Strategic climate philanthropy in the Middle East and North Africa
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is the world’s most water-scarce region. Some areas are projected to heat by up to 5°C by century’s end. Yet MENA receives a disproportionately small share of global climate finance.
Strategic philanthropy can help to bridge this gap – deploying catalytic capital to sustain diplomacy, de-risk transboundary projects, and increase the velocity of best practice. Done well, addressing shared climate risks can become a platform for peace-building and regional stability.
Shared vulnerability drives cooperation
MENA includes 11 of the world’s 17 most water-stressed countries. By 2050, two-thirds of these countries are expected to fall below the critical threshold of 200 m³ of water per capita per year. Climate threats cross borders: 66% of water resources are shared between countries, and transboundary impacts such as dust storms already cost the region over $13 billion annually. Cooperation is therefore not optional – it is essential for shared security.
Projected warming for the MENA region in summer months
Diplomacy through water and energy
Climate change has created a less politicized arena for collaboration at both the state level (Track I) and through civil society (Track II).
State-led initiatives show promise but remain fragile. Saudi Arabia’s Middle East Green Initiative committed $2.5 billion in 2022 to regional climate projects. The Prosperity Projects – an Israel-Jordan-UAE energy-for-water agreement (Prosperity Green and Prosperity Blue) – would have exchanged Jordanian solar power for 200 million m³ of Israeli desalinated water annually. It was postponed when the Gaza war broke out.
Civil society collaboration endures (Track II)
NGOs can sometimes sustain dialogue even when politics freezes. The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies (and their Center for Applied Environmental Diplomacy) and EcoPeace Middle East are both working to build what has been called the “scarcest resource in the Middle East”: trust. Their work spans water, food security, and sustainable urbanism. Just one successful example is the Al-Bireh Pipeline Project, facilitated by Arava and Damour for Community Development, which mediated on Israeli-Palestinian agreement on a pipeline route, enabling a 30-km line delivering treated wastewater to reach farmers in the Jericho region.
Philanthropy as catalyst
Philanthropy has a potential role to help make projects “bankable” through first-loss grants or guarantees that absorb political risk. One medium-term goal is fund specific successful pilots. Once established, there are larger foundations and sovereign wealth funds that are well-placed to leverage such projects through technical-assistance grants that build project readiness and policy alignment.
Shared vulnerability should drive cooperation. Philanthropy can help.
Water, life, and climate security: Israel and the Middle East
Water in Biblical and Rabbinic Thought
Water is not just another resource; it is the requirement for life itself. Biblical and rabbinic tradition grasped this. In Genesis, G!d’s spirit “hovers over the face of the waters,” and throughout the Torah water symbolizes blessing, sustenance, and moral responsibility. The Talmud devotes almost an entire tractate, Ta’anit, to rain – its absence, the communal fasts it demands, and the vulnerability drought reveals.
The Torah emphasizes what the Land of Israel lacks. Unlike Egypt or Mesopotamia, Israel has no Nile, Euphrates, or Tigris; it is “a land that drinks water from the rain of heaven” (Deuteronomy 11:10). This ecological fragility carries spiritual meaning. Survival depends not on controlling a mighty river, but on attentiveness, humility, and collective responsibility. Rain becomes a covenantal sign.
Israel’s water innovations: thriving under scarcity
Modern Israel inherited this vulnerability and responded with innovation. Over seven decades, it has become a global leader in water security, transforming scarcity into resilience.
Desalination is fundamental. Israel now sources most of its domestic water from large-scale seawater desalination plants – among the most advanced worldwide – stabilizing supply despite declining rainfall and rising demand. Water recycling is another pillar: Israel treats and reuses nearly 90% of its wastewater, primarily for agriculture, the highest rate globally.
Drip irrigation revolutionized agriculture by delivering water directly to plant roots. Used today in over 100 countries, it cuts water use by up to 50%, increasing yields. Complementing this are smart metering, leak detection, and digital management systems that reduce losses which elsewhere can exceed 30–40%. Together, these form a coherent system – technological, regulatory, and cultural – that treats water as precious, measured, and shared.
