Israel Environment Bulletin Summer 1992-5752, Vol. 15, No. 3
NATIONAL OUTLINE SCHEME FOR IMMIGRANT ABSORPTION
Few countries have experienced the demographic trends which have
been characteristic of Israel in recent yearsa massive influx of
hundreds of thousands of immigrants, increasing the population by
10%. The ingathering of some 400,000 new immigrants between 1989-
1991 and the potential for continued growth, presents Israel with
both a challenge and an opportunity. Immigration combined with
natural growth can increase the country's population from about
five million to six million by 1995, a 20% increase.
Yet, the welcome wave of immigration to Israel has been replete
with difficulties as well. The need to present each new immigrant
with proper housing and employment has led to an accelerated pace
of building and development, threatening to place an increased
burden on all resources and to aggravate environmental conditions.
To coordinate planning efforts by all sectors of government, the
National Planning and Building Board commissioned a comprehensive
National Outline Scheme for Immigrant Absorption in June 1990. This
represented the first time that various subjects, previously
addressed within the framework of sectorial masterplans, were
integrated within one outline scheme.
Principle Features of the Masterplan
The four-volume blueprint for Israel's development over the coming
few yearsformally approved by the National Planning and Building
Board in August 1992set out to formulate policy and consolidate
a comprehensive planning strategy for building and immigrant
absorption. Its specific objectives included:
- to review alternatives for population dispersal, with special
emphasis on Jerusalem, the Galilee and the Negev.
- to integrate residential systems with employment systems.
- to coordinate infrastructure development and guidance of local
authorities in the preparation of detailed plans for immigrant
absorption.
- to preserve land reserves and natural and landscape resources
and to protect the environment.
The masterplan is based on the following general principles:
maximal utilization of the existing potential for residential
building, employment, services and infrastructure, in the short
term; creation of appropriate conditions for quick economic growth;
preferential investment in infrastructure and employment, rather
than in residential building; development of the necessary
conditions to implement the government's population dispersal
policy by granting peripheral areas high priority development
status with regard to investments in infrastructure, employment and
services; and the implementation of an integrative planning
approach ensuring environmental protection, on the one hand, and
economic development, on the other.
The plan divides the country into four planning areas based on four
major metropolitan centersHaifa, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and
Beershebaand is based on a dynamic development strategy. In the
first stage, most of the development will be directed to the
central region where employment opportunities are already
available, and only later would the emphasis shift to development
in peripheral areas, most notably, Beersheba and the southern
region. Accordingly, the population in the southern region is
slated to increase from 573,600 in 1991 (representing some 11.9% of
the total population) to over 900,000 in 1995 (representing about
14.7% of the national total).
The masterplan accords top priority to the following principles for
development:
- development of an infrastructure of public transportation and
integration of public transport systems with employment and
residential centers;
- development of systems for wastewater treatment and reuse, and
the incorporation of basic infrastructures, including roads,
water, drainage, electricity and wastewater collection, treatment and disposal, in plans for urban and rural centers;
- development of interurban industrial parksessential to
increase employment possibilities for new immigrantsand
inclusion of pollution mitigation plans and regulations for
environmental protection.
- implementation of a national policy to improve quality of life
and quality of the environment, based on:
- prevention of exposure of additional populations to nuisances
and environmental hazards;
- development of employment in existing and new centers while
undertaking means for the prevention of water pollution, air
pollution, noise and other environmental hazards;
- elimination of environmental nuisances in the periphery, so as
to increase the attractiveness of peripheral areas to new
populations and to new employment opportunities.
- preservation of the rural character of open, agricultural areas;
- protection of open space landscapes with high natural and
landscape values, in addition to areas designated for nature
reserves, national parks and landscape reserves.
- special emphasis on the coastal strip to prevent urban sprawl in
the central region and to ensure the existence of "green lungs"
and open landscape areas for recreation and tourism.
The Environmental Components of the Plan
It is to Israel's credit that despite the flurry of planning and
building, planners recognized the danger of irreparable damage to
both environmental quality and natural resources which could result
from hasty decision-making. Normally, environmental management
tools are based on the slow, careful and detailed analysis of
resource sensitivity and carrying capacity and on the assessment of
the potential environmental impact of development proposals.
However, under conditions of rapid development, decisions have to
be taken under severe time pressures on the basis of existing
expertise and experience. Under these difficult conditions, it is
especially noteworthy that the Immigration Plan includes
substantial environmental management and resource protection
measures. Environmental quality was recognized as a key component
of the plan throughout all the stages of its preparation. In fact,
an environmental guidelines map accompanies the plan as a statutory
document.
