Water, Energy, Food, and Ecosystem Planning: The Jordan Valley's Hands-On Approach

In the Jordan Valley, where water, energy, food, and ecosystems (WEFE) intersect, there's a unique challenge: how to develop sustainably while dealing with shared resources and a history of conflict. The key to solving this puzzle lies in involving everyone - farmers, politicians, communities - in the planning process. A new framework was tried out here, focusing on decentralized yet coordinated decision-making. Experts used living lab sessions to talk with locals, drawing Causal Loop diagrams to show how WEFE sectors are connected and what problems stand out. They also checked each community's strengths and weaknesses to understand their priorities better. In the end, they compared the baseline problems with achievable goals, creating a roadmap. The result? A clearer picture of the Jordan Valley's biggest hurdles and where to start fixing them. Different areas showed vast differences, from social issues to environmental ones. This method, though tailored for the Jordan Valley, could be used anywhere facing similar climate and development hurdles.