Eran Feitelson

Water poverty: towards a meaningful indicator

Much effort has gone into the development of indicators of water problems. They largely focus on the question of whether there is sufficient water for food self-sufficiency. Yet, todays agenda is increasingly geared toward adequate water provision for domestic use, as food is increasingly supplied through market mechanisms, and toward environmental issues. As the domestic supply of water can be usually assured, at a cost, and as both environmental concerns and social requirements can be translated to monetary terms, even if imperfectly, a water poverty index is advanced to assess the structural water problems faced by different countries. Water poverty is defined as a situation where a nation or region cannot afford the cost of sustainable clean water to all people at all times. The implications of this definition are discussed, and the variables needed to operationalize the proposed index identified.

The impact of airport noise on willingness to pay for residences

Abstract The effects of aircraft noise following airport expansion on the willingness to pay (WTP) for residences is examined, using a contingent valuation approach. WTP estimates are elicited for a standard residence whose noise settings are systematically changed. The results show that most current compensation programs are inadequate, as they do not fully compensate home owners or renters for the loss associated with higher noise exposure. This analysis also shows that such valuations should analyze noise as a multi-attribute externality, rather than by a single composite measure. Finally, the results indicate that household WTP structures are kinked, whereby, beyond a certain disturbance threshold, households are unwilling to pay anything for the residence; yet, different households have different thresholds. This kinked WTP structure helps explain the higher noise premiums obtained in CVM studies relative to hedonic price estimates.

Transport and Environment

The impact of transport on the environment is a major issue of worldwide concern. This important new book presents state-of-the-art contributions on spatial and technological aspects of transport in relation to environmental degradation, together with analysis of sustainable transport policy.

Factors Affecting Environmental Behavior in Micro-enterprises: Laundry and Motor Vehicle Repair Firms in Jerusalem

The study assesses conditions and variables affecting environmental behavior in small service family firms, and questions the relevance of SME and small business studies for micro-enterprises. All Jerusalem laundry (61) and motor vehicle repair (46) firms were surveyed, because of their aggregate environmental impact, spatial distribution, and literature on intervention programs. A key finding was the lack of correlation between environmental awareness and action. However, despite limited social and government pressure and support services, traditional micro-enterprises undertook significant environmental actions when feasible, almost regardless of owner attributes or motivations. Micro-enterprises responded selectively to non-environmental government agencies in frequent contact. Market opportunities include contractual relationships with large companies requiring professional (hence environmental) standards, and new efficient or environmental equipment and products. There was little or no market pressure and few niche markets. Firms that adopted environmental measures returned to illegal practices when environmental agencies withdrew subsidies.

Implications of shifts in the Israeli water discourse for Israeli-Palestinian water negotiations

Abstract Most studies analyzing the Israeli–Arab and Israeli–Palestinian water issues focus on the international level, looking at countries as singular entities, and on the physical features of these issues. However, the outcome of negotiations is likely to be determined, to a significant extent, by the ability of negotiators to meet the expectations of different internal constituencies. The win-sets available to negotiators are molded by the sanctioned discourse within societies. Hence, the potential for reaching agreements should not be analyzed without due regard to internal discourses. This paper analyzes the shifts in the internal Israeli water discourse. It argues that despite the seemingly immutable water policy scene within Israel, the previous unison discourse has fragmented in the last decade as a result of structural changes in the Israeli society and economy. These changes have the potential to increase the win-sets available to negotiators. However, the specific implications for the negotiations will be effected by the relative power of the different discourse coalitions identified in the paper, and their ability to sanction their story lines.

Social norms, rationales and policies: reframing farmland protection in Israel

Abstract This paper analyzes the role of legitimization processes in the struggle over farmland protection policies in Israel. In the early sixties a centralized farmland protection program was institutionalized, curtailing private land owners` and leaseholders’ property rights on farmlands. The legitimacy accorded to such measures is explained as a function of the congruence between social norms, power structure and dominant ideology at the time. Then, the paper follows the changes in power, ideology, social norms, sanctioned discourse and the role of agriculture in the economy. These changes undermined the basis of the farmland protection rationales, and led to a crisis of legitimacy in the early nineties. As a result of several institutional and policy shifts in the early nineties, a time of rapid growth, concern shifted to the implications of growth for the future of open spaces. This concern over the loss of positive externalities was shared by environmentalists, urban and exurban consumption interests, planners and several elements within the rural establishment. As a result a new set of plans was introduced. Focusing on the central district, where the most severe development pressures are felt, the paper compares the sanctioned discourse and use of rationales in the new plans and documents to those of previous plans. These plans focus on averting the loss of positive externalities, rather than productive capacity, and are couched in economic terms, rather than ideological terms, reflecting the shift in language of the sanctioned discourse. It shows that the choice of rationales for legitimizing countryside conservation reflects the struggle over rural landscapes, as the rationales are used to cobble a coalition of planners, environmentalists, farmers, urbanites and exurbanites, against a powerful development coalition.

