This post is part of Thalsa-Thiziri Mekaouche’s 2023 Global Food Fellowship.
Dealing With A Crisis
Things do not always go as planned. There are events, outside of our control, that can change our intended course of action. What is in our control however, is how we react to an unexpected change of circumstances.
What I had not planned when I carefully prepared my research agenda was that I would start my internship in Jordan on October 8th, one day after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th. I had prepared to step into a conflict that had been going on for decades but I had not prepared to encounter the ugly face of the most brutal warfare. During the first few weeks of conflict, I anxiously watched the news and deeply felt the distress of those surrounding me, Jordanians, Palestinians and Israelis alike. The research question that had brought me to Jordan in the first place, namely, whether lasting peace could be achieved through environmental cooperation, took a new dimension. Fortunately for me, the organization I worked for, EcoPeace Middle East, withstood the explosion of violence and I interned there from October to May.
EcoPeace Middle East is an environmental peace-building organization founded in 1994 by a group of pioneering Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian environmentalists. Led by a trilateral leadership based in Amman (Jordan), Tel Aviv (Israel) and Ramallah (Palestine), it seeks to address the ecological collapse of the Jordan Valley, the transformation of the legendary ‘Mighty’ Jordan River into an open sewage and the increasing impacts of climate-driven water scarcity on people and non-humans. In the 2000s, in the context of the second intifada, it became obvious to the organization that transboundary environmental cooperation was not only necessary to reverse the dramatic destruction of their shared ecosystem, but that it could also build bridges between peoples divided by decades of conflict. In the last two decades, EcoPeace Middle East has developed a wide range of programmatic tools to bring about this vision. Throughout my stay, I became convinced that environmental peace-building offers an avenue for conflict resolution in the Middle East. This belief comes from my exchanges with Jordanian youth who explained to me that despite their anger, they consider that climate change threatens all life, regardless of borders. In that sense, they are ready to go beyond usual narratives on conflict to look for ways to build cooperation and understanding.
Environmental Peace-Building in Practice
Jordan EcoPark: Sustainable agroecosystem at the heart of the Jordan Valley
The Jordan EcoPark is one of EcoPeace’s greatest achievements and an illustration of how the organization innovates to rehabilitate ecosystems while offering opportunities for local development through green tourism and sustainable agriculture. In coordination with the Jordan Valley Authority, EcoPeace transformed the northwest hills of Jordan into a tree-filled, ecologically diverse habitat covering 22 hectares of land. The EcoPark allows residents and tourists to access the local biodiversity in a sustainable manner through eco-facilities such as wooden eco-cabins, kitchens and toilets supplied by water obtained from green filter water treatment and the recycling of gray water and solar-powered appliances.
Jordan EcoPark Visitor Center
Green filter water treatment plant at the EcoPark
Spread across the EcoPark are areas called “learning stations”, which educate visitors on water conservation, organic farming and climate change among other topics.
The two pictures above are the learning stations at the EcoPark. Each poster focuses on an environment-related theme
I went to the Jordan EcoPark twice throughout my stay, which gave me the opportunity to see for myself how agroecosystems and water regeneration offered solutions to some of Jordan’s greatest challenges – water scarcity and the erosion of soils caused by unsustainable farming practices.
Another aspect of the EcoPark that I truly enjoyed was how it put forward the rich Jordanian cuisine. I was lucky that local chefs, all of them born in the Jordan Valley, took me along the way when they went foraging for the local khobeizah (little mallow), a wild green plant that is widely consumed in the form of chopped salads or as stuffing in pillowy bread and pitas.
