I. Introduction

Israel clearly suffers from a lack of contiguous open spaces that contain our assets of nature, landscape, and heritage, and are important for the well being of people and the healthy functioning of the environment. Moreover, those areas of the country that are still open spaces are under threat from imprudent development. Recently, new concepts have been formulated with respect to the protection of open spaces. The Planning Administration of the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of the Environment, the Jewish National Fund (JNF), the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI), and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) have come to an agreement regarding the implementation of the project described below that will result in better protection of our open spaces.

The project will prepare a number of partial regional masterplans. At the same time, it will issue policy papers that will bring together the economic, legislative, social, and other tools necessary for the protection of essential open spaces.

The project is innovative in that it recognizes that nature reserves, national parks, and forests are insufficient to protect Israel’s treasures of nature, environment, and heritage. This is the case due to activities and processes taking place beyond the boundaries of these statutorily protected areas, which have a direct effect on them.

Open spaces protected by law form the basis for the partial regional masterplans, although planning will focus mainly on areas presently defined as agricultural. The planning will deal with five principle domains:

• Protection of biodiversity
• Appearance of the landscape
• Protection of heritage sites
• Definition of sites for recreation in nature
• Care for elements with significant environmental functions

The project will define the zones whose protection is essential to achieve policy goals in the five above domains. At the same time, the project will examine additional, new means of planning needed to advance the goals. Needs of growth will be taken into consideration in accordance with the principles of sustainable development.

The project also involves the preparation of policy papers that will augment the planning tools. The policy papers will deal, among other things, with the economic, legal, and social aspects of the planning and will recommend procedures designed to better protect and manage the zones designated for planning.

In all of its components the project will continue to make major efforts to apply expertise, cooperation, and community involvement.

II. Goals of the Project

• To identify and plan open spaces worthy of conservation as assets of nature, landscape, and heritage that will be utilized as recreation sites in nature.
• To ensure the continued existence of the environmental functions of open spaces.
• To create the tools and the means to bring open-space planning to fruition.
• To increase public awareness of the importance of open-space conservation.

III. Theoretical Background

Both population and construction in Israel have increased greatly in recent years; it is predicted that by the year 2020 another six million people will be living between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, bringing the total population to 15 million. We must therefore reevaluate and update our thinking regarding the necessity for, and the means of, achieving better conservation of the significant environmental assets for which we are responsible.

During the recent reevaluation process, the main points of our mission statement were formulated. These points are:

• The conservation of the resources of nature
• The conservation of visual resources
• The conservation of heritage resources
• The provision to the public of recreation areas in nature
• The recognition of the significance of environmental functions

We have identified the threats to each resource and defined the means necessary to protect it in each case. Following is the theoretical background on which the formulation of the planning goals was based:

Nature Conservation (Dr. Yehoshua Shkedi and Eli Sadot, 1999)

The problems of nature conservation revolve around the fact that protected areas are mainly small, and are insufficient to ensure long-term conservation of the flora and fauna that inhabit them. In addition, protected areas are cut off from each other. This may cause a “deterioration” of their flora and fauna. Moreover, these areas do not contain a true representation of all ecological systems in Israel. We have therefore formulated our mission statement as follows:

Nature in Israel will be conserved and rehabilitated by ensuring the representation of the entire variety and the contiguity of Israel’s ecosystems.

We have defined the following planning principles, among others:

• The conservation of the contiguity of open spaces from north to south along four corridors.
• The hinging of the corridors on the following “anchors”: nature reserves, national parks, and forests.
• The conservation of the areas around these “anchors” as open, non-built-up areas.
• The extension of total protection to areas containing endangered ecosystems.

The problems we identified in this realm include the threat of losing the visual identity of the country. The threat exists, among other reasons, because of the lack of definition as to what constitutes a visual resource. Open landscapes are at risk of disappearing and changing, while at the same time there is no governmental body clearly responsible for the planning and conservation of Israel’s visual resources. We have therefore formulated our mission statement as follows:

Unique scenery characteristic of various parts of the country will be conserved and managed as a visual asset and resource of its particular region, of the country as a whole, and of its inhabitants.

We have defined the following planning principles, among others:

• Conservation of the agricultural scenery that characterizes each area –
• agricultural “brand-name identification.”
• Protection of geographical and topographical characteristics.
• Conservation of areas that serve as backdrops to sites.
• Conservation of “green” buffer zones between built-up areas.
• Conservation of areas that are visible from roads.

