Israel's national preparedness plan for climate change was recently approved by the government after nine years of research and writing. The problem is that it lacks a very important thing: who will pay for it
Racheli Vox, Angle - Science and Environment News Agency
The joy among environmental organizations and activists in the US was great earlier this month, when freshman Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey (both representatives of the Democratic Party) presented the Green New Deal - an ambitious plan aimed at combating the phenomenon of climate change in the United States. The plan sparked a lot of discussion and ignited enthusiasm, especially among Democrats who were fed up with the anti-environmental policies of President Donald Trump. However, despite the great importance of the plan, at the moment it is mainly a declarative document of intentions, which does not include details of specific measures, bodies responsible for their implementation or funding sources.
In Israel, too, a significant plan in the field of climate change was recently introduced, which focuses on dealing with its consequences: the State of Israel's National Preparedness Plan for Climate Change, which was approved by the government after nine years of research and writing. The plan, which was written under the leadership of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, in consultation with government ministries, bodies and many experts from various fields, is an important step in the process of preparing for climate change, whose devastating effect on Israel and the world is only expected to increase in the coming years. However, despite the advantages of the comprehensive program, some things are still missing in it as well in order for the 250 pages full of text to become a reality (Amlak: money).
30 action plans
Although in Israel and around the world various important steps are being taken in order to slow down the pace of climate change, the amount of greenhouse gases emitted as a result of burning polluting fossil fuels is constantly increasing, especially in the developed countries. The phenomena that climate change brings with it - an increase in average temperatures, a change in rainfall patterns and an increase in the frequency of extreme weather events (such as floods, fires and droughts) - are already visible around us, and unfortunately are only expected to get worse in the future.
"The background for putting together the program was government decisions from 2009 and 2010, which stated that it must be prepared," says Dr. Erna Metzner, Acting Chief Scientist at the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
The program focuses on five main goals: reducing vulnerability to life and property and building economic resilience; increasing the resilience of natural systems; Building and updating the scientific knowledge base for decision making; Education, raising awareness and making knowledge accessible; and the integration of Israel into the global effort in accordance with its commitments and the promotion of regional and international cooperation.
"Under each of these five goals, there are action plans arranged by sector: health, construction, agriculture, forest fires, tourism, etc.," says Metzner. "The action plan will be prepared by a large inter-ministerial committee headed by the Director General of the Ministry of Environmental Protection". The responsibility for implementing these 30 action plans rests with government ministries (such as the ministries of health, agriculture, economy, education, foreign affairs, etc.) and various bodies (such as the Water Authority, the Fire Authority, the Meteorological Service, the Central Bureau of Statistics, etc.), and some of them require cooperation between several of them .
The action plans differ from each other in their detail and depth. In some topics you can find detailed lists of steps to be taken and instructions on how to do them, while in others only general and broad instructions are given, or the instruction is simply to prepare a (separate) action plan on the subject.
The first action plan in the preparation document is actually a general guideline for the government to make sure that legislation, policies and various programs are updated and take into account climate change adaptation if necessary.
After that, the authors of the document move on to engage in the various relevant fields. One of the main issues the program deals with is the lack of water, which is always in the headlines in Israel and which is expected to get worse as the impact of climate change increases along with the continued increase in demand due to the rapid rate of population growth in Israel. In this area, the authors of the document instruct on the continued implementation of the Water Authority's policy document from 2012, which includes steps whose implementation has already begun, such as the promotion of desalination in the Western Galilee, the preservation of existing water sources, the promotion of the capture of flood water when possible, the writing of a policy document for the management of urban runoff (water (hopefully when rain falls on sealed areas, such as roofs or roads, so that the water does not seep into the ground and may cause flooding), and promoting the development of technologies that save and optimize the use of water. It is important to note that last October the State Comptroller attacked the Water Authority for its failure to prevent the severe water shortage in Israel, and among other things pointed out that the policy document from 2012 does not include an implementation plan and therefore cannot be a substitute for an orderly master plan.
Another area that will be greatly affected by climate change is our health, due to the expected increase in morbidity following the hot temperatures and due to the increase in extreme weather events. In this area, the writers of the program chose to focus almost exclusively on the issue of monitoring. The main guideline included in the action plan on the subject is to establish a computerized database that will gather in real time the information on the morbidity and mortality caused by the effects of climate change, and where the details of people who belong to populations at risk will be recorded and updated.
