Access to relevant, balanced and reliable information about competing interests and causes for unsustainable water management allows you to establish if decision-making on water allocation and use is fair. It can enable you to engage in negotiations around water use or helps building transparency, accountability and trust around ongoing developments.
On this platform water-journalists inform you and others about developments in the water sector that will have an impact on citizens in the Middle East. Through thrilling stories, thorough research and constructive conclusions they scrutinize decisions, highlight governance challenges, raise concerns about conflicts of interests over contested water resources and explore solutions to enhance sustainable water management in the region.
The Water Story ME seeks to disseminate constructive and high quality stories that merit your attention, that foster an interest in the topic and ideally encourage you to contribute to better water management as an active citizen or a water professional. Moreover, we seek to support dedicated water-related journalists by showcasing their work.
The Water Story ME has been developed under the framework of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation’s (SDC) ‘Blue Peace Middle East Initiative’. The Blue Peace Initiative builds on the assumption that countries that jointly manage shared water resources do not start wars with one another. Encouraging water-reporting by journalists complements and supports the efforts to build peace in the Middle East through water diplomacy in two ways. First, it makes information on water challenges accessible, increasing awareness for more sustainable water management and providing a level playing field for better water-related negotiation. Second, it raises awareness about solutions to water challenges in the region, facilitating replications of successful initiatives and making a common vision for the future more tangible.
The Water Story ME is jointly implemented by cewas and Media in Transition and Cooperation (MiCT).
