The Sustainability Laboratory has launched an initiative to support the development of a model Bedouin enterprise in the Negev.
The project, known as Project Wadi Attir seeks to develop and demonstrate a model for sustainable, community-based organic farming, adapted to a desert environment. It is designed to combine Bedouin aspirations, values and experience in desert agriculture, with sustainability principles and cutting edge, appropriate, “green” technologies, including renewable energy production, resource recycling and arid land stewardship. The underlying approach integrates social, economic, environmental, and technology considerations. It is intended to showcase a breakthrough approach to environmentally sound sustainable development, which could impact the Middle East region as well as other parts of the world.
The project, a collaborative effort of the Hura Municipal Council, the governing body of one of seven Bedouin towns in the Negev, and the Sustainability Laboratory has already attracted a significant group of partners, representing key sectors of Israeli society. Collaborators in the project include Bedouin community members, university scientists and researches, local non-profit organizations, a nearby kibbutz, government agencies and private sector companies. Project Wadi Attir has recently been established as the first ever, Bedouin agricultural cooperative in Israel.
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