Application of multicriteria decision aid to rank the Jordan-Yarmouk basin co-riparians according to the Helsinki and ILC rules

The Jordan River system, shared by Jordan, Israel, the Palestinians in the occupied territories, Syria, and Lebanon, is a major issue in Middle East politics. This paper identifies the water resources of the system, outlines historical development plans, and presents the relevant legal riparian issues and practices related to the basin. The descriptive analysis concludes that the application of the Helsinki and ILC rules separately is not suitable to a region which is in conflict on every issue. To assist in addressing the problem based on recognized water rights and water sharing, mathematical tools need to be used as these tools may, help to help solve the problem based on recognized water rights and water sharing. The Multicriteria Decision Aid (MCDA) method of PROMETHEE was applied to rank the co-riparians. The results of relative ranking indicate that Jordan and the Palestinians in the occupied territories ranked high in this analysis (compared to Israel, Syria, and Lebanon). Sensitivity analysis was carried out to check the ranges of stability of the results and further analysis regarding possible allocations of future investments in the basin subjected to different constraints was demonstrated using the new version of PROMETHEE V.