Khobeizah at the EcoPark
Climate Diplomacy Training
Among its numerous programs, EcoPeace Middle East developed a Climate Diplomacy training for university students and young professionals. Participants are invited to a first training in their respective countries (Israel, Jordan and Palestine) and those who demonstrate the greatest leadership potential receive higher level training and meet their Jordanian, Palestinian and/or Israeli peers at a regional gathering in the Jordan EcoPark (or in a third country depending on security concerns). I contributed to the development of training materials and delivered a module on the role of international agreements in climate action. These workshops were an opportunity to interact with Jordanian youth and understand their aspirations in the context of a devastating war in neighboring Israel and Palestine. Some of my dearest memories of Jordan are when, at the end of a long workshop day, rich in debates and learning, we would sit under cypresses and eat together ouzi (seasoned rice mixed with peas, onions, and carrots topped with crunchy nuts and aromatic ground beef) or makloubeh (upside-down rice casserole with meat and vegetables), finished off with knafeh (akawi melting cheese topped with shredded filo dough crust and sweetened by flavored syrup and crunchy nuts). When you say the word ‘knafeh’ in Jordan (or in Egypt, or in Palestine, or in Lebanon where some version of this dessert also exists), eyes light up and smiles bloom on people’s faces. Everyone associates knafeh with celebration and sharing.
School Feeding Programme
While October 7th marked a clear escalation of violence in the region, Jordan has been absorbing the consequences of various conflicts in the Middle East for decades. The country has the second-highest share of refugees per capita in the world. It hosts over 700,000 refugees (for a population of about 11.5 million people), mostly from Syria and has seen its population double in the last two decades. This has put a strain on Jordan’s ability to meet its population needs, including nutritional needs.
During my internship, I took the initiative to assess the state of Jordan’s school feeding system and helped EcoPeace write a proposal for a pilot project on environmentally-sound school feeding in the Jordan Valley. When it comes to fruition, this pilot project will contribute to improving education outcomes for children in one of Jordan’s poorest regions, while also improving the perception of EcoPeace by locals. In fact, one of the greatest challenges faced during my year-long experience in Jordan was the boycott movement against the organization, which denied that transboundary cooperation with Israel was a red line. In multiple instances during my internship, EcoPeace had to adapt or cancel its activities to avoid confrontation with the boycott movement.
This only strengthened my will to advocate for environmental peace-building as a way to focus on what unites us.
Li Amman
When I think of my internship experience in Jordan, I hear Feiruz’ song resonate in my head Li Beirut, which means ‘My Beirut’. In spite of the conflict, or perhaps because of it, Amman and its people, have grown to be very special for me, to the extent that I would attempt to sing Li Amman had I had the talent of the Lebanese legendary singer. While waiting for the sudden ability to sing beautifully, I can at least write this post and conclude on these two last thoughts. First, I have grounds to believe that environmental peace-building can be successful. What is more important now is to develop a clear understanding of the conditions that favor successful outcomes in environmental peace-building and to gather more granular data on similar work elsewhere in the world.
Second, I want to thank everyone I met in Jordan, as well as my EcoPeace Israeli and Palestinian colleagues whom I met via zoom. I have not dwelled on what they taught me, the tough moments we lived through together and the joyful ones too. I also remember spending Eid-al-Fitr among Jordanian friends, learning how to make msakhen (roast chicken, heavily scented with sumac and and a few other warm spices and served with caramelized onion flatbread) and maamouls (shortbread sweets made for the end of Ramadan). Through food, I connected intimately with the people I grew to respect and love there. To all those who read this post, I wish you peace and joy, hoping that better days will come.
At the time of writing, EcoPeace has been nominated for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize and supports humanitarian action in Gaza, while also continuing its programmatic activities on environmental peace-building.
Acknowledgments:
I want to thank EcoPeace Middle East for this unique experience which contributed greatly to my understanding of the region.
This internship would not have been possible without the support of the Global Food Fellowship, the Henry Hart Rice Fellowship and the Libby Rouse and Ganzfried Fellowships. Beyond financing this experience in Jordan, the various people in charge of these fellowships helped me monitor the security situation throughout my stay and provided me with a platform for sharing what I learned. If you would like to learn more about EcoPeace as a case study for environmental peace-building, you can check out this paper, which I wrote with the Jordanian Director of EcoPeace Middle East: From an Inflammable Region to A Resilient Land of Opportunities – A Case Study of EcoPeace Middle East's Approach to Conflict and Environmental Action (here).