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2. Cultural value of landscapes, view, open spaces and mountains is very high, and
they are considered the most beloved assets of the region. Respondents in Israel
were most motivated to political activism when faced with threats to their aesthetic
environment (rather than ecological environment).
3. There are both similarities and differences regarding what aspects of the ecosystem
are appreciated and used by different populations - along national, urban-rural,
and gender lines.
4. Differences along socio-demographic lines may become less signifi cant, however,
when core values (derived through factor analysis of survey data) are considered
(Diamantopoulos et al.
2003
; de Groot and Steg
2008
; Orenstein and Katz-Gerro
in review
). Analyzing core values may liberate us from dividing groups along
traditional socio-demographic lines, and allow us to look more at the individual
as a product of values rather than as an affi liate of a socio-economic or demo-
graphic group.
5. Local residents in both countries express pro-environmental and [selective]
pro- development opinions, and reconcile the two through support of “sustainable”
economic activities. However, the development trajectories in Israel and Jordan
are at very different stages and opinions and behaviors may be affected by economic
factors (see below).
While our research has shown similarities between Jordanians and Israelis with
regard to their perceptions of their natural environment, we also detect a socio-
economic fault line that passes down the valley, alongside the geological fault
(the Syrian-African Rift). The two populations share virtually the same ecosystem,
and yet - by global standards - one community is impoverished and one is relatively
wealthy, one Muslim and the other Jewish, one has relatively low formal educational
achievement and one high (socio demographic data available in Sagie et al.
2013
;
Orenstein and Groner
2014
).
The degree of collaboration between Jordanian and Israeli researchers in the
LTSER platforms varies with time and individuals, as it is strongly affected by social
and political currents. However, despite the perennially diffi cult political climate,
trust has been established on a personal level, enabling fairly stable coordination
and continuity of research. In August 2010, the ILTER annual meeting was held in
the Israel's Negev desert and Jordan sent a delegation. As a step to lessen political
pressures, the collaborative research results are sometimes published separately,
although one paper was written together within the context of a Pan-European
research team (Dick et al.
2014
).
The cross-border differences continue in the communities themselves. While
both Jordanians and Israelis ranked characteristics of the extreme environment
rather low (e.g. heat, aridity, brightness, sand storms), Jordanians expressed lower
affi nity for these characteristics than Israelis. Some environmental characteristics,
such as sand dunes and open space, appealed to Israelis but not to Jordanians.
And shrub vegetation, which provides fodder for grazing animals, was the only
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