About The Arava Institute

The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies

The Arava Institute is the premier environmental teaching and research program in the Middle East, preparing future Arab and Jewish leaders to cooperatively solve the region’s environmental challenges. Together, faculty and students are advancing a critical common cause: a sustainable future for the region’s human and natural resources.

Established in 1996, the Arava Institute is a non-profit organization located on Kibbutz Ketura in Israel's Arava Valley near the Jordanian and Egyptian borders and the Gulf of Aqaba/Eilat. The Arava Institute is a unique oasis of environmental education, research, activism, and international cooperation..

Students at the Arava Institute explore a range of environmental issues from a regional, interdisciplinary perspective while learning peace-building and leadership skills. The student body is comprised of Jordanians, Palestinians, Israelis, North Americans as well as other nationalities. All courses are taught in English. The academic program offers a unique opportunity for students to study and live together for an extended period of time; building networks and understanding that will enable future cooperative work and activism in the Middle East and beyond. Here, the idea that nature knows no political borders is more than a belief. It is a fact, a curriculum, and a way of life.

Academic options include: year or semester programs, Master’s Degree, Environmental MBA, and summer course.

What Makes the Academic Program Unique

“I came with the hope I could make steps toward peace. I never imagined the experience would change my life.” Shira, a Jewish Israeli

“I now understand that Arabs and Jews share something very important: a love of the land. We can protect it only by working together.”  Lila, a Moslem Palestinian

“We students, both Arabs and Israelis, still disagreed on much, but that despite our struggles the dialogue was necessary. We have to talk because we are environmentalists. The air and the water don’t know borders.  A good environment needs a stable political situation and turning our backs on what is happening will not change anything.”  Mohammed, a Moslem Jordanian

"On the one hand, talking about politics is difficult, but on the other hand, as roommates, we share together stories of love and of pain. Or talk about what I will wear."  Alma, a Jewish Israeli

The Arava Institute’s mission goes beyond training and teaching to include high-quality research. The Research Program, established in 1998, is renowned for its outstanding investigations that have greatly contributed to the body of knowledge available concerning environmental and conservation issues pertinent to the Middle East. The Research Program encourages applied initiatives with the ability to improve the quality of decision-making in environmental matters. Projects tend to be interdisciplinary in their focus, drawing on the social and natural sciences in order to advance comprehensive understanding of environmental problems.

Leading by example, environmental research studies are underway which have already broken new ground in cooperative efforts for regional sustainability. Research teams in the Program are comprised of environmentalists and scientists from Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Morocco and Israel working together to explore a range of trans-boundary topics, including sustainable agriculture, biodiversity, the future of the Dead Sea, air pollution and stream restoration.

The Arava Institute’s mission does not end when students complete their program. In 2005, APEN was launched to assist with ongoing contact and communication among alumni, and to connect between alumni from different years or semesters.

APEN activities include an annual conference for Arava Institute alumni, an interactive database of alumni information and an alumni listserve. Organizational and financial support are provided to small-scale peace and environmental projects in Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. Projects receiving such backing include, ‘Biogas in Bedouin Unrecognized Villages’, ‘Rain Harvesting in Akko’ and ‘Aqaba-Eilot Environmental Education Exchange Project’.

Ultimately this Network will become an active new force on the environmental scene, a new cadre of peace-builders made up of graduates who have the leadership skills, environmental background and personal connections to make change possible. Their connections to each other, and the positions they achieve within existing environmental organizations, will allow them to partner whenever possible to magnify the effect or effectiveness of a project.

Biogas Project

This project is designed by alumni Mazen Zoabi (Arava Institute student 2002-2003, Arava Institute Program Associate 2004-2005, Israel Ride Staff) and Ilana Meallem (Arava Institute student 2003-2004, Arava Institute Ben-Gurion University Master’s Student 2004 to present, Bike Ride Staff), in cooperation with local residents, Bustan L’Shalom, a Bedouin-Jewish Organization, the Ben-Gurion University Department of Women’s Health Studies and Promotion, and various other organizations .  This project began in December 2005.  If successful, the project will be reproduced both in Jordan and the West Bank.

The overall objective is to raise the standard of living in Bedouin communities in Israel’s Negev through improved health and specifically, an improvement in women and children’s health.  This project seeks to promote the rights of women, including their right to equal treatment, and an acceptable standard of access to basic hygienic waste disposal.  As these communities are not connected to infrastructure such as the National Electric grid or gas lines, they are responsible for finding their own sources of energy for regular home needs.

The specific objectives for the Biogas project include:

• Creating a sewage treatment facility that requires no electricity, moving parts or connection to a larger system; contains human & animal waste and reduces the negative effects of non-managed waste on the residents in the area and on the environment .
• Producing methane as a clean, safe, and convenient source of energy for cooking, powering refrigerators, powering electrical lighting in homes, and to provide a source of heat in the winter .
• Using the by-product of biogas digesters as a fertilizer that is clean and hygienically processed in agriculture

Center for a Healthy Environment in the Arava (SABABA)

In 2002, the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies launched a local initiative to advance public environmental action in the Arava region of Israel. SABABA serves as a coordinating body for local environmental efforts and aims to support and foster eco-activism among local residents.

The Arava constitutes the last major stretch of preserved desert in Israel, holding a rich treasure of biodiversity, breath-taking desert vistas and a refuge for residents and visitors alike. The mission of SABABA is to help identify critical conservation and environmental issues in the Southern and Central Arava, to preserve our unique and delicate desert environs.