ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a comprehensive discussion of the environmental peacebuilding literature with a special focus on the Middle East. It reviews the different streams of research which contribute to our understanding of environmental peacebuilding. The chapter formulates some suggestions for the theoretical integration of the different approaches. It presents two case studies which illustrate and extend the potentials and pitfalls of environmental peacebuilding in the Middle East: interactions between Turkey, Syria, and Iraq concerning the Euphrates and Tigris river basin(s); and water-related cooperation between Israel and Jordan. The trust building process between Israel and Jordan can be divided into three steps: establishing a water regime; institutionalizing the regime by a joint water committee build the peace treaty; and implementing the regime with a joint desalination project, based on game changing technological innovation.