From national resilience to global impact
Israel has exported these solutions through public-private partnerships, development agencies, and philanthropy. Israeli water technologies support farming communities across Africa, stabilize shared aquifers through cooperation with Jordan, and contribute to infrastructure projects in the Gulf and South Asia. Water cooperation offers a practical pathway to peacebuilding.
Case study: Seth Siegel – water as moral and strategic imperative
Author and philanthropist Seth Siegel has done more than anyone to tell Israel’s water story. In Let There Be Water, he shows that Israel’s success stems not from miracles, but from long-term planning, pricing discipline, technological investment, and cultural seriousness about scarcity. Siegel argues that water crises are rarely natural; they result from mismanagement and political failure. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed about Iran’s water crises, he links environmental degradation with authoritarian governance. Drawing on the same (biblical) logic that shaped Israel’s water ethic, Siegel argues that water reveals whether societies plan for tomorrow – or consume for today.
Redefining tikkun olam through innovation and resilience
Both the Jewish people and the State of Israel are small in numbers. But the exigencies of a changing climate and the drying up of international aid creates both needs and opportunities.
From Aid to Climate Security: Jewish and Israeli Innovation in Global Development
“Maimonidean investing”
Drawing on Maimonides’ hierarchy of tzedakah, the highest form of giving enables self-reliance through partnership, loans, or livelihoods. The moral geography of climate change reinforces this necessity: Africa contributes only 4% of global emissions yet faces disproportionate drought and food insecurity. Traditional charity cannot close Africa’s $270 billion annual climate finance gap. It is against this backdrop that Israel’s hard-won expertise in water scarcity and arid agriculture is significant. There is an opportunity for philanthropists to apply know-how to deliver life-saving adaptation technologies today.
From hardware to “the helix”
Organizations such as Innovation: Africa (iA) address the hardware gap, deploying Israeli solar and water technologies that have improved the lives of over six million people. iA’s UN-award-winning remote monitoring system allows donors to track real-time water flow via satellite, ensuring long-term functionality. Yet hardware alone is insufficient. CultivAid supplies the “software” through its Agricultural Helix Model, establishing Agricultural Innovation and Technology Centers (AITECs) that train local professionals and integrate Israeli agri-tech into local research and markets.
The last-mile challenge: Evergreen Innovation Platform
A critical gap remains: making high-tech solutions commercially viable for smallholder farmers. The Evergreen Innovation Platform (EIP) tackles this by connecting global startups with on-the-ground realities. Working with partners such as India’s Agri-Entrepreneur Growth Foundation (AEGF), EIP does pre-commercial testing with over 20,000 agri-entrepreneurs to ensure technologies are functional, affordable, and culturally appropriate. One example is Soil Sathi, which provides low-cost, on-site soil nutrient mapping to reduce fertilizer waste and boost yields. Using blended finance, EIP turns passive funders into active partners, proving climate resilience can be a viable business.
The financial frontier: blended finance
Programs like Tikkun Olam Ventures (TOV) deploy philanthropic “first-loss” capital to de-risk projects and unlock private investment. In Ethiopia, TOV combines grants with local bank loans, enabling farmers to adopt Israeli agri-tech and transition to commercial farming. Similarly, the Nura Global Innovation Lab (formerly the Pears Program) bridges the “missing middle” for agri-tech and fintech startups.
A call for adaptation
Global Nation, a think-tank focused on international co-operation, offers a roadmap: allocate 1.8% of assets to program-related investments, and prioritize adaptation alongside mitigation.
Philanthropy of this sort can connect Israel and the diaspora to the urgent needs of the Global South.
THE RESILIENCE ECOSYSTEM IN ACTION
Layer 3: Market Access + Finance
Models use blended finance to de-risk loans for small farmers to buy technology.
Layer 2: Knowledge + Integration
CultivAid establishes local training centers to integrate advanced agri-tech into markets.
Layer 1: Hardware + Accountability
Innovation: Africa provides Israeli solar and water tech with remote satellite monitoring.
“Israel’s experience with resource scarcity provides a historic opportunity to power the growth of the developing world. ”