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Israel Environment Bulletin Autumn 1992-5753, Vol. 15, No. 4
LIFE AND ENVIRONMENT
In contrast to the relatively high priority accorded to nature
protection in Israel's national consciousness, public awareness of
environmental issues has lagged far behind most Western countries.
While environmental groups organized throughout the Western world
to influence environmental policy in the 1970s, the general public
In Israel remained relatively indifferent to environmental issues.
The citizenry only awakened to the need for environmental
protection following the promulgation of Israel's first
environmental laws and regulations and after the establishment of
Israel's environmental administration.
Priorities and Goals
One of the major challenges of the Environmental Protection
Service, in its formative years, was to raise public consciousness
in order to make both the general public and decision makers
understand that the environment is a legitimate issue which
requires priority action. This central task was facilitated by the
establishment, in 1975, of Life and Environment, the environmental
umbrella organization for non-governmental organizations in Israel.
The organization was founded and is still chaired by Josef Tamir,
Israel's most environmentally active parliamentarian to date, whose
work on behalf of the environment has constituted a lifelong
mission.
The purpose of Life and Environment is to coordinate environmental
activities among Israel's environmental organizations and to avoid
duplication of efforts. At the time of its establishment, Life and
Environment included ten national bodies; today the number has
risen to 19 (several are described on the following pages).
Representatives of the various groups meet regularly to exchange
information on specific environmental activities, to plan campaigns
and to decide on areas needing priority action, but in most cases,
each organization is free to promote environmental action in
accordance to its particular interests and priorities.
Life and Environment's major goals include: the representation of
Israel's environmental bodies, as a strong, united lobby group, at
the level of the Knesset, government ministries and local
authorities; the formulation of comprehensive solutions to
environmental problems, on the national and local levels; the
publication and dissemination of environmental information in order
to arouse citizen action and involvement; and the representation
of Israel's environmental NGOs on the international front.
Major Accomplishments
A major landmark on the path toward greater public participation in
environmental struggles was a 1975 amendment to the Planning and
Building Law, 1965. The amendment, initiated by MK Tamir, accorded
Life and Environment statutory membership as a "public
representative" at the National Planning and Building Board. This
constituted the first time that a non-governmental body was
afforded statutory representation at the top level of national
planning. Moreover, it facilitated the integration of
environmental considerations in land-use planning decisions, most
notably in such areas as the protection of open space landscapes,
preservation of agricultural lands and opposition to the
establishment of the Voice of America transmission station in
Israel's Arava desert.
Past and ongoing campaigns in which Life and Environment is
involved include:
an ongoing 17-year-old campaign to promote an efficient and clean
system of public transportation which will present a viable
alternative to increased use of private transportation;
increased education and public involvement in promoting
cleanliness in the public domain;
pressure upon Israel's political parties to place environmental
issues on their agenda;
organization of successful public action on behalf of threatened
natural values in the case of the following proposals: expansion
of a quarrying site in the Carmel National Park, construction of a
hydro-electric plant in the northern Jordan River, expansion of
defense installations in the Meron Nature Reserve, high-rise
building along the Tel Aviv beachfront;
promotion of pedestrian malls in large cities in accordance to a
campaign first launched in 1977;
campaign on behalf of underground junctions and crossroads for
major highways;
lobbying on behalf of the establishment of a Ministry of the
Environment;
campaign to promote the use of low-sulfur fuel and the
installation of catalytic converters in cars, beginning with 1993
models;
struggle to obligate government companies, such as the Israel
Electric Corporation, Israel Chemicals, oil refineries, and Dead
Sea Works, to reduce pollutant emissions;
initiation of three major public campaigns, utilizing press
releases, press conferences, massive lobbying and organized
protests, on behalf of the following: an improvement of Israel's
policy in the realm of water quality and conservation; scrapping of
a proposed plan to import aluminium slag into the southern Negev;
and support of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel
in its struggle against the construction of a Voice of America
transmission station in the Arava Valley.
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