BGU’s Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research are focused on harnessing the arid-zone ecosystem for human habitation. The Blaustein Institutes are comprised of three world-renowned research institutes: the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, the French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, and the Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research.
The knowledge gained here is shared with the world, where the rapid expansion of desert, called desertification, affects 1 billion people in 100 countries.
Its Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies (AKIS) offers English-language master and doctoral degree programs in desert studies, and hydrology and water quality.
At Wadi Mashash, BGU’s experimental desert farm, agriculture is based entirely on the collection of the winter floodwaters from the region’s mere four inches of annual rainfall. This farming method, used two thousand years ago by the Nabataeans, could hold the secret to ending the suffering of millions of people around the world whose sustenance relies solely on harvesting crops irrigated with rainfall.
AABGU is supporting this project with its Plant a Tree to Seed Desert Research initiative. Following a December 2018 flood, a wheat “intercrop” was planted in between the rows of trees. Researchers will evaluate its viability in maximizing land and water use to produce several crops in the same plot of land.
Your support will help make this possible and will help determine the sustainability of this new/old agricultural method.
Floods in the desert? Because the desert receives such little rainfall, the soil is not very porous. During a winter rain, flash floods run down the desert hills into wadis. At Wadi Mashash, these waters are conveyed through dirt channels and funneled into basins in which the trees are planted — land tubs that have been fortified with retaining walls — capturing the water for agriculture.
Floods in the desert? Because the desert receives such little rainfall, the soil is not very porous. During a winter rain, flash floods run down the desert hills into wadis. At Wadi Mashash, these waters are conveyed through dirt channels and funneled into basins in which the trees are planted — land tubs that have been fortified with retaining walls — capturing the water for agriculture.
Plant an olive tree and help improve food security in the world’s arid zones, while making Israel’s desert bloom.
At BGU’s French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, scientists are enhancing plant tolerance to stress, introducing new sustainable crops, and discovering innovative uses for inherently tolerant dryland plants. They are maximizing the commercial use of microalgae for pharmaceuticals; revolutionizing the fish industry with ecologically sound technologies and techniques for desert fish farms; perfecting desert vineyards; and developing solutions to minimize the adverse impact on the environment from livestock production.
BGU is solving one of the world’s most pressing problems. Support sustainable dryland research.
At BGU’s Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research , social scientists, architects and urban planners are developing environmental solutions to residential life that are aligned with the cultural, socio-economic and political considerations unique to dryland societies. Ecologists are studying Israel as model desert ecosystems for advancing knowledge in biodiversity conservation. Geographers, meteorologists, mechanical engineers, mathematicians, physicists, and chemists are investigating various aspects of the physical environment.
BGU is improving the living conditions of people who make their home in drylands. Support sustainable dryland research.
Dwindling water supply and quality impede the sustainable development of drylands and the well-being of their growing populations. Scientists at BGU’s Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research are developing technologies for advancing water supply in Israel and other arid regions, and for preventing pollution and degradation of aquifers and soil. They are improving water resource management and developing new natural and recycled resources. Particular emphasis is placed on developing high-tech, affordable methodologies for desalination and wastewater treatment.
Help ensure that Israel always has the water it needs. Support BGU’s desalination and wastewater treatment research.
