{"id":264,"date":"2022-03-20T09:13:44","date_gmt":"2022-03-20T09:13:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alontal.brandale.co.il\/?p=264"},"modified":"2022-03-20T09:13:44","modified_gmt":"2022-03-20T09:13:44","slug":"protecting-nature-and-biodiversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alontal.org.il\/?p=264&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Protecting Nature and Biodiversity"},"content":{"rendered":"
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  1. Israel is blessed with remarkably rich and diverse ecosystems. This is due to a combination of its location at the juncture of three continents and steep rain gradient: from hyper-arid Eilat, to temperate Galilee. This translates into extraordinary species richness, with <\/span>47,069 total species that have been identified thus far, including <\/span>115 types of mammals and 2800 plants.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. For most of Israel\u2019s history, its conservation policies were extremely effective. Species, such as the ibex or leopards, assumed to be extinct during the British Mandate, made a tremendous comeback.\u00a0 The strategy relied on a ban on most hunting, an emerging nature reserve system and the safeguarding of protected plant and animal species throughout the country.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. In recent years, however, the trends have reversed. Israel\u2019s wildlife is in decline. A third of all vertebrate species are defined by the Society for Protection of Nature as \u201cthreatened by extinction\u201d. Even the flagship, endemic Israeli \u201cgazelle\u201d species is defined as globally endangered.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. There are several reasons for Israel\u2019s present biodiversity crisis among them: damage by invasive species; illegal hunting; poisoning from pesticide usage \u2013 but most central: habitat loss and fragmentation of open spaces.\u00a0 The key to preserving nature for future generations involves preserving and restoring critical habitat while wherever possible connecting protected areas via ecological corridors.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Today in Israel, ecological corridors do not enjoy adequate statutory protection.\u00a0 While the planning system does demark many in regional plans, there are few normative provisions for how to ensure connectivity and the ecological integrity of these areas.\u00a0 Frequently, development plans are submitted that eliminate critical passageways for nature. And on the ground, land managers frequently are either unaware of their existence or just ignore them. I have begun to design an Ecological Corridor Law which would stipulate their protection and establish principles of land management in them.<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Many ecologically valuable sites are located within city limits and must be integrated into a national biodiversity strategy. For example, Eilat\u2019s bird sanctuary is a significant feeding ground for migratory species. I have prepared a law which would recognize \u201cUrban Nature Sites\u201d, protect them and fund their oversight by local authorities.<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. We need to do a far better job of monitoring species on land and on sea so that when there are unexpected drops in population, authorities can intervene to prevent local extinctions.\u00a0 My \u201cState of Nature and Biodiversity Protection\u201d law recently passed an initial reading to that end. It creates a regular report, cataloging the condition of our species, identifying threats.\u00a0 Its passage will be an important achievement in this area.<\/span><\/li>\n
  8. Nature cannot exist without adequate water resources.\u00a0 Israel must ensure that notwithstanding mounting domestic demand and a drop in supply due to the climate change, animals and plants continue to enjoy a reasonable water supply.<\/span><\/li>\n
  9. Israel\u2019s Nature Reserve Authority is an extremely competent and committed agency. It needs to be strengthened with more personnel in order to address the many challenges it faces: from policing hunting, poisoning and the many other insults that local natural systems face to restoring depleted species and managing visitation in reserves.<\/span><\/li>\n
  10. Ecologically, Israel is no bigger than a postage stamp.\u00a0 For long-term success in preserving large mammal species, cooperation with our neighbors is essential.\u00a0 Because of widespread hunting and water shortages, many species that once had Jordanian, Palestinian and Syrian homes have been extirpated.\u00a0 Working together, Israeli experience shows that together we can bring species back, restore ecosystems to their natural state and enrich all of our lives.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Israel is blessed with remarkably rich and diverse ecosystems. This is due to a combination of its location at the juncture of three continents and steep rain gradient: from hyper-arid Eilat, to temperate Galilee. This translates into extraordinary species richness, with 47,069 total species that have been identified thus far, including 115 types of mammals […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-agenda"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alontal.org.il\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alontal.org.il\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alontal.org.il\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alontal.org.il\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alontal.org.il\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=264"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alontal.org.il\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":265,"href":"https:\/\/alontal.org.il\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264\/revisions\/265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alontal.org.il\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alontal.org.il\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alontal.org.il\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}