From “Improving Landscape” to Conserving Landscape The need to stop Afforestation in Sensitive Natural Ecosystems in Israel and Conserve Israel’s Natural Landscapes From “Improving Landscape” to Conserving Landscape The need to stop Afforestation in Sensitive Natural Ecosystems in Israel and Conserve Israel’s Natural Landscapes The need to stop Afforestation in Sensitive Natural Sensitive Ecosystems in Israel and Conserve Israel’s Natural Landscapes May 2019 Author: Alon Rothschild, Biodiversity Policy Manager, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel.
[email protected] Translated from Hebrew by Esther Lachman Front cover photo: KKL tractor preparing land for planting near a group of Judean Iris. Photo: Avner Rinot. Back cover photo: Natural grassland expanse in the Nahal Tavor area (En Dor), planned for planting by KKL. Photo: Alon Rothschild. Photography: uncredited photos were photographed by Alon Rothschild. Design: Yigal Amor, Roee Blank, Meital Menahem – we amor. The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI): Israel’s leading environmental NGO Established in 1953, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) is the oldest and largest environmental non- profit organization in Israel. SPNI works to protect Israel’s biodiversity through advocacy, land use planning, lobbying and environmental activism. https://www.teva2017english.com/. SPNI is IUCN member and Birdlife international affiliate. This publication is largely based on the following papers: • Blank, L. 2012. Open landscapes disappearing – biodiversity of shrublands and grasslands. SPNI, 33 pp. (in Hebrew) • Rotem, G., Bouskila, A. and Rothschild, A. 2014. Ecological effects of afforestation in the Northern Negev. SPNI, 79 pp. • Perlberg, A., Ron, M.