Using the Ecosystem Services Framework in a Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research (LTSER) Platform: Lessons from the Wadi Araba Desert, Israel and Jordan - Earth Stewardship: Linking Ecology and Ethics in Theory and Practice - page 279

environmental characteristic that Jordanians ranked higher than Israelis. Outdoor
recreational activities were notably different, with Jordanians more often engaging
in campfi res and off-road vehicle driving, while Israelis reported swimming in the
Gulf of Aqaba/Eilat more often (Orenstein and Groner 2014 ).
These differences may be due to the host of socio-economic differences between
the populations on either side of the border. We suggest that affl uence contributes to
the relative resilience of Israelis to environmental extremities. Further, with economic
resources, Israelis are able to turn these extremities into economic opportunity via
specialty crops, algae farming, solar power production, and eco-tourism. In Israel,
locals have capitalized on the desert in order to market their products. A senior
manager of a local dairy conveyed, “the taste of our chocolate milk is not connected
to chocolate, but to the Kibbutz and its pleasant people, with the background of the
desert with palm trees… we're not selling chocolate milk, we're selling an idea, an
image.” Both poverty and economic structure (the agricultural resources in the rural
sector of the Jordanian Araba are in private hands) may prevent the Jordanians from
perceiving their environment as a potential economic opportunity.
Respondents were also asked for their opinions regarding various environmental
and development issues. In general, both Israelis and Jordanians expressed environ-
mental concern, and for many of the questions, results were similar (Table 18.1 ).
However, for each question where economic and environmental issues were
presented in confl ict with one another, the Jordanians tended towards a development
preference, while the Israelis tended more towards environmental protection.
The exception was the demographic question. In Israel, the issue of population
growth in the demographic peripheries has long been one of national importance.
The local population has internalized the belief that their long-term economic
sustainability is dependent on local population growth, as refl ected in the survey
results. The Jordanians, on the other hand, are evenly split on the issue.
The actions of one country have direct impact on the ecosystem services of the
other in the narrow landscape of 10 km width. Though separated by a border, the
region is linked climatically, hydrologically and ecologically. In Jordan, hunting
takes place and the population of large animals is low, while on the Israeli side of
the border, hunting has been outlawed since the 1950s, when hunting led to the
decline and local extinction of several species. Large herbivores and carnivores
sometimes move from Israel to Jordan to feed, before returning to Israel. Land use
also differs across the border. In Israel, the percentage of agricultural land cover is
much larger, and most of the rare Wadi Araba sand dune ecosystems in the country
have been cultivated for agriculture (Yom Tov and Mendelsohn 1988 ). The sand
dunes on the Jordanian side are more prevalent and protected along the border zone,
though their proximity to the border also makes them inaccessible to the local
population (Sagie et al. 2013 ). While the geomorphology and abiotic conditions are
similar on both sides of the border, the pressures and drivers are different and this
results in different densities of large animals and different species assemblages of
smaller animals (Shanas et al. 2006 , 2011 ).