International Water Symposium - Water Retention Landscapes - March 25, 2012

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WATER

RETENTION

LANDSCAPES

CONCRETE MODELS AS AN ANSWER

TO DESERTIFICATION AND GLOBALIZATION

International Symposium

in St. Gerassimos monastery (Deir Hijla)

March 25th, 2012 9:00-18:00

Schedule:

09:00 – 10:00 Gathering and Introduction

10:00 – 13:00 Presentations:

• Bernd Mueller (Director of the Ecology Team in Tamera) “Water Retention Landscapes: Why and How?”

• Sabine Lichtenfels (co-founder of Tamera and Global Campus) “Building Models for Peace”

• Sami Awad (Director of the Holy Land Trust) “Water and Hope”

• Tamir Yaari (member of the PRV Middle East)

“The Vision of a Green Desert in the Middle East”

• Moderator: Benjamin von Mendelssohn (Director of the Middle East project of Tamera and Global Campus)

13:00 – 14:00 Lunch

14:00 – 16:30 Tour in Wadi Qelt, Jericho“Dreaming the Water Landscape on the Land”

16:30 – 18:00 Back to Deir Hijla

Closing and a look to the future

The realization of the vision of a world in which water and food are freely available to all depends only upon humanity’s decision. The situation on Earth today demands that we shift from a system based on violence, mistrust and scarcity to a new model of living based on contact and co­operation with nature.

We have convened this symposium to introduce a concept – through the example of the water retention landscape of Tamera Peace Research Village (PRV) in Portugal – of how desertification can be reversed and the water cycle cured within a short period of time. This concept – based on the vision of the Austrian permaculture specialist Sepp Holzer – can be transferred to practically all climate zones on Earth.

Knowing the crucial role of water scarcity in the Middle East’s political conflict, we are seeking places in the region where this method can be introduced and developed as a model for the healing of nature, embedded in the education and the training system of the global campus.

For the Israeli participants – please send us your full name and ID number as soon as possible so we can start the process of organizing the required permits for entering Jericho, as this may take time.