Heritage (Tradition and Culture) Resources
(Aviad Sar-Shalom, Yuval Peled, 1999)

The problems we identified in this realm include the fact that existing concepts focus on particular localities. The approach towards conservation of the physical sites does not extend to conservation of the arena of the historical story - its “heritage complex.” We have also seen that in locales where a historical story took place but for which there is no specific physical site, the historical story is ignored. We have therefore formulated our mission statement as follows:

To feel the past through the scenery of the present. For this purpose, the open landscapes will become the arenas of the historical stories.

We have defined the following planning principles, among others:

• The remains at the heritage site will express the intersection between the historical story and the landscape.
• The heritage sites are the “anchors” in the conservation of the wider landscape.
• Conservation will occur through the defining of the heritage complex, the boundary of which will be the geographical extant of the historical story.

Recreation in Nature – The Open Area in the Service of the Public
(Ilan Be’eri, 1999)

The problems we encountered while studying the subject included the severe shortage of recreation areas in the heart of nature especially areas that are close to population centers. We also identified an incompatibility of sites for leisure time activities both from the perspective of accessibility and of infrastructure and management of these areas appropriate for their intended use. We also identified a notable under-utilization of agricultural areas for recreational purposes. We have therefore formulated our mission statement as follows:

Recreation in open areas will be expanded and will serve to strengthen the bond between people, their environment, and their heritage.

We have defined the following principles, among others:

• Agricultural areas will be increasingly utilized for the purpose of recreation in nature.
• Access to recreational sites will be afforded to the general public.
• Recreational sites in nature will be suited to the needs of the public.
• Leisure-time and recreational use of open spaces will not contradict the requirements of conservation.

Environmental Functions
(Motti Kaplan, 1999)

Environmental functions are necessary components in the protection of open spaces. When planning open-space protection, it is important to involve such issues as water penetration zones, flood plains, arable land, and environmental hazards, because when development takes place, insufficient attention is paid to these environmental functions. Data pertaining to environmental functions is known and taken into consideration in a number of masterplans.

We have therefore formulated our mission statement as follows:

The functional, ecological, and social importance of open areas will be recognized utilizing statutory, economic, and educational means in order to conserve their dimensions, quality, and contiguity.

We have defined the following principles, among others:

• Preference for development of areas that are impervious to the penetration of water.
• Preference for high-rise construction as opposed to land-adjacent homes.
• Preference for construction in the metropolitan Be’er Sheva area rather than in the center of the country or in the Galilee.
• The recognition that environmental functions have long-term economic value.

All of the above issues will be included in an integrated framework that will ensure the conservation of the visual appearance of the country and its treasures of nature, landscape, and heritage.

IV. Aspects of Open-Space Conservation

A. Nature Conservation

• Protecting the ecological systems typical of the scenery of Israel and protecting endangered ecosystems.
• Defining guidelines and directives for the identification of new nature reserves and preparing plans for officially declaring them as such.
• Determining and defining areas that will serve as ecological corridors between major sites.
• Determining guidelines and directives for activities in the corridors and for their management.

B. Visual Resources (the Landscape)

• Defining the characteristics of the visual resources and the means of protecting them.
• Determining guidelines in planning and management, and the tools for conservation of these resources.

C. Heritage and Cultural Resources

• Identifying principle heritage sites that require conservation and care in Israel’s non-built up areas.
• Defining the heritage complexes that require protection.
• Determining guidelines and directives in the preparation of new national parks (in order to further heritage conservation).
• Determining guidelines for protection and conservation of sites characteristic of the heritage complexes.

D. Recreation in Nature

• Defining the criteria for the extent and kinds of recreation areas in nature.
• Determining and defining the character of recreation sites in nature and the division of land among them (active as opposed to non-active recreation areas).
• Determining and defining kinds of recreation in nature with which to provide the public.

E. Environmental Functions

• Determining and defining the importance of the continued existence of agricultural areas of various kinds as open spaces.
• Determining and defining open areas in terms of their hydrological functions.
• Determining and defining the attitude towards and the importance of open areas in order to limit the extent of damage from various environmental hazards.
• Determining and defining the land reserves needed to protect future environmental needs.

V. Project Structure

The project will extend over a number of years and must be coordinated among many bodies. The consent of the Interior Ministry’s Planning Administration to head and direct the project is welcome and we hope that additional bodies will join the process. The Chief Steering Committee stands at the head of the project. Its chair will be the Director of the Planning Administration of the Ministry of the Interior and its members are representatives of the Partners' Forum. The Chief Steering Committee makes decisions in principle regarding the areas of planning, and receives progress reports on the status of the project through the indicated channels. The Chief Steering Committee met three times in 2001.

The plan recommends the establishment of a public council to observe and assist in the