Declaration of Principles

Project Wadi Attir 

A Sustainable Desert Community

Declaration of Principles

      Project Wadi Attir commits to a vision of humanity in which all people live in peace; use the planet’s resources wisely; avoid adverse impacts on other forms of life while actively enriching life’s complex fabric; develop communities which encourage the creative self- realization of individuals as well as society; and celebrate the underlying mystery, unity and sacredness of all existence.

     Project Wadi Attir subscribes to the five core Sustainability Principles developed by the Sustainability Laboratory. The project will embody these principles in the way it is designed, realized and managed, providing a breakthrough model for enduring sustainability practices. In this model, community well-being and authentic values are emphasized, driven by respect to nature and to others, as well as by a commitment to individual and collective learning; to a productive mode of living; to creative innovation, harmony, beauty, joy, integrity, and love.

     The project, a community-based enterprise comprising an integrated, organic farming operation adapted to an arid, desert environment seeks to accomplish the following:

-- Maximize the use of renewable resources; eliminate harmful emissions and other adverse impacts; reach for near zero waste and the highest resource productivity; implement a continuous flow of by-products in integrating key functions; and rely on the use of non-fossil, clean sources of energy. 

-- Demonstrate the operation of a productive economy, just, self-sufficient and fiscally sound, managed to systemically enhance key, interdependent forms of capital resources: natural, human, social, manufactured, as well as financial, all through conscious, deliberate design.

-- Place an emphasis on the care, respect and well-being of animals and plants through all phases of their life cycle; intentionally enhancing the biodiversity of the project site.

-- Establish a collaborative, equitable, communal undertaking, emphasizing cooperation, mutual support, transparency and inclusion in governance; empowering and educating individuals as well as the community as a whole, and sharing in all responsibilities and benefits.

     Project Wadi Attir will be carried out by an initial nucleus of committed individuals forming a founding community. With time, it will continuously widen its circle of inclusion to incorporate neighboring communities in its cooperative structure. Scalability will be a key design objective as will be the goal of developing a replicable model of value locally, as well as to other parts of the world.