The Arava Institute for Environmental StudiesKibbutz Ketura, D. N. Eilot, 88840, Israel.
D. N. Eilot
Israel
- Environment/Sustainable development
- International/Cultural relations
Our mission is to create a world-class environmental teaching and research institute at Kibbutz Ketura, which will: • Prepare future Arab and Jewish leaders to cooperatively solve the region’s environmental challenges. • Maintain high academic standards. • Deliver teaching and trans-boundary research opportunities at the highest quality and level to students from the Middle East and from all over the world. • Play a leading role in research, conservation, environmental protection and sustainable development in the region. • Generate capacity building for conciliation and cooperation in the Middle East, in order to transcend political boundaries and achieve environmental change.
• Academic Programs: The Arava Program and a master’s program in Desert Studies. The student body is generally comprised of a third Israelis, a third Arabs (Jordanian and Palestinian), and a third overseas students. • Peace-building: The Arava Institute encourages cross-cultural dialogue among students. We created the Peace-building and Environmental Leadership Seminar (PELS) to provide students with a facilitated forum for expressing their views on race, religion, identity, and the political situation. • Alumni Program: Career development and project support for over 500 alumni in the fields of environment and peace, especially through the Arava Alumni Peace & Environmental Network (AAPEN). • Research: A number of cross-border projects with the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, and Morocco in the areas of bio-diversity, air quality, river restoration, arid agriculture, and the preservation of the Dead Sea. Recent initiatives include the Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (CREEC), and Integrated Water Resource Management.