Director: Dr. Shmuel Brenner

The Arava Center for Sustainable Development (ACSD) is a partnership among three research and academic institutions located in the Southern Arava region of Israel’s Negev desert. Individually, these institutions are conducting critical research in water resources management, sustainable agriculture and renewable energy, with emphasis on arid land ecosystems. ACSD was established to facilitate the dissemination of these expertises to developing communities facing environmental challenges and appropriate technological needs.

The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies (AIES) serves as the coordinating institution for ACSD. The activities of ACSD focus on community participatory implementation of appropriate technologies in the fields of water, alternative energy solutions, agro-technologies and best agricultural practices. Dedicated to sustainable development programs, ACSD utilises AIES extensive experience in education, large pool of alumni as potential volunteers and growing affiliations with Israeli and international NGOs to facilitate community capacity building through hands-on training and long-term on the ground commitment. By disseminating arid land research developed in the southern Arava through these kinds of multifaceted educational opportunities to developing countries, ACSD seeks to enable the sustainable development of arid lands beyond the Arava borders.

To support on-site educational opportunities, AIES is developing a Research and Visitors Park that would serves as a central demonstration site to showcase local research, technologies and projects. The ACSD team will use the park to demonstrate the use of applicable technologies for developing communities, focusing on areas suffering from poverty and the scarcity and degradation of natural resources.

Vision

To support community-driven development programs locally and worldwide aiming at poverty reduction, gender empowerment and improvement of quality of life by collaborating with local and international partners to design and implement technology-based sustainable development projects.

Activities

• Generating development projects and appropriate technology transfer to developing communities;
  
• Conducting short-term adaptive training programs in developing countries and in the Arava;
  
• Disseminating knowledge acquired through applied research with partner institutions as well as lessons learned from experiences in the field.

Founding Partners

Arava Institute for Environmental Studies (AIES) is the premier environmental education and research program in the Middle East, preparing future Arab and Jewish leaders to cooperatively solve the region's environmental challenges. Affiliated with Ben-Gurion University, AIES houses academic programs, research, and international cooperation initiatives on a range of environmental concerns and challenges. 

Dead Sea and Arava Science Center (DSASC) focuses on applicable research projects unique to the Dead Sea-Arava Rift Valley. The Science Center sponsors projects integrating local scientists and lead investigators from established research institutions, enriching both the national scientific community and the local population. Research fields include geology, hydrology, geomorphology, archaeology, biology, and ecology, and their applications. Many projects are conducted with partners from the Jordanian side of the Rift Valley.

Southern Arava Agricultural Research & Development Station (Arava R&D) is engaged in many scientific activities related to desert agriculture, irrigation technology and land use. These projects include research on issues related to soil and water, postharvest techniques, horticulture, plant protection, agrotechnology, crop selection and project planning


For more information, please see our brochure.

Project updates.