I’m going to quote some sentences from the excerpts of the presentations
at the SOL-conference in Finland, June 2003:

Session LR 2:
"Co-creating Desired Futures in borderless dialogue,
involving politicians, civil servants and citizens,
the Municipality of Kungaelv in Sweden desire to create a shared future
through political initiatives and learning to learn.
a politically controlled organization can start to create
and be responsible for the future that it wants.
Not just to be a victim of current reality. "

Session LD6
First Level Leaders - a large Scale Program in BP
- program in 60+ locations, in 6 languages

Following a series of mergers and acquisitions BP identified the opportunity to engage the First Level Leaders in a new model of leadership while building alignment:
10000 leaders spread across many countries, cultures, from different heritage companies, all with their own investment and approaches to development.. all at the same time - recognizing past achievements and future aspirations.
Conversation with over 500 first level leaders.
True example of how a desired future was created through a collective conversation on a global effort, non-linear approach to change.
The principle of engagement has been core to the process, along with "getting the wider system in the room."
How do we create a process of o n - g o i n g evolution and sustainability?

Session LS3
Inventing Desired Futures
for Education and Youth Development in a Global Society.
facilitated by Peter Senge (who in his work life also worked on Government level)

Session OL14
Exchange Methodology - Innovation with a Hybrid Large Group Process
Alternative to traditional conference format, half-day format for 300 -600 people.
The Exchange Method helps organizations to connect for peer to peer inspiration and learning.
In UK Nat. Health Service: Example of the energy that can be nurtured for creating desired futures:
-straightforward (blended) approach in catalyzing excitement for improvement.

By another "pole" at that time I was sent this info:

THE DEAD SEA: BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH
DEAD SEA E-MAIL BULLETIN
Vol. 1, No. 4 - AUGUST 2003
An electronic bulletin concerning environmental, economic, and social aspects of the Dead Sea Basin

Produced by Friends of the Earth Middle East
All issues of the Dead Sea Bulletin will be available on-line at: www.foeme.org
Contributions to the Bulletin are welcome. Please send to hanan@foeme.org
__________________________________________________________________________________
CONTENTS
1) AN UPDATE ON FoEME?s DEAD SEA ECONOMIC STUDY PROJECT
2) A TRILATERAL MEETING ON THE ?PEACE CONDUIT? (RED-DEAD CANAL)
3) JORDAN: DEAD SEA DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS CONTINUE AS $50 MILLION DEAL IS SIGNED
4) NEW DEAD SEA RESORT TO BE CONSTRUCTED IN JORDAN IN EFFORTS TO SUPPORT TOURISM
5) OIL TRAPS DISCOVERED IN THE SHALLOW WATER NEAR EIN GEDI IN ISRAEL

1) AN UPDATE ON FoEME?s DEAD SEA ECONOMIC STUDY PROJECT
FoEME has now prepared a first draft of an economic study on the current use and opportunity cost of waters that should be reaching the Dead Sea. Three leading economists from Israel, Palestine, and Jordan reviewed the draft report with further comments made by an international expert.

On July 27, a meeting was held in Umm Qays, Jordan, to peer- review FoEME?s economic study on the current use of Dead Sea resources and to initiate discussion on joint management options. Participants were asked to identify a ?red line? for the Dead Sea, drawing on both the FoEME and other studies, that would balance the competing interests currently exploiting Dead Sea resources. The purpose is to identify options for joint management that would be constrained by a commitment to maintain a minimum water level for the Dead Sea.

Participants concluded that identifying ecological thresholds and their associated water level required for the Dead Sea or inflow from the River Jordan and its side wadis, was an interesting way to consider minimum water levels for the Dead Sea. On July 31, a ?parallel? meeting was held in Jerusalem, during which FoEME staff reviewed comments of the Palestinian economist. The Auja springs in the Jericho area was identified as a good example where, due to over pumping of water in the Dead Sea Basin, the springs were now often dry and the health of the ecosystem now at risk.

This draft report will be finalized by October 2003 and presented to the public at a regional conference to be held before the end of the year. The International Development Research Center (IDRC) in Canada supports FoEME in undertaking this study.

2) A TRILATERAL MEETING ON THE ?PEACE CONDUIT? (RED-DEAD CANAL)
In one of the side-events at the World Economic Forum held at the Dead Sea on June 21-23, a joint presentation on the Red-Dead canal was made, followed by discussions between Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian ministers and World Bank representatives. The proposed canal would transfer water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, raising the water levels of the Dead Sea, providing hydroelectric power and desalinating seawater.

Water level in the Dead Sea has declined steadily since the diversion of its main tributary, the Jordan River, in the 1960?s for irrigation purposes. Due to the imbalance between water evaporation and water supply in the Dead Sea, water level decline reaches about one meter every year. Today the Dead Sea is only two thirds of its size prior to the diversion of the Jordan River. According to Jordanian geologist Elias Salameh, an additional cause of this shrinkage has been the potash mining and other industries near the Sea.

