By Ahuva Bar-Lev & Gabi Bron
It
all started at the beginning of the 20th century with a blue tin box at
the Zionist Congress in Basel, into which Jewish communities worldwide
deposited their pennies to help acquire lands for Jewish settlement in
the Land of Israel. Today, KKL-JNF is the largest "green" organization
in modern Israel. KKL-JNF projects in forestry and open spaces, in
water and river rehabilitation, in combating desertification, in land
reclamation, and in applied agricultural research and development, are
a focus of international interest. Thank to its achievements and
expertise, KKL-JNF has attained major international status in global
frameworks. This reputation is based on the understanding that many of
the challenges that KKL-JNF faces in Israel are similar to the problems
tackled by many other nations around the world. Organizations,
institutions and governments worldwide relate to KKL-JNF as a partner
for environmental projects with global ramifications.
Biological Pest Control
The peak of unique projects
with enormous financial ramifications - especially for developing
countries - is connected to, of all things, a tiny insect discovered by
Israeli scientists working in distant Australia - thanks to generous
funding from the Australian Friends of KKL-JNF. The objective of the
project was to identify the creature that could put an end to the
plague of gall wasps in Australia - insects that endanger millions of
acres of eucalyptus tree plantations intended for industry and for
energy production throughout South-East Asia, the USA, Africa and South
America. The natural enemy of the gall wasp is a tiny insect less than
2 millimeters long. It was identified in Australia by Dr. Zvi Mendel from Israel's Volcani Institute of Agriculture and David Brand of
KKL-JNF, who trapped and brought it to Israel. Like the gall wasp
itself, this insect is also a wasp, a parasite, whose absence in nature
outside Israel led to the unchecked development of eucalyptus gall
wasps. By propagating the parasites in captivity at the Volcani
Institute, new generations of the gall wasp's natural enemy have been
produced. Wherever these tiny insects have been released in eucalyptus
groves infested by gall wasps, they start operating immediately, and
have a significant effect within a few months.
When the Israeli scientists realized that they were in
possession of news of global importance, a special international
workshop was held on the topic. It attracted scientists and wood
industry executives from China, Thailand, India, Turkey, Italy, Kenya,
Uganda, Brazil and the USA. The aim of the workshop was to provide the
participants with information on operating biological pest control of
the Australian gall wasp. At the end of the workshop each visitor
received a unique present: a small cardboard box containing hundreds of
the Israeli-grown wasp parasites that are the natural enemy of the
Australian gall wasp. Today, about a year after receiving their special
gifts, the international workshop participants are already reporting to
KKL-JNF about the enormous success of the wasp parasites: they are
exterminating gall wasps in eucalyptus forests and those forests are
returning to life with renewed growth. The significance of this success
is the rescue of entire branches of global economy with long-term
importance for many participating countries, both in terms of raw
materials for the wood industry and also of fuel for rural populations
who lack any other source of energy.
In South Africa, millions of acres of eucalyptus
forests have been saved since May this year (2009) from the damage
caused by gall wasps that penetrated this area only recently and became
a serious threat to its commercial forests. KKL-JNF representatives,
Professor Zvi Mendel from the Volcani Institute and David Brand,
director of KKL-JNF's Forestry & Land Development, took part in the
annual forestry conference held in Pretoria. The conference's focus was
mainly on the diseases that damage forest trees. KKL-JNF
representatives brought with them those parasite wasps that are the
natural enemies of gall wasps and helped researchers from the Forestry
& Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI) to release them into
the FABI's securely closed quarantine facility of the University of
Pretoria, also providing them with practical guidance on providing the
optimal habitat for the natural predators of gall wasps.
The KKL-JNF representatives also gave a survey on the work of
Israeli foresters and on KKL-JNF's areas of research to different teams
and to the FABI head, Professor Mike Wingfield, as well as to
forestry researchers and leaders of commercial forest projects. The
audience was extremely impressed by KKL-JNF's knowledge and as a result
of the conference an extensive foundation for forestry cooperation has
been laid between KKL-JNF and South Africa.
Clean up the World
Another
unique international effort originating in Australia that KKL-JNF was
amongst of the first organizations in the world to join is "Clean Up
the World" an Australian initiative, which has been adopted by dozens
of countries worldwide. Every year about 40 million people in some 120
countries now participate and in Israel, KKL-JNF has turned Israel's
"Clean Up the World" events into large annual happenings that educate
about preserving the environment. During the last Clean Up the World
Day in Israel, over 165,000 volunteers, from different ethnic and
religious populations - Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze and Bedouin -
in 106 towns and regional councils participated. Israel's president
Shimon Peres, as well as foreign diplomats also playing their part in
cleaning the environment and setting an excellent example to the
general public. In order to help increase awareness of ecological
cleanliness, KKL-JNF provided a goodly supply of biodegradable garbage
bags!
