Slide 1

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 2

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 3

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 4

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 5

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 6

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 7

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 8

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 9

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 10

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 11

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 12

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 13

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 14

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 15

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 16

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 17

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 18

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 19

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 20

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 21

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 22

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 23

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 24

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 25

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 26

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 27

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 28

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 29

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 30

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 31

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 32

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 33

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 34

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 35

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 36

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 37

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 38

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 39

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 40

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.


Slide 41

To Make a Desert Bloom:
Exploring Israel’s Experience

in Combating Desertification

Alon Tal, Ben Gurion University

Israel: Land of Steep Gradients
Drylands Index

humid
dry sub-humid
semi-arid

Hyper-arid
Hyper-arid

Tiny in size (22,145 km2)
Climate: short, cool rainy winter,
long, hot dry summers.
North/south rain gradient (700-30 mm)

Evapotranspiration increase (1200-2800)
A west-east ecoclimatic gradient

Elevation gradient of 1200 m above sea
level (to 400 m below sea level)

Mark Twain: Innocents Abroad,
1867
On general Galilee landscape: "as bald and unthrilling a panorama as
any land can afford perhaps was spread out before us."
On Local agriculture: "Here were evidences of cultivation - a rare
sight in this country- an acre or two of rich soil studded with last
season's dead corn-stalks of the thickness of your thumb and very
wide apart. But in such a land it was a thrilling spectacle.“
On the effects of overgrazing : "Close to it was a stream and on its
banks a great head of curious looking Syrian goats and sheep were
gratefully eating gravel. I do not state this as a petrified fact - I only
suppose they were eating gravel because there did not appear to be
anything else for them to eat”

Twain, ctd.
On absence of forests : "There is no timber of any
consequence in Palestine - none at all to waste upon fires and neither are there any mines of coal.
[

Description of the Judean hills:
"There

was hardly a tree or
a shrub anywhere. Even the
olive and the cactus, those
fast friends of a worthless
soil had almost deserted the
country. No landscape
exists that is more tiresome
to the eye than that which
bounds the approaches to
Jerusalem."

Observations of a Soil Scientist

1938: "Here before our eyes the remarkable red earth

soil of Palestine was being ripped from the slopes and
swept into the blue of the Mediterranean to a dirty brown
as far as the eye could see. We could well understand how
many centuries this type of erosion had wasted the
neglected lands. It is estimated that over three feet of soil
has been swept from the uplands of Palestine after the
breakdown of terrace agriculture”
Walter Clay Lowedermilk, Palestine - Land of Promise, New York: Harper and Brothers, 1944

Historic Climatic Factors
Hypothesized: main winds bringing loess to Negev desert prior to
the Holocene came from the Sahara, (Evenari et al.1982).
No net erosion during this period.

Since Holocene wind directions have changed and loess arrives in
the Negev desert from Saudi Arabia, a far shorter distance.
Less loess reaches the desert to replace that lost in the floods. This
results in net erosion, which is a natural process (Avni 1998).

Desertification trends:
Conventional View
Prior to State of Israel
Pollen analysis shows Mediterranean Forests.
For millennia intensive human utilization of dry
subhumid/semiarid parts of current Israel.
Results are described by travelers:
- Woodlands converted to scrublands.
- Overgrazing in ranges.

Because of low rainfall and hence low primary
productivity, regrowth of vegetation could not
keep pace with its destruction, especially in the
presence of overgrazing by abundant goats. With
the tree and grass cover removed, erosion
proceeded and valleys silted up, while irrigation
agriculture in the low-rainfall environment led to
salt accumulation.... Thus, Fertile Crescent and
Eastern Mediterranean societies had the
misfortune to arise in
an ecologically fragile
environment. They
committed ecological
suicide by destroying
their own resource base.
Jared Diamond

Soil Erosion Map, 1954

Pre 1948 - Conclusion
“The country was desertified, but the impact diminished

with aridity. The expression of desertification might have
been soil salinization in dry subhumid areas, and definite
loss of natural vegetation and soil erosion in dry
subhumid and some semiarid areas… ecological and
hydrological processes would have been disrupted, the
provision of ecosystem services have been impaired,
resulting in an overall gradual decline in productivity. “
- Professor Uriel Safriel

1920 Survey: only 600 km2 of indigenous woodland and
scrubland in dry subhumid regions between present Israel
and West Bank

Shaar Hagai
1917

1987

The Green ‘Zionist Vision’


“We have come to our land to build and to
be built up.”



