THE HANDSTAND

JULY 2002

WATER :
the following reports neglect those recieved from Palestine Harsh methods of water deprivation and the destruction of both rainfall tanks and natural water wells have occurred there. These reports give the Israeli perspective and that provided by World and Asian Bank reviews of Global Warming.

In early June MK David Magen, of the Israeli Government's Center Party, as reported in Haaretz newspaper,submitted the parliamentary commission of inquiry's report on the water crisis.He hoped that this important matter would remain in the headlines for two or three days, and even lead to a shake-up of the whole system. But due to the present events of the Intifada and Sharon's interests, which even govern this matter,the water crisis was shoved into a corner. "The next time we deal with it will be in the middle of the summer, when the level of Lake Kinneret is very low again." and Magen added that he would not name the people responsible for the water management failure because he was "looking for water, not blood."

The Magen Commission preferred to speak of the "management failure," "multiple authorities" and the "disruption of the decision-making process" in general terms only.
. The commission recommended increasing the desalination of seawater and salty groundwater, the purification of more waste water and water conservation.

Ever since the establishment of the state, it has been the agricultural lobby that has set the price of water for both household and farm use. Today, this is done by the Knesset Finance Committee, which has heavy representation from the agricultural lobby. Until a decade ago, the situation was much simpler. Pesach Gruper (who represented the farmers) and Edna Solodar (who represented the kibbutzim) would sit down together as "the water committee" and set the water prices. Thus the cat was allowed to guard the cream, resulting in city dwellers and industrialists paying the full cost of water production, while the farmers were heavily subsidized.

To this day, as a result of this heavy subsidization, water is being distributed according to political allocations.

As the water economy deteriorated, Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon realized that there was no other option but to change the rules of the game. He appointed a commission headed by Gedalya Gal and Yonatan Bashi that recommended putting the price of water to agriculture on par with that paid by the local authorities. This would mean raising the price of water for agriculture from its current NIS 0.82 per cubic meter to NIS 1.48 per cubic meter. The moment water subsidies are suspended (and replaced with land subsidies), the massive wasting of water for agriculture will cease and the water crisis will also finally end.

The government made a decision in keeping with this spirit in April of this year, but the decision had two problematic clauses. It was determined that the price of water should be raised over a period of four years and that the reforms would need the approval of the Knesset Finance Committee. It was also decided that this year, the price of water for agriculture will be raised

So what has happened since then? The price of water for agriculture has not been raised; the Finance Committee has not approved the reforms and is about to approve an increase in the cost of water for household and industrial use. In other words, water for agriculture will continue to be subsidized, and squandered.

global warming could cause new rainfall terrors; the Zeyzoun Dam burst in Syria which resulted, for example, in the extraordinary picture above,an entire village, except for the roof of the mosque, disappeared. The residue of earth,sand and stone that is always eroding desert areas in rainstorms (now occurring with unexpected violence world-wide) built up behind the Zeyzoun Dam and burst through on June 5th last.
Follows notes of interest from World Bank and other reviews of Middle East areas, which would also apply in Southern Spain, Italy and in Greece.
I am cautioned by my son that the following is unreadable...My reason for retaining this format is that hours of search sometimes bring only salient factors into the notebook. To write up my argument or opinion would be useless. The patient reader will, I hope, confirm that one can realise a satisfactory input of the factors, and have a good sketch in mind of the problem, after a careful scan.Editor.

IPCC Special Reports:De-forrestation, Climate Change. Concepts for consideration:

Political parties: opting for National or multi-National approaches ?

        What sustainable development to be achieved ?         Conservation of Biological and Plant diversity
        Maintenance of agricultural productive capacity.  
       Conservation and maintenance of soil and water resources
        Social needs
        Legal and Institutional procedures
        Land use subsequent to change of climate re. forestry etc.

  LULUCF FilesSect 4.4 Agricultural systems
        Sustainable agriculture.
        Indigenous knowledge and Technology.
        Maintaining continuous ground-cover in the event of de-forestation .        Nutrient restoration re. de-forestation.
        Integrated management of soil and water systems

  ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESMENTS (EIA) Sect 5.5 100+ Countries that have National EIA studies Reports on these can be found in World Bank Environmental Assess,ment Sourcebooks in 3 volumes. Watershed development section also The Asian Bank has similar papers:

Resource Development Projects.1990
The general rule is that such studies ahould be carried out by Independent Experts

Cont.Section 5.5 EIA Protection of land re. conversion, degradation of key watersheds, slow soil erosion, effects on rural communities and on urban municipalities.

  WATER RESOURCES section 2.51 Conservation: Maintenance, need of under-story vegetation, non-clearance of leaf litter.
QUERIES: Nitrogen fixation in Middle East agricultural groves?
                 Soil nutrients?
                 Deep soil condition - roots (spread/descent)?
                 Excessive or any light and water competition between crops / trees ?
                 Social use of water? municipal use? "Vast areas of degraded and desertified land in developed and developing countries."

