Israel, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed the largest energy and water pact between Israel and Jordan since the neighbors made peace 27 years ago this week in Dubai. According to the United States, if executed, this will be a diplomatically transformative agreement for a region facing some of the harshest effects of climate change. John Kerry, the United Nations Special Envoy for Climate Change, was also present during the signing. While the scope is limited in terms of global climate change mitigation, it will have a significant impact on Jordan’s climate adaption efforts.
The agreement is the result of lengthy negotiations between three parties. EcoPeace Middle East, an Israeli-Jordanian-Palestinian non-governmental organization, first proposed the idea in a proposal called a “Green Blue Deal for the Middle East,” which outlined a desalinated water-energy community between Israel, Jordan, and Palestine as part of a proposal called a “Green Blue Deal for the Middle East.” (The Palestinian director of EcoPeace discussed water security at a Brookings conference called “The Middle East and the New US Administration”