Mission and objectives

The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies (www.arava.org) is an environmental and academic institution located in the Israel, dedicated to advancing cross-border environmental cooperation in the face of political conflict. The Institute prepares future leaders – Israelis, Palestinians, Jordanians, and students around the world – to cooperatively solve the regional and global challenges of our time, teaching them that Nature Knows No Borders. For over twenty years, the Arava Institute, located in the south of Israel near Eilat, on the border with Jordan, has built trust by advancing cross-border environmental research, cooperation, and discourse.

The Institute’s inter-disciplinary academic study and research programs focus on finding local, sustainable, peace-building solutions to the shared environmental challenges of the region. The Institute has now moved beyond academics and research to engage governments and NGO’s to affect environmental policies in the region, fostering cross-border environmental cooperation; because the environment cannot wait for formal peace accords.