Michael Eisenstadt David Pollock How the United States Benefits ...

ASSET TEST
some circumstances. For instance, reverse osmosis
is well suited for desalinating brackish water for
agricultural or industrial uses—the major uses
of water worldwide—as opposed to desalinating
seawater to produce drinking water.
Israel has also succeeded in sharply cutting the
costs of desalination. Technical and organizational
innovations, including a government guarantee
to purchase all desalinated water produced, have
reduced the energy input required for each cubic
meter of water to just 3.5 kilowatt hours (about 40
cents’ worth of electricity at the current average U.S.
price). The total cost of Israeli desalinated water
is expected to be 55 cents per cubic meter next
year—a dramatic drop from two dollars per cubic
meter a decade ago. As a result, Israel may be able
to increase its exports of desalination equipment
and proprietary processes to foreign customers—
such as India and China, as well as African and
other countries confronting desertification, rapid
urbanization, or other water security challenges. 58
Indeed, one indicator of Israel’s niche capabilities
in this field is growing Chinese interest in them.
At the sixth-annual water technology “WATEC
Israel” exhibition in Tel Aviv in November 2011,
for instance, prospective buyers from China
outnumbered all other individual-country
delegations, accounting for more than two hundred
people. 59 Most recently, in early 2012, the Israeli
and Chinese finance ministers signed a deal in
Beijing for $300 million in Israeli water technology
exports to China. 60
Israeli researchers have also made breakthroughs
that have permitted productivity increases for plant
and dairy farmers and aquaculturists. For example,
Israel’s 100,000 dairy cows are the most productive
in the world, due to scientific breeding and feeding
techniques. 61 While these innovations may be
of limited direct use to U.S. dairy ranchers, who
sometimes suffer from overproduction, the Volcani
Agricultural Research Center outside Tel Aviv and
other Israeli institutions hold international courses
to share their advances with hundreds of students
from developing countries—and even from
developed countries (such as France). 62 Similarly,
in early 2012, another Israeli agricultural research
center reported that it had doubled average milk
production per cow at a model farm in China, from
5,000–6,000 liters to 11,500 liters per year. 63 And
on a larger commercial scale, in Vietnam, ten Israeli
companies are managing 30,000 cows in new,
scientific dairies slated to produce 300 million liters
of milk annually. 64
In the private sector, Israeli researchers have
developed a model that uses satellite imagery to
enable farmers to take advantage of microclimates
to maximize crop yields. 65 Likewise, an Israeli
software manufacturer has created an internetbased
system that advises farmers on optimal
planting, irrigation, harvesting, and marketing
times, the best feed mix for livestock, and ideal
temperature control and storage procedures,
depending on local conditions; this manufacturer
has joined with IBM to market the product
worldwide. 66 And Israel has developed a reputation
for excellence in intensive aquaculture; raising fish
in the desert has become an Israeli specialty, and
Israel has partnered with Germany and Kenya
to create plans for a wastewater treatment and
aquaculture program for Lake Victoria—the largest
lake in Africa, which provides a livelihood for five
million people. 67
These innovations could enable Israel to help
drought-stressed countries (perhaps including
neighboring Arab states) build climate-adaptive
infrastructures and enhance water management
capabilities, making them more resilient in an age of
disruptive climate change. 68 Indeed, in April 2012,
the U.S. Agency for International Development
(USAID) and MASHAV (Israel’s Agency for
International Development Cooperation) signed
a memorandum of understanding to increase
cooperation on food security in four East African
countries (Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and
Rwanda), while the next month, MASHAV
signed a memorandum of agreement with the UN
Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
to advance, inter alia, water management and
38 sTraTegic rePorT 7 | eisensTadT, Pollock