Israeli National Infrastructure Minister Joseph Paritsky, Palestinian Planning Minister Nabil Kassis, and Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abul Ragheb attended discussions on the ?Dead Sea Initiative?. FoEME is aware that the sides have not agreed on the terms of reference for a feasibility study on the project. Funding for the project is supposed to be made available by the World Bank and the private sector.
The objective of discussing this particular project during the World Economic Forum, according to Jordanian Planning Minister Basem Awadallah, was to ?raise greater world awareness? of the serious environmental problem in the region. FoEME congratulates the governments concerned for the responsibility demonstrated by this statement. At this stage, however, FoEME believes that there are significant issues concerning the proposed canal itself that must be clarified and that in any event it is not only the declining water level but unsustainable development taking place around the Dead Sea in general that must be corrected.

FoEME calls for a comprehensive study to be conducted, aiming to identify the best means to raise the sea level and protect the Dead Sea basin. Such a study would compare alternative plans for the revival of the Dead Sea, including raising its water through the conduit option but also the re-release of water flow back to the Jordan River.

An immediate step that the governments could take is to nominate the Dead Sea basin as a UNESCO?s World Heritage site for its cultural and natural values. In order to protect its unique features, all riparian parties would have to devise a joint master plan for the development of the area, overseeing such aspects as water supply and use, tourism, industrial development, transport and ecosystem management. A regional authority or another type of cooperative body would be necessary for the implementation of the master plan.

[Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur, FoEME]

3) JORDAN: DEAD SEA DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS CONTINUE AS $50 MILLION DEAL IS SIGNED
The Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation has been working to attract investment from local and foreign business in the Dead Sea region. Two major deals have been signed this year in an effort to promote the tourism industry in Jordan, both of which have included the development of luxury resorts in the area. These efforts are part of a master tourism plan, enacted in 1995 by the Jordan Valley Authority, to develop the region from Sweimeh to Ghour Haditheh by 2010. According to the Jordan Times, 50% of this plan has already been underway with the development of three sites and the planned development of four more.

The first deal of this year was made with Belavista Overseas Investment Corporation, worth $60 million. A recent deal has included an agreement worth $50 million with the Arabian Sharm Investment Group Company of Jordan, to which the Ministry has leased 55 dunums of land to develop another hotel and spa complex. According to Hazem Nasser, Water and Irrigation Minister, investment in the region is expected to reach $1 billion by 2010. This plan is part of the overall strategy to attract business and investment to the region.

It seems that tourism development has reached the top of the Jordanian government's agenda for the Dead Sea area. As important as tourism is for the Dead Sea, unsustainable forms of development pose particular threats to the fragile environment of the Dead Sea. FoEME is particularly concerned not to see hotels being built south of the Sweimah area, which is the main development area on the Jordanian side to date. Development south of Sweimah would compromise the unique aesthetic, ecological and cultural beauty of this north-south corridor along the Dead Sea shores. Similarly FoEME calls for the same level of protection on the western shores of the Dead Sea.
[Source: Jordan Times, FoEME]

4) NEW DEAD SEA RESORT TO BE CONSTRUCTED IN JORDAN IN EFFORTS TO SUPPORT TOURISM

A new Dead Sea resort will be constructed on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. According to "Jordan Times", the resort will be owned by the Social Security Corporation (SSC) and managed by Inter-Continental Hotels Group. The resort will bear the Holiday Inn brand.

The resort will be constructed on 70,000 square meters of land. Abdel Fattah, the Director General of SSC described the project as one of the many investments to be made by SSC to support the tourism industry and to increase the Jordanian employment market. The project's construction is expected to start at the end of this year.

FoEME is investigating whether the new resort proposed is in the Sweimeh development zone.
[Source: Jordan Times]

5) OIL TRAPS DISCOVERED IN THE SHALLOW WATER NEAR EIN GEDI IN ISRAEL
Ginko Oil Exploration, a new company in the oil industry, recently announced plans to explore for oil in the deep waters of the Dead Sea. The Israeli Ministry of National Infrastructures had issued a license for oil exploration to Ginko last year. Ginko then put together a team of Israeli professionals and Russian geologists, including the former senior official of the Geophysical Institute of Israel, Dr. Ilan Bruner, and geologist Eli Tannenbaum.

Ginko had already begun a series of studies, including tests and mapping of the area last year. At the end of May of this year, they completed the geophysical mapping of the Dead Sea basin. The exploration teams said the results of the mapping were surprising ?because potential oil traps had been discovered in fairly shallow water?. The group also discovered that potential oil deposits in the northern end of the Dead Sea were in waters that were more shallow that in the southern area. It was also found that the potential oil traps in the northern Dead Sea basin were in shallower water.

The company, controlled by Rami Karmin, is currently in the final stages of seismic tests at its new exploration site near Ein Gedi. These tests are the last in a series of research that began last year. The company expects to begin drilling its first well at the site in two months.
Environmentalists fear that oil drilling in the area would endanger the unique natural landscape of the Dead Sea and compromise the existence of the tourism industry in the basin. Given that one third of the basin has already been heavily destroyed by the mineral extraction industry FoEME sees no place for oil extraction as an additional source of destruction.
[Source: GLOBES, FoEME] ____________________________________________________________________________________
The Dead Sea Email Bulletin is published by Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME). Contributions of relevant articles and comments and suggestions are welcome. Please contact the editor at hanan@foeme.org