Spaces of Water Governance: The Case of Israel and Its Neighbors

This article examines the scale dynamics of water governance. Five generic scales are identified, each associated with a particular ideology and discourse. Hence, scale dynamics are hypothesized to oscillate as a function not only of power and economic factors (although these are central) but as reflections of shifts in dominant ideologies and shifts in sanctioned discourses. The dynamics are examined in the intra-Israeli and the Israeli–Arab cases. In the intra-Israeli case the scale dynamics largely conform with the hypothesis. Once the national level is exceeded, however, the different story lines associated with the generic scales are used only to legitimize negotiating positions, and the actual regime scale is a compromise among physical features, power factors, and sovereignty considerations. The difference in dynamics between the intranational and international levels is explained by the need of international regimes to address the discrepancy between resource domains and sovereignty rights domains, rather than the discrepancy with property rights domains at the intrastate level.

Political Economy of Groundwater Exploitation: The Israeli Case

IntroductionAs the reliance on aquifers rises and the intensiveness of their exploitation increases, theneed to manage them sustainably becomes increasingly apparent (Shah et al., 2000).While the determination of sustainable development of aquifers raises a host of verycomplex issues (Llamas & Custudio, 2003), the general outline of the steps and measuresthat would lead to more sustainable use patterns of aquifers are largely well known(Haddad et al., 2001a; Garrido & Livingston, 2003). Still, in many, and perhaps most,cases these measures are not used, and aquifers are exploited in an unsustainable manner,even when very wide definitions of sustainability are used (Lundquist, 1998; Shah et al.,2000). This has been the case in Israel (Gvirtzman, 2002). The question that needs to beasked, therefore, is why have the best measures advanced not been used?There are several possible answers to this question. The first is ignorance. This can taketwo forms. It can stem from a lack of knowledge or from the inability to communicate theneed to take certain steps to decision-makers. A second possible answer is the lack ofcapacity. That is, the inability to take the necessary actions, despite the awareness of theneed for them. In the case of Israel, none of these applies, as the aquifers have been wellstudied, and the dangers have been elaborated upon in numerous reports (Menahem,2001). Moreover, Israel is often noted as a country with exceptionally high capacities interms of water management (e.g. Postel, 1997). This suggests that a third possible answerisattherootofthechoiceofunsustainablepolicies—thepoliticalandeconomicincentivesfaced by decision-makers lead them to choose an unsustainable set of policies. Thepurpose of this paper is to examine this third possible answer. That is, institutionalstructures established within the political arena generate incentives that lead tounsustainable practices.The next section outlines the political economy of aquifer exploitation. Essentially, itsuggests that the power of users, particularly farmers, combined with the invisibility ofaquifersandalack ofcountering interest groupslead toan excessive allotmentofpropertyrights over groundwater, and hence to excessive abstractions. As decision-makers prefer0790-0627 Print/1360-0648 Online/05/030413-11

The Political Economy of Transport Innovations

Many transportation and telecommunication innovations were proposed over the course of the last century. They include new technologies, new ways of organization and new ways to manage these systems. Overall, the innovations that were adopted have changed the way we conduct our affairs, as the cost and effort associated with overcoming distance plummeted. Yet, many additional options were proposed, but never adopted, or were adopted only in a very limited and modified form. In some cases, innovations were first adopted and later abandoned. These observations raise the question: Why have certain innovations been adopted while others have not?

Climate change and security in the Israeli–Palestinian context

The Middle East is among the least stable and most fragile regions. It is not surprising, therefore, that concerns have been raised regarding the potential implications of climate change. This article critically examines the potential interactions between climate change and conflict in the Israeli–Palestinian case. Based on a review of the possible effects of climate change, water is identified as the main issue which may be affected, and it also has transboundary implications. We illustrate the potential implications of reduced freshwater availability by assessing the ability to supply normative domestic water needs under rapid population growth scenarios, including return of refugees. In addition, the ability to supply environmental needs and the needs of peripheral farmers under extremely reduced availability scenarios is examined. The normative domestic demand in Israel and the West Bank can be supplied on the basis of natural resources, though re-allocation of water from Israel to the Palestinians is necessary. The Gaza Strip cannot supply the normative domestic needs under any scenario and hence requires immediate augmentation, regardless of climate change. Desalination can supply Gaza’s needs and augment water resources in Israel and the West Bank, thereby partially decoupling domestic and agricultural use from climate. Thus, it is unlikely that climate change will directly affect the conflict. However, framing water as a security issue, along with the potential for furthering such securitization with reference to climate change, may adversely affect the readiness of the parties to take adaptive measures and lead them to rigidify their negotiating positions. Possible effects of climate change on other regional players, particularly Egypt and Jordan, may have indirect effects on the Israeli–Palestinian scene. But this hypothesis requires further study.