In the first phase of plan preparation, it was decided that due to
time constraints, a map showing the constraints and restrictions on
residential development would be prepared. The constraints and
restrictions map is based on various sources of data including the
Geographic Information System of the Ministry of the Environment,
a survey of open space landscapes (described in a separate article
in this Bulletin) and data collected by the district offices of the
Ministry of the Environment.
The constraints and restrictions map, at a scale of 1:100,000, is
designated to guide planning commissions and the emergency building
committees set up to expedite the planning and building process.
Based on an evaluation of the sensitivity of areas to development,
the map establishes areas appropriate for residential development
and sets priorities for such land uses as wastewater purification
sites and open spaces for recreation.
The map designates two types of areas: areas in which building
should not be undertaken (constraints), and areas which may be
built and developed on condition steps are undertaken to prevent or
minimize environmental damages (restrictions).
Constraint areas include the following:
areas exposed to environmental degradation by quarries, solid
waste disposal sites, hazardous materials, airports, roads and
railroads; and
critical areas for the protection of natural and landscape
resources including nature reserves, national parks, impoundment,
recharge and pumping areas and landscapes of high value (as defined
in a survey conducted by Israel's nature and environmental
protection bodies).
Restricted areas include the following:
o areas sensitive from the point of view of groundwater protection;
areas designated for resource protection such as the Kinneret
watershed basin; areas of landscape value; and areas including
structures or settlements with special importance to Israel's
historic and cultural heritage.
One of the new terms which emerged during the course of map
preparation was that of the open space rural landscape.
Preservation of agricultural land has traditionally been one of the
foundation stones of Israeli planning, receiving first priority
over any other land-use in the Planning and Building Law of 1965.
In fact, most of the open spaces in Israel have been declared
agricultural land and their conversion into other uses requires the
agreement of the Agricultural Land Protection Committee.
While the economic justification for the preservation of
agricultural land has weakened over the years, the need to protect
rural open space as "green lungs" and for recreational purposes has
strengthened. The emerging awareness of the importance of rural
landscape conservation is reflected in the masterplan, where, for
the first time, statutory backing is given to open space landscapes
in recognition of their value as open spaces, rather than
agricultural lands. The masterplan differentiates between two basic
landscape groups:
a. the traditional natural landscape, slated for preservation in
its current state, or subject to restricted development for
recreation, tourism and leisure activity; and
b. the rural landscape, subject to development on condition such
development does not change its visual features from a pastoral
open landscape to a built-up urban landscape.
The plan's regulations restrict expansion plans for rural
settlements and make the expansion of rural settlements in
sensitive areas subject to environmental assessment. Expansion is
only permitted within the boundaries of the settlement, taking into
account the need to preserve land reserves.
Environmental Regulations
The regulations proposed within the framework of the environmental
guidelines map give strong emphasis to environmental managment
principles. They include:
1. Development in areas with high natural and landscape values is
prohibited except for recreation and tourism. Transfer of essential
infrastructures, such as pipelines and electricity and telephone
lines, through these areas is subject to landscape guidelines.
Expansion of rural settlements is subject to environmental
assessment procedures.
2. Plans liable to damage groundwater quality will not be approved
in areas identified as sensitive in terms of water resources
(aquifers and surface waters). Residential plans must include plans
for the construction and implementation of sewage systems.
3. Any activity which threatens to obstruct possibilities of water
recharge to groundwater or impoundment of runoff water in areas
designated for these operations is prohibited.
4. Plans in the Kinneret watershed basin, which threaten to damage
the quality of the Sea of Galilee's water, will not be approved.
5. Construction for residential and other sensitive areas in areas
exposed to aircraft noise will be based on guidelines issued by the
National Planning and Building Board. Plans for 100 or more
residential units in areas exposed to high levels of noise, will
require environmental impact assessment.
6. In areas exposed to nuisances, including waste disposal sites
and quarries, residential and other land-use plans will be subject
to strict review.
7. Approval for land uses (e.g. residential, commercial and
entertainment) will be withheld in areas exposed to risks from
hazardous substances, pending an environmental risk assessment
survey.
Israel's experience during a period of rapid development
demonstrates that where frameworks for the incorporation of
environmental considerations already exist, those frameworks can
respond to emergency needs. One of the challenges of the future
will be to change the focus of planning in areas exposed to
pollution from policies imposing constraints on residential and
industrial development to policies where the polluter will be
required to pay the price of the constraints, and would,
consequently, take action to reduce the area exposed to high levels
of pollution. These and other environmental issues will receive
special attention in the long-term plan for "Israel 2000" now in
preparation.