Forestry and Water - New Researches
KKL-JNF's
research projects are often backed by research in institutions of
higher education in Israel. However in recent years, the numbers of
KKL-JNF's research partners have expanded, even beyond the country's
borders. Thus, for example, in the last few years there has been
cooperation with the American Forestry Service, whilst several studies
on water preservation became joint projects between KKL-JNF and Canada.
The researches of the US Forest Service in
the field and in professional training are a highly valued source of
information amongst those dealing with forests in Israel. With its
help, advanced methods to monitor forested areas in Israel were
introduced to the KKL-JNF, by means of information beamed down from
satellites. This remote sensing technology enables mapping and
identification of problems that arise in forest areas as a result of
pests or from changes in yearly precipitation. Forestry experts from
the USA come to Israel for annual advisory visits, while forestry
staffers and scientists from KKL-JNF participate regularly in
professional workshops in the US held by the USDA (United States
Department of Agriculture) Forest Service.
Two top KKL-JNF forestry experts, Yitzhak Moshe and David Brand,
visited Indonesia. This visit to the largest Muslim state in the world,
that still does not officially recognize Israel, led to meetings with
Indonesian scientists and foresters and even to the first-ever
reciprocal visit by several of them in Israel. The KKL-JNF executives
found that they can supply their Indonesian colleagues with much,
varied knowledge that they require, in spite of basic difference
between Israeli and Indonesian forests, which are rain forests.
While KKL-JNF learns from the US about innovative forestry
methods and systems to use runoff water in forests, in its
interrelationship with Canada, the Canadian experts teach the Israelis
about methods to preserve and rehabilitate water sources. In return,
the Israelis instruct their colleagues from Manitoba, Canada, about
methods developed in Israel to purify polluted water sources. Israelis
also carry out joint research on water with colleagues in Alberta.
Thanks to this cooperation, it quickly became apparent that in spite of
basic differences between the Canadian and Israeli climates, the two
nations have identical problems in preserving water sources and
removing pollutants from natural bodies of water (rivers, lakes and
aquifers). These shared interests speedily led to regular, permanent,
joint research. As part of this cooperation, The Second Annual Manitoba-Israel Water Symposium is planned for the beginning of January 2010, on topics of Limnology, Wetlands and Water Conservation.
In order to address the growing water crisis in Israel, KKL-JNF
is constantly examining new, creative ways of rehabilitating Israel's
water network. Avri Kadmon, director of KKL-JNF's Department of
Geographical Information, keeps abreast of negotiations taking place
between various bodies, to enable KKL-JNF to tackle the vital challenge
of setting up new, even more successful, water facilities in Israel.
There are even more innovations relating to water: through help of KKL-JNF in Australia, an Israeli scientist, Yaron Zinger,
a PhD student at the University of Melbourne, is now undertaking a
novel project aiming to pool surface runoff water (rain water) from an
urban environment and to re-use it for secondary purposes. The Kfar
Saba Municipality has already agreed to try out the first pilot project
of its kind in this sphere and KKL-JNF staffers are very excited about
this innovative effort.
KKL-JNF in the East-Mediterranean and European Area
International
connections have encouraged KKL-JNF executives, headed by World
Chairman Efi Stenzler, to paint a rosy forecast for KKL-JNF's role in
the Eastern-Mediterranean. "In our immediate vicinity, there are many
states facing crises similar to ours, whether in the availability of
water in countries where tree planting is accelerated, or in combating
desertification that constantly threatens the whole region with
increasing severity. Regional cooperation among nations, with each
focusing on finding solutions for one of the problems and then sharing
its findings with its neighbors, is in KKL-JNF's opinion one of the
solutions for the advancement of all states in the Eastern
Mediterranean. KKL-JNF publicizes to all the results of its research
and its technologies on combating desertification."
Within
the Kingdom of Jordan, KKL-JNF has for many years had some shared
research, modest in size but highly effective for both sides, one of
which has been to eradicate the Mediterranean fruit fly, which harms
extensive agricultural areas in the Aravah, on both sides of the
border. The eradication method is biological - without any spraying of
pesticides - involving scattering from the air millions of fruit fly
males sterilized by radiation to prevent the fly's natural reproduction
process. Cooperation on a more limited scale is also carried out with
the Palestinian Authority. According Dr. Omri Boneh, KKL-JNF northern
region director - who is also in charge of KKL-JNF's foreign relations
- these first links bring great hope for extensive regional cooperation
in the future, as its importance becomes clear for the success of
projects that deal with regional phenomena.