Only very limited Land Use Studies. (Somewhere in Israel Archives there must be plans for fertilization of Galilee and Negev deserts planned 1935,Ben Gurion,Ed. note joc.braddell)

  DE-FORESTATION  Result in:.....
                 Decreased infiltration of water .
                 Higher run-off of storm rain water, seasonal
                 Increased peak water discharges
                 Reduced run-off in dry season
                 Soil erosion
                 Gully and Ravine formation
                 Siltation of reservoirs and irrigation schemes
TREES have water regulation function ;
           root systems are relative to ground water extraction ;
            use more water than crops or short vegetation;
            create evaporation of water from tree-canopies;

De-forestation can bring about rise of ground water toward surface and thus salt deposits in areas of shallow salination. ( deforestation of olive trees in Palestine has and is scheduled to continue apace,Ed. note,joc braddell)

                          Studies by HARDING 1992, BLYTHE 1994
Water cycling could become major environmental service, lead to increase of water transfer to atmosphere, increase of humidity, lower temperatures, increase of rainfall in temperate and tropic regions. Ill conceived de-forestation could make conditions unsuitable for subsequent re-generation.

  FINANCE; Private Sector Investment in Technology in Middle East: :Always has been very selective, volatile and easily attracted elsewhere. Comparisons: 1990 O.6%; 1993 3.9%; l996 76.9% *address: http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc/tectran/510.htm Valuable list pg.2, parameters for and against investment, facilities and potential. Para.l.5 Barriers to transfers of Environmentally Sound Technologies. *also address: http://www.grida.no/cgi-bin/htsearch

  MIDDLE EAST REGION :
             Important refuge wild relatives of important crop species              Glacial melt: climate change, improve river watersheds,short term future.  
             Storm risks to some Mediterranean river deltas .
             CO2 take up in indigenous plants and their photosynthesis is with less water loss from stomata pores in water-limited regions (Bazzas 1996) There are only limited studies of region.
 
Section 7.3.41 Solutions ? :
Shift in reliance from present to selected animal and plant introductions.
Game, hunting, ranching, tourism *address ....ipcc/regional/166htm
.
Israel: Highly dependent on local agriculture for food. Imports food

 Possible: Wider use of drip and underground irrigation could save 50% of conventional water irrigation.
Possible: Expansion of winter grown crops.

The increase of fertilizers and pesticides throughout Middle East increases land degradation.
Diversification of economic activity could be important precaution There will be increased ill-effect on lower-income households with climate change.
Run-off farming - a form of water management, origin 3,000 years ago. has been largely abandoned.
Re-generation may provide opportunity for sustainable cropping and horticulture.
Fish: inland aqua-culture in earthen ponds ?
 Mari-culture in Mediterranean ?   Israel imports 60% of needed Fish Protein,
Climate change may produce salinity and waterlogging                         necessitate change in animal distribution, fences etc. to increase plant cover, improve status of root systems etc.
Developement of dams, and large scale water storage ?
Expensive social and cultural dislocations and dubious response to this. 6%-89% of region's cropland is already irrigated. See Table D5.

DESERTIFICATION:
Could affect mean temperatures.
Could affect albedo (proportion of light radiation reflected by                                                             surface areas and plants) Short-term surface soil-moisture rise.
No specific data on deterioration of soil conditions.

NEEDS TO BE URGENTLY ADDRESSED Some Middle East Countries have launched action (UNEP.1997) Also Technical Program info. available same source( """"     """ )

 Settlements and urbanization: Para 7.3.6.  Re. rapid urbanization creates problems: re. poverty; access to clean water; sanitation; water and air pollution;  political unrest; population migration. No specific Studies.

Adaptation necessary before climate change becomes perceptible Use of halophytes (plants adapted to salination) (jos.braddell note: Recent Gene Modification of tomato plants to saline soils)

  INDUSTRY: 
Rarely sensitive to climate change.
 Increase of vehicle use leads to SMOG in regions of high temperature.                   
Death rates rise due to smog.                   
Heat waves above indigenous thresholds can cause death.   
Increase of waterborn disease (Lowenthal 1993)                   
Dams and irrigation projects have different disease potentials:                              Schistosomiasis,Dengue fever, Malaria  

FINANCIAL  *address ....ipcc/regional/170htm World Bank assesments conclude change of agric. crop species will lead to reduction in water use by plants. Their evaluation of this is that such reductions are more important than any climate changes for the next few decades. To reduce the water seepage and waste of currently used irrigation channels change to drip and below-ground irrigation systems. Possible then to change to more valuable fruit and vegetable crops.  

There is a paper by Nissenbaum 1994 providing info. reconstruction of Dead Sea environment 4,000 years ago.