Marina

Djernaes

EcoPeace has 23 years of practical experience implementing environmental peace building in the Middle East across Jordan, Israel, and Palestine. EcoPeace has a long experience in developing regional water security that builds the capacity of civil society to establish relationships of cooperation and develop trust at the community and national levels in situations with asymmetrical relationship and conflict. These programs complement government-to-government water diplomacy efforts and advances transparency. The work cultivates the local capacity to deal with complex issues of competing interests over interdependent resources. It advance the resilience at a community, national and regional level by strengthening corporation, advance water security, and cultivates peacebuilding. EcoPeace’s Center of Water Security in Washington DC facilitates effective program development and implementation to advance water security in conflict zones across the globe based on our experience. The center seeks to disseminate best practices and adapt ‘bottom up and top down’ programming and strategies to the specific circumstances in the given locations. EcoPeace receives international recognition as a trailblazer in the field of environmental peace building and water security with recognition by many and several international awards including the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship and the Aristotle Onassis Prize for the Protection of the Environment. In addition, the TIME Magazine, and the Economist recognize the importance of the work. New York Times Journalist and Middle East Commentator Thomas Friedman acknowledged the unique work of EcoPeace Middle East by describing the organization as: “the best hope for the future” and a model for peacebuilding in the region, noting that relationships of trust between neighbors such as those built through EcoPeace’s efforts "are the hardest things to build, but also the hardest things to break once in place."