Energy and international relations
The issue of energy is also very significant in the context of the effects of climate change. Among other things, the rise in summer temperatures leads to an increase in electricity consumption for air conditioning and cooling, and the expected growth in seawater desalination will also require a lot of energy. The action plan that deals with the issue includes a number of measures for energy efficiency, such as a general directive to encourage the installation of the most energy-efficient air conditioning technologies, promoting mandatory legislation on energy-conserving construction, green construction and solar air conditioning in large buildings, and promoting plans to increase the scope of energy production from renewable sources ( such as solar energy and wind energy) and more.
Another aspect that will be examined in the program is the international field. The effects of climate change are at the root of inter-state geographic processes, such as changes in state power relations following the depletion of natural resources and massive migration following the deterioration of terrain conditions. For example, the protest that began with demonstrations in the cities of Syria, an uprising that later led to the outbreak of the civil war there, which affected and continues to affect Israel's security today, increased in part due to a severe drought that attacked the country's agricultural areas and pushed the desperate farmers from the villages to the cities in search of a livelihood.
In some sections of the action plan that deals with the international issue, there is a lot of precise detail as to how the steps are to be carried out, while in others the wording is only general. The authors of the program see climate change as a challenge as well as an opportunity to strengthen Israel's relations with the countries of the region and with other countries in general. They recommend promoting the participation of Israeli representatives in regulatory frameworks of international organizations that are relevant to climate change, such as bodies that belong to the United Nations. The plan also includes a general call to encourage Israeli private companies to compete in the tenders of such organizations. The authors of the plan also order the establishment of an international knowledge center for adapting to climate change in Israel, and the examination of the possibility of establishing an international fund for humanitarian aid.
The various action plans include steps in many other areas, such as examining the possibility of building underground structures in order to deal with the rise in temperatures, recognizing the Garden Bank for the Flora of Israel (which is responsible for collecting and preserving the wild seeds of all Israel's plants) as a national institution, encouraging grazing for the purposes of maintaining buffer zones In wooded areas (areas with sparse vegetation, among other things around settlements and parking lots and along roads, which help protect against forest fires), and more.
Another guideline included in the plan is the conduct of additional studies on the subject of climate change, which will provide essential information on its expected effects and thus enable more effective preparation for them. The authors of the program call for research on the rain regime, the changes in temperatures, the urban heat island (the phenomenon in which it is much hotter inside the cities than outside them), air pollution in the cities, sea level rise and more.
"We don't have enough research knowledge on the local aspect," says Prof. Marcelo Sternberg from the School of Plant Sciences and Food Security at Tel Aviv University, who took part in the preparation of the program. "Most of the knowledge we relied on for the program came from studies conducted abroad, the results of which we tried to adapt to the local reality."
Sternberg also emphasizes the importance of studying the effects of climate change over long periods of time. "Today, the main barrier on the way to understanding the scenarios that may happen as a result of climate change is the lack of long-term data, both on a global scale and even more so in Israel. The studies that are conducted usually last only two or three years", he says.
The authors of the program also list examples of programs that are already being carried out in the government ministries and various bodies, and will be useful for the efforts to prepare for climate change. For example, the Ministry of Construction made plans for shading and building a climate-adapted city in four cities in the Negev, in order to deal with the phenomenon of the urban heat island. The National Fund for Israel has begun biological control efforts for the malignant saberworm, an aphid that severely damages saber plants, and for the eucalyptus weevil - both invasive species (animals or plants that were spread by human activity to an area outside of their natural range, and managed to survive and even thrive in it). In each maintenance area of the Israel Routes Company, which is responsible for the planning, development and maintenance of most of the intercity roads in Israel, there are dozens of bags of salt that are available for immediate use in case of an extreme winter storm that will cause an accumulation of snow on the ground in those areas (for example, the one that happened in Israel in December 2013).
Nothing more than words on paper?