Forest research has laid a strong foundation for international
cooperation between KKL-JNF and other countries with especially close
research links with scientists in Turkey, mainly owing to similarity of
problems that foresters face in both countries. Good relations have
also developed with foresters in Italy and Spain where cooperation
focuses on a major "plague" in every forest - extinguishing forest
fires and renewing the forests after a conflagration.
International cooperation sometimes brings results that could
not have been gained in any other way. For example, during a study tour
in Turkey, KKL-JNF representatives were able to collect seeds from
cedars of Lebanon, bringing them to Israel for germination. These cedar
saplings can already be seen planted in the Galilee, mainly in the
Biriya Forest, which was badly damaged by fires during the Second
Lebanon War.
At the end of 2008, a delegation of German forestry scientists
visited Israel, to inspect at close range KKL-JNF's unique achievements
in developing forests on the edge of a desert. This was their very
first visit in Israel and the German scientists were amazed by the very
existence of extensive stretches of forest in Israel. In several
professional meetings, the visitors presented different aspects of
forest-care problems in Germany, and once again it was seen that here
too, there is a common denominator and a common language when delving
into forestry topics. Not that every solution that is used in Germany
can be applied in Israel, but as a result of this visit another network
of scientific cooperation has been formed between Germany and Israel,
and in particular with KKL-JNF.
Combating Desertification
Just as
KKL-JNF lessons are learned from the experience of others so also does
KKL-JNF teach others to use the experience it has accumulated in
various spheres. KKL-JNF plays a central role in disseminating this
information through its cooperation with Israel's Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and Ministry of Agriculture. In December 2008, the
International Cooperation Department of the Foreign Ministry, in
conjunction with KKL-JNF and the International Cooperation Center of
the Agriculture Ministry, organized an international seminar under the
rubric "Combating Desertification." David Brand, director of KKL-JNF's
Forestry & Development Department, led a pivot of the seminar,
which addressed various aspects of open space management, forest
management, the propagation of tree and bush species, tree nursery
management, forest and forest-product management.
Among
the seminar participants, the representatives from desert and semi-arid
countries stood out prominently: from Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria,
Burkina Faso, China and India. For some of the delegates, the fact that
Israel also has the same desertification problems as they have came as
a great surprise. And they were amazed that, contrary to the
conventional wisdom they had imbibed, it is possible to cultivate
sustainable forest even in conditions with very little rain - only 300
millimeters a year, or even less. In their countries it was thought
that a minimal annual rainfall of 600 mm is needed for a successful
forest. The seminar participants toured throughout the Negev to study
the modern application of ancient methods of stopping floodwaters, soil
preservation, and the restoration of wadi banks in flood regions. In
addition, they also learned how to deal successfully with moving sand
dunes that threaten extensive areas on the edge of the Sahara in
Africa.
Many of the delegates requested that the educational and
professional training frameworks in Israel for their co-patriots be
expanded but Dr. Omri Boneh had better advice. "The most important
outcome of this seminar is that new operating methods are adopted in
different countries. Each country will have to apply these methods to
match its own special conditions. That is why one has to examine
whether it would not be more worthwhile and effective to continue the
cooperation through suitable training given by Israeli experts in your
own countries, after studying the specific data for each state and
region. We'll still be here, keeping in touch with each country and
able to give knowledge and advice on an ongoing basis, to provide
answers for any special issues that the seminar delegates raise after
their return to their own countries."
And indeed, this proposal is already being put into practice
through professional Internet networks set up by the participants of
several workshops held in Israel. These international networks
constitute a boundless and timeless meeting place for experts from all
points of the globe who came to know each other in Israel. They keep up
regular, ongoing exchanges of information among themselves and with
their friends in Israel, in the same spirit that KKL-JNF imparts in all
the international arenas where it participates.
Global Warming
Israel's achievements in the sphere of
desertification and the global struggle against the planet's warming
are increasingly recognized around the world. At the forefront of these
achievements is the Yatir Forest, the largest forest in Israel that
flourishes east of Beersheba in a desert region where the annual
rainfall is between 200-250 millimeters. The forest and the Research
station set up there by the Weizmann Institute draw great interest
among environment researchers all over the world.
The findings of the ongoing research in the Yatir forest have
already been presented at international forums on the environment, and
especially at the UN's Conference on Climate Change that was held in
Bali about two years ago. At this conference, representatives of 189
countries heard about KKL-JNF's unique achievements and how they
benefit the environment. For the first time they realized that today
Israel is one of the few countries in the world where new forest areas
are grown every year. At another conference, held in Cyprus, to address
environmental issues in the Mediterranean basin, KKL-JNF's
representatives were approached directly by representatives from
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, requesting a system of cooperation and
assistance. Following the UN's conference in Bali, KKL-JNF expects to
participate in the Global Climate Conference 2009 in Copenhagen that
will take place in December.