Background The improper treatment of agricultural and municipal wastes in the region of Southern Arava, which borders Israel and Jordan, results in a number of environmental problems. These include: degradation of parts of the fragile desert environment; destruction of natural habitats; depletion of resources for economic growth; and an increase in the numbers of mosquitoes and flies. The environmental situation in the region could seriously deteriorate if an integrated approach to the sustainable management of waste was not found. Objectives The overall objective of the project was to develop a treatment strategy to handle all the agricultural waste (solid and liquid) generated in the project region in the most effective way. Specifically, the project meant to: Prepare a business master plan for the treatment of all agricultural waste in the Hevel Eilot Region; Implement a pilot programme for the construction of intensive wetlands in the Ketura Valley and in the Kibbutz Lotan ecological-educational Bird Park; Prepare an agro-ecological educational programme for farmers of the communities of Hevel Eilot, Israel and Um Matla, Jordan; Prepare a joint educational programme with the Ma’aleh Shacharut Regional High School in Hevel Eilot and the Ein Ma’ahal Comprehensive High School in the Galil; and Disseminate the project results. Results The SASWMP project managed to attain basically all of its objectives and complete most activities more or less in line with the proposal. The Agricultural Waste Business Master Plan was completed and the plan produced compared methods of agricultural waste management solutions and proposed that decision-makers create one compost area. A key achievement was the ability to involve local farmers in the drafting process and, subsequently, convince decision-makers to see waste as a potential resource with the possibility of sustainable economic growth, after having recommended setting up compost centres to deal with cow barn wastes. The process has received the support of the Ministry of Environment and of the main local agricultural business firm. The building and implementation of two pilot Constructed Wetlands (CWs) at Ketura Valley and Kibbutz Lotan brought about an end to the flow of untreated wastewater to the valley and to the nuisances of mosquitoes and bad smell. A flow of 120-150 m³ wastewater is treated daily. Once the amount of treated water is enough, it will be also used for irrigation. The plan is to convert the two CWs into migrating birds nesting sites and through that to attract tourists. The monitoring of the water in the Ketura Valley wetlands has produced some initial results and conclusions which served as the basis for the report "Building a Desert Environment Constructed Wetland - a Pilot Study". The project's two educational components promoted mutual concern for the environment and personal connections between peoples of the region. They empowered and educated the participants – Jewish and Arab high school pupils and Israeli and Jordanian farmers – to bring about changes in their attitude and behaviour towards the environment, and concurrently generated capacity building and sustainability in their communities. While the eco-agriculture programme managed to train farmers to obtain environmentally-friendly certification for their agricultural produce (GLOBAL-Gap for the Jordanian and Tesco Nature's Choice for the Israelis), the youth educational programme included seminars and study tours on the issues of environment, and more precisely, on the question of water conservation, with a special emphasis on creating a local environmental leadership. Dissemination was done through many channels and notwithstanding the peripheral location of the project, managed to achieve local media coverage as well as academic, political and professional interest.