The Gulf of Aqaba and its coral reefs are of great importance to Israel. This unique ecosystem is rich and diverse, but also threatened by multiple drivers, such as climate change, rising water temperature, declining seawater acidity, nutrients enrichment from anthropogenic sources, disaster risk events or pollution. These threats are even more significant since a growing part of the local population depends on tourism as livelihood.
The overarching goal of this project is to map, quantify and estimate the effects of climate change on the provision of ecosystem services in the Gulf of Aqaba. Researchers from complementary disciplines will collect marine and terrestrial ecological and biological data, through different methods (e.g. socio-ecological assessments, mapping, economic valuation), to analyze the effects of climate change and flood-driven river flows on the Gulf’s marine ecosystems and the services they provide. This study will provide for the first time, an ecosystem services assessment of the Gulf of Aqaba, while focusing on the ecological, hydrological and economic impact of climate change on these services. This project will provide decision makers with accessible and synthesized data, scenarios analyses and operational tools to help them understand, plan, mitigate and adapt to the impact of climate change on the various sectors in Eilat, especially the tourism sector.