Ein Avdat National Park, Negev, Israel

Today Haaretz published an article citing new figures from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources which declared that Israel had the highest percentage of land dedicated to nature reserves in the Mediterranean Basin:

According to IUCN figures, the protected area in Israel constitutes 16 percent of the country’s total area, as opposed to 11.7 percent in France, 7.7 percent in Spain, and 0.5 percent in Lebanon.

A protected open space consists of nature reserves, national parks, farmlands and forested areas. The numbers confirm that Israel has successfully allocated extensive areas to nature conservation.

But as Haaretz points out, while Israel does have extensive nature reserves throughout the country, many are used by the military - which doesn’t exactly mean peaceful living for nature reserve inhabitants. And what about the amount of trash littered across the landscape?

We say thumbs up to Israel’s recognition of the need to preserve natural areas. But thumbs down to Israel’s inability to fully preserve and keep them safe.

Out today in the Jerusalem Post: Recent tests by Zalul show that the Ashkelon Municipality is still dumping raw sewage directly into the river, despite them saying the contrary. Whereas pollution standards dictate that the highest recommend level of fecal coliform found in water should be 200 milligrams per liter, testing showed that the water of the Lachish had up to 7.8 million milligrams per liter.To put it simply: If you live in Ashdod, the things you flush down your toilet are the things you see/smell/taste in your river. Lovely.

From Haaretz: Israeli Arabs smash world record for largest ‘Debke’ folk dance

Meanwhile, the beaches in Acco are still closed due to pollution.

Read more about the pollution problem and what Zalul’s doing about it here.