Shrinking Dead Sea may
lose "natural wonders" bid
By Douglas
Hamilton
JERICHO, West Bank (Reuters) - A red light flashes over the Dead
Sea entry on a Web site inviting people to vote for the world's top
natural wonders, warning: "this nominee is situated in more than
one country."
There is no rule against that, but a chance the shrinking sea
can win any votes in the election at www.new7wonders.com will
vanish if all three countries involved do not each form an
"Official Supporting Committee" by July 7.
Either due to bureaucracy or politics, two states are delaying
-- which may jeopardise prospects for the famously buoyant lake,
about the same size as Lake Geneva, whose level is dropping at
nearly one metre a year.
To date, only Israel has a committee. Jordan and the Palestinian
Authority have just over three months to make sure the Dead Sea is
one of 77 second-round nominees selected, from which a shortlist of
21 finalists will be chosen.
"We're not sure why there's a delay," said Tia Viering, the
communications chief for the contest, known as N7W. "The Dead Sea
would have a very good chance if nominated, but we can't talk to a
lake, and time is running out."
Jordan benefited handsomely from an election in 2007 of seven
New Wonders of the World: visits to the ancient ruins of nearby
Petra rose by more than 100 percent after it was chosen, said
Suleiman Farajat of the Jordanian archaeological park.
Israeli organiser Seffi Hanegbi has no doubts about the reason
for delay. "It's 100 percent politics," he said. "We have to have a
meeting of the three official representatives. But if the
Palestinians know there's a representative from Israel they won't
come," he fears.
"It was a mistake to seek official approval at government level.
Mayors or NGOs would have had it done by now," he said. It was also
a mistake to involve an Israeli council located in the occupied
West Bank, and covering Jewish settlements considered illegal by
the Palestinians and the United Nations.
Appreciating the Dead Sea valley should be above politics,
Hanegbi says.
It has had a place in human history for thousands of years. Some
consider it the cradle of civilisation -- where the Biblical cities
Sodom and Gomorrah, on the faultline between two tectonic plates,
were destroyed by God for their wickedness -- where Lot's wife was
turned into a pillar of salt.
POTENTIAL RETURNS
Barely a half-hour's drive from the Old City of Jerusalem,
downhill all the way to the lowest spot on earth, the traveller
finds water 10 times more saline than the ocean. Sunset on the
sandstone bluffs of the Jordan Rift Valley frames the sea between
towering walls of shifting pastel colour.
N7W expects one billion people to vote online in 2010-11 to
chose the seven wonders of nature: "This is a low-involvement
project for them that has great potential returns," Viering said.
Letters to the Palestinians and Jordanians stressed that point and
urged quick action.
But in the West Bank, the Palestinians said they were still
awaiting clarification before the government could approve.
"In principle we do not have a problem," said Palestinian
Authority Tourism Minister Khouloud Daibes. "We are waiting to hear
the details and if they have conditions."
"Once we get that, the government should approve it ... I do not
think there will be a problem. It's not a political issue."
Viering believes the delays in Amman and Ramallah are purely
bureaucratic and will not prove insurmountable.
"The Jordanians have been incredibly enthusiastic and supportive
in the past so I expect it will go ahead," she said.
But Hanegbi says if the Palestinians balk for political reasons,
Jordan too may fold its hands out of Arab solidarity.
A MUCH TOUGHER PROJECT
Petra and the Dead Sea are a day's drive from each other, and
both lie in easy reach of the Gulf of Aqaba's famed Red Sea beach
resorts and crystal clear, coral-reef diving waters.
Israel's Hanegbi believes in the power of cross-border tourism
to foster peace. In the 1990s he organised camel treks on ancient
routes in the region.
Exploiting the business, environmental and tourist potential of
such natural assets, and getting around man-made borders is "making
peace instead of just talking peace," he says.
He is also striving to enter the Red Sea as a "wonders of
nature" candidate: a task requiring endorsement from eight littoral
states -- Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Eritrea,
Yemen and Djibouti.
Viering believes the delay in the Dead Sea's nomination is
simply a bureaucratic glitch. But if not, it could be bad news for
any broader rescue project that would require long-term commitment,
investment and the approval of Red Sea states.
The real red light flashing for the Dead Sea is the fact it is
slowly but surely drying up and could be gone in 50 years if no
action is taken.
A sharp decrease in inflow from the Jordan and other rivers
whose waters now irrigate fields is curbing its water supply: the
level in mid-2007 had fallen to 420 meters below sea level from 394
meters in the 1960s, says the World Bank.
As a result, the water surface area has shrunk by one third.
Arresting the decline to avert environmental calamity, and
slowly topping up the sea while supplying more water to this
parched region are the main aims of an ambitious rescue
project.
The "Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Project," promoted by
Jordan and Israel and endorsed by the Palestinians, would carry
water over a 180 km (112 mile) tunnel-canal route probably visible
from space.
First suggested 100 years ago, it is still in the "feasibility
study" phase. Two additional studies are now about to begin, one
assessing how the waters of the two seas would mix, a second
looking at the ecological impact on the Red Sea.
The reports are due in 18 months. By then -- provided the
Jordanian and Palestinian committees have formed in time -- the
Dead Sea may have been chosen a natural wonder of the world.
(Additional reportiny by
Mohammed Assadi)
(Editing by Sara
Ledwith)