Background The River Jordan and its tributaries feed the lowest fresh water lake on Earth, Lake Kinneret. This is the main source of drinking water for both Israel and Jordan. The river system also plays an important role in local agriculture and for the local tourism sector. In spite of its importance, the river is seriously threatened by development pressure. Objectives The overall objective of the project was to create a framework for sustainable development that would encourage the sustainable use of resources, balancing the needs of development with the environment. The project aimed to prepare a master plan for land use designation, environmental management, flood prevention and proper drainage. It would furthermore: Encourage public participation in the planning and decision making processes; Develop eco-tourism while ensuring the conservation of natural resources; Promote change in behaviour through educational programmes and enforcement; Encourage ecological agricultural practices; and Create an administrative framework for implementation, management and maintenance of the developed master plan. Results The project's overall objective was met, as well the more specific goals. The project has: 1. Prepared a master plan and management plan for the Jordan river sources and the open spaces along them (including chapters on land use designation, environmental management, flood prevention and drainage). The management plan is divided into two sections: one detailing the existing situation of the river and tributaries and the second part providing recommendations for policy action. In addition, one chapter focuses on the entire region of the rivers divided into segments according to their ecological and scenic sensitivity levels (with information on: geographical, ecological, botanical, zoological, physical, sensitivity to development and instructions for development and conservation, and carrying capacity of the segment). 2. Created various mechanisms to encourage the participation of local stakeholders in planning and decision making mechanisms. These included invitations to public debates and to meetings of the various steering committees of the project, involvement in decision making processes and negotiation schemes. 3. Began working with tourist sites and services operators to promote the concept of eco-tourism in the area. This was done with the help of several workshops that dealt with adapting tourism to eco-tourism values, and methods for promoting the subject. About 70 tourist-site operators participated in two basic training workshops and one follow-up workshop and determined, in coordination with the project's planning office, the criteria by which tourist sites operators who take steps to turn their business into an eco-tourism business would be judged. Based on this experience, other associations in Israel are working towards establishing a similar certificate on these subjects, such as the Western Galilee Region, the Negev, and the Ministry of Tourism. 4. Promoted the concept of nature conservation through three main channels: (i) Direct contact with visitors/local residents: family-friendly material distributed at the entrance to the rivers, at information stands, and by the supervisors and volunteers. (ii) Work with local children and teenagers: The River Protectors’Organisation was established involving 30 groups of pupils, senior citizens and young people from the area. A total of some 1 000 pupils from 20 different schools in the region, including authorities which are not partners of the project were involved. An action plan was also implemented in local kindergartens. (iii) Media exposure: The project conducted an active PR campaign both in its area as well as nation-wide. Articles were published in the three national newspapers, news items appeared on the three national news channels and the internet. In parallel, the project created a mechanism (which did not exist before) for coordination among the various maintenance and enforcement entities in the area. The project work has resulted among others in: (i) Unification of the entire region of the rivers into one defined area for the purpose of devising a policy for the management of visitors, and as such, the standardization of enforcement conduct of the four relevant authorities with respect to parking, accommodation along the rivers and rules of conduct of visitors. (ii) Cleaning activity was expanded to the entire project region and its overall budget in the two regional councils and the Nature and Parks Authority increased significantly. 5. Began working with a preliminary group of farmers to promote the application of more environmentally friendly agri-management practices. This was done through three sets of workshops for 190 local farmers. Then, a small team decided to turn the content of these workshops into an action plan, aiming at establishing a network of sustainable agriculture in the region based on a structure of collecting fieldwork data, processing it, linking it to applied research items and distributing it back to the farmers and guides in order to facilitate a smart management regime for pesticides, toxin-reduced. In parallel, although the demand for agri-tourism products is still low in the region, the project organised one seminar in which the subject was presented to 100 farmers and tourist sites operators. Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report (see "Read more" section).