These craters are "nature's revenge, which takes revenge on unsustainable and inappropriate human actions," explains Gidon Bromberg, Israeli director of the NGO Ecopeace, a regional organization for the consolidation of environmental peace in the Middle East , bringing Jordanians, Palestinians and Israelis together to create shared solutions for the world's most water-poor region.
“The Dead Sea is a man-made disaster,” he continues.
Indeed, this spectacular expanse of salt water straddling Israel, the West Bank and Jordan, has lost a third of its surface since 1960. The blue waters recede by about a meter each year, leaving behind a lunar landscape. , a land whitened by salt and perforated with gaping holes.
Israel, Syria and Jordan pump almost all of its water from the Jordan River, which drains into the sea and dries it up even further with the inordinate extraction of minerals.
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"One day or another, if there is a trickle of water to soak his toes, we'll be lucky," laments Alison Ron, a resident of Ein Gedi, who has worked for a spa for a long time today. hui closed because of the devastating craters. As it recedes, the salt water leaves behind underground salt patches. When it rains, fresh water seeps into the soil and dissolves the salt patches. Without support, the land above can then collapse and form sinkholes. Some are more than 10 meters deep. And global warming is not helping, quite the contrary.
But there are solutions to save this jewel of the Middle East: "Make the Dead Sea a world heritage site, use treated wastewater, tax industries, develop alternative technologies ...", lists Gidon Bromberg, who is currently presenting these solutions at the Glasgow 2021 Climate Change Conference.
