New Fish And Insects Introduced To Jordan River For Rehabilitation Project

The Jordan Rehabilitation Project is being formally launched to rehabilitate the Jordan River’s ecosystem. The Jordan River is a river 300 km in length and rises from three principal sources in Israel, Lebanon and the Golan Heights. The project aims to create a partnership between Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian territories.

The project will  include work along the entire length of the river that flows within the Israeli territory. Restoration work on the river will include new infrastructures to ensure more water from the river’s springs flows into it in order to deepen and revive the river and its ecosystem.

The program’s director said  that new plants, animals, insects and fish will be introduced to the river to create a more stable ecosystem and to stop the declining bio-diversity of the Jordan River.

“The Jordan River is an ecological, historical and touristic asset,” Ramon Ben-Ari,  head of the South Jordan Drainage and Rivers Authority, told Israeli website NRG. Ben-Ari said that the river, along with all of Israel’s water sources, has deteriorated and been exposed to contamination and drought, meaning the number of species have significantly declined.  “We are starting a historical project intended to bring back the Jordan River to its glory days – a proud, flowing vital river without dark creeks.”

Photo by See The Holy Land