PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

20-Oct-2014

Juliet Heller juliet@julietheller.co.uk 44-162-186-8083

Terry Collins 416-538-8712 tc@tca.tc

United Nations University and InterAction Council

A massive 180 km pipeline-canal megaproject to bring water from the Red Sea could prevent the Dead Sea from disappearing while improving the region's environmental, energy and peace prospects, according to a book of insights into major global topics launched today by an association of 40 former government leaders and heads of state and UN University's Institute for Water, Environment and Health.

Commissioned from leading experts on issues of universal concern, the authors include former Jordanian Prime Minister Abdel Salam Majali and Moneef R. Zou'bi, respectively the President and Director General of the Islamic World Academy of Sciences, who say the innovative Red-Dead Canal offers the potential to secure human well-being while promoting regional stability.

For years, Israel, Syria and Jordan have diverted more than 90 percent of the southward flow of the River Jordan to agricultural and industrial purposes, choking the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth, causing "severe negative consequences on the ecosystem, industry, and wildlife in the area," says Dr. Zou'bi. "Due to gradual water loss, the sea has split into two separate lakes and its coastline has receded significantly. The River Jordan is a shadow of its former glorious self."

The Red-Dead Canal, as envisioned by Jordan, is a 180-kilometre, partially covered pipeline across Wadi Araba a dry plateau stretching from the Gulf of Aqaba in the south to the Dead Sea in the north. It would carry around 1.5 billion cubic meters of water per year, pumped first to an altitude of 150 metres above sea level before flowing down a 580-metre decline.

Not only would the three-party project (Jordan-Israel-the Palestinians) restore most of the Dead Sea water level over time, it would generate hydroelectricity to power large desalination plants, relieving chronic freshwater shortages and helping to meet energy needs.

Continued here:

Pipeline to replenish vanishing Dead Sea a bridge to Mid-East security, peace: Book