What do environmental protection experts think about the plan? Well, let's start with the good things: "This is a very comprehensive and professional program, you can see that serious work and thinking has been done here and the authors have hardly overlooked any relevant aspect", says Prof. Yoav Yair, Dean of the School of Sustainability at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. "I have not seen such a beautiful and broad document that deals with the issue of climate change, and for me it deserves praise. Although he arrived a little late, I see him as a significant and important first step."
However, the various experts also explain that the plan will not be much more than words on paper, if the steps it includes are not implemented. The plan includes reference to the ministries and bodies responsible for carrying out the various measures, and according to Metzner, these ministries also participated in its writing. "Some of the offices have already started operations, some have not yet started, each office is at a different stage, it varies greatly by sector and by office," she says. In addition, in December 2018, the inter-ministerial administration for preparing for climate change, which was established under the plan, met for the first time, and whose role is to generalize its implementation, link the various ministries and report to the government on the progress of the plan's implementation.
"The problem is not the program itself, but its implementation," says Prof. Adi Wolfson from the Center for Green Processes at the Sami Shimon Academic College of Engineering. "It is true that government decisions have been made on this program, but the question is whether they will implement the things, and to what extent."
"I don't see that the relevant people are taking the plan seriously enough," adds Prof. Ofira Ilon from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Management at the University of Haifa, Director of the Environmental Quality Department at the Shmuel Na'eman Institute at the Technion, who also took part in the preparation of the plan. "I don't know how many people actually read it. Preparing for climate change cannot be the sole responsibility of the Ministry of Environmental Protection - every government ministry should show responsibility for the issue."
One of the main things needed for this is of course a budget. The plan does not include estimates for the costs of the many different measures, but there is no doubt that their implementation will require a lot of funding. According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the inter-ministerial administration and government ministries will later contact the Ministry of Finance in order to allocate the amounts required to carry out the program in the future budgets. As of today, no dedicated budget has been allocated for the implementation of the plan. "There is no doubt that implementing such a plan is a problem when such a decision comes without money," concludes Elon.
comments
The Ministry of Environmental Protection stated: "The document for the national action plan for climate change was the basis for the government's decision, and it serves as a strategy document that also includes a national plan that will allow preparation and appropriate budgeting in the next budget year, 2020.
Although the work on the document began several years ago, the document was updated during the work on it. Although the government's decision does not include a budget, it was determined that the ministries will examine the plan and act by virtue of their authority and current budget, and there are indeed ministries and bodies that are already working and promoting climate change preparedness."
The Ministry of Health stated: "The Ministry of Health centralizes information about hospitalizations from all hospitals in the State of Israel. This information includes population characteristics such as sex, age at hospitalization, reasons for referral to hospital and dates of admission and discharge from hospital. All the detailed information makes it possible to check hospitalization occupancy in different populations and according to different weather events during the year.
Information regarding mortality including causes of death as detailed in the death notice. According to the date of death, the relevant causes of death in different population groups can be associated with weather events.
The Ministry of Health is in the process of organizing with the relevant parties in order to advance the issue."
The Ministry of Energy stated: "As part of the State of Israel's national preparedness plan for climate change, the Ministry of Energy is working to improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in two tracks:
The loan fund - the first fund of its kind in Israel, within which NIS 500 million were allocated in state guarantees, for the purpose of carrying out energy efficiency projects totaling NIS 3.5 billion. The fund is in collaboration with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Finance.
The grant fund - an aid track for projects promoting energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, with the total grants until 2020 amounting to 300 million shekels, which will leverage investments of an estimated amount of 1.6 billion shekels for energy efficiency. The fund is in collaboration with the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economy. The grants and loans are awarded to entrepreneurs, industrialists and local authorities to carry out various projects.
It should be noted that these two routes also encourage the installation of the most energy efficient air conditioning technologies.
Regarding the promotion of legislation on energy-saving construction, the Energy Sources Regulations (presentation of an energy rating for a housing unit), 2018-2018, for new residential buildings were published in August XNUMX on the Government Relations website for public comments; The regulations are currently being reviewed by the Ministry of Justice."
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is a member of the Climate Change Preparedness Administration. Some of the tasks that the decision also imposes on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (such as encouraging participation in relevant international forums or encouraging companies to compete for tenders) are carried out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (both headquarters and missions) routinely and in accordance with the budget framework.
