environments while protecting the unique biodiversity of the region.

At the Arava Institute, Elaine leads research and conservation initiatives centered on rare and endangered desert plant species native to southern Israel and Jordan. Since the 1990s, she has worked to preserve more than 200 vulnerable species through the Institute’s Shelter Garden — a one-of-a-kind conservation and research site dedicated to hyper-arid perennials found nowhere else in the world.

Her research spans desert agriculture, land reclamation, ecological restoration, and the cultivation of crops suited to saline and water-scarce environments. Elaine’s work explores how underutilized water resources and resilient desert crops can support sustainable agriculture in arid regions increasingly affected by climate change and environmental degradation.

The Shelter Garden also serves as a center for seed collection, plant propagation, and ecological research, helping restore declining wild populations while preserving species with important medicinal, ecological, and cultural value. Among the plants under study are rare Artemisia species linked to anti-malarial treatments, desert palms with anti-parasitic properties, Arava myrrh, and the nearly extinct Balm of Gilead tree.

Elaine received a B.Sc. in Commercial Horticulture from University of California, Davis and Pennsylvania State University, before completing advanced degrees focused on desert agriculture and land reclamation. In 2016, she was awarded the Ben Gurion Prize for the Development of the Negev in recognition of her longstanding contribution to sustainable development and environmental innovation in the Negev.

Through her research, Elaine continues to advance new approaches to conservation, sustainable agriculture, and ecological resilience in some of the world’s most challenging environments.