Barren slopes afforested
irrigated farming -- Esp. in plains/valleys.



Southern exigency



"Along with the records of decay in the Holy
Land we found a thorough going effort to
restore the ancient fertility of the longneglected soil. This effort is the most
remarkable we have seen while studying land
use in twenty-four countries. It is being made
by Jewish settlers who fled to Palestine from
the hatreds and persecutions of Europe. We
were astonished to find about three
hundred colonies defying great
hardships and applying the principles
of co-operation and soil conservation to
the old Land of Israel..... here in one
corner of the vast Near East, thorough
going work is in progress to rebuild the
fertility of land instead of condemning
it by neglect to further destruction and
decay.“ (W. C. Lowdermilk, 1944)


Israeli Policies to Combat Desertification
1.
2.
3.
4.

Irrigated Agriculture
Water Management
Control of Grazing
Afforestation

Jewish Settlement in semi-arid zone

I

Typical Impact of Cropland Conversion


Transformation of rangeland:
a “driver of desertification”
(removal of vegetation cover
and breakage of biogenic crust
through plowing.)

- When land not tilled during
non-rainy season wind erosion
rains generate physical crust
- intensifies run-off/erosion.

Rangeland Transformation in Israel
In Israel - most rangelands
transformation involved irrigation.

Soil is rarely uncovered for
extended periods.
Typically, sufficient water
available for soil drainage

Utilization of transported
water = no local drawdown

Practices also increase infiltration, reduce
surface run-off /erosion
(e.g. mulching, ridges and dyke
furrows tillage, to increase
infiltration rates)

Rangeland transformation not associated
with intensified desertification.
Can be argued that irrigated agriculture
of semiarid region not only averts
desertification risks but also ameliorates
local climate.

Protected agriculture
Based on greenhouses –
Especially in hyper-arid zones
Evapotranspiration minimized.
Cooling in summers /warming
on winter nights required.

Drip irrigation makes
it feasible.

Sustainability
Agricultural production in drylands greenhouses:
intensive, high water/soil space-use efficiencies.

Pressure on soil resources of Israel -- averted

Requires constant diversification & investment
in research, extension services.
Diversification necessary to
meet competition in world
markets.

But is it sustainable?
Does today’s agriculture expose land to desertification
that will appear later?
“30 years ago the amount of land and water used by

Israeli agriculture contributed to around 50% of
productivity…. during the last decade, land and water
contributed to only 4% of productivity, and 96% of it
can be attributed to agrotechnologies, research,
extension, and mechanization, etc (Pohoryles 1999).
High productivity may not be exhausting natural
resources nor lead to desertification.




Yet - only 3.7% labor force
employed in agriculture,
Only 2.5% of GDP.

Water Management Strategy
Water Carriers:

1946 – 6 inch pipes -- 1 million m3 / year
1955: Yarkon-Negev (100 million /year )

1964: National Water (400 million m3/year)

Objective:
Agricultural development in drylands;
Winter storage and aquifer recharge.

Water Management Strategy
Reservoirs: KKL constructed 178 reservoirs, largely in semi-

arid and hyperarid regions, provide 125 million m3/
year, ( 7% of the total water in Israel’s system)

Objective: To improve quality and quantity of ground water by
replenishing and aquifers.

Impound floodwaters for direct supply to irrigation
systems in nearby fields.

Water Management Strategy
Waste water reuse: Effluent reuse: 450 Million M3/year
65% of effluents (300 M3) reclaimed for irrigation
35% discharged to rivers or sea
By 2010 – Reclaimed Effluents = 50% of all water to Agriculture

Objective:

To expand water supply and eliminate hazard.

Overall Agriculture Achievement
Food for 7 million people
irrigated crops (1000s of hectares)
250

200

150

100

50

0
1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Central
Bureau of Statistics, Israel

Source: Kimhi, 2004

Grazing Policies


The Law for Vegetation Protection (Goat Damages)
enacted in 1950. (the “Black Goat Law”)



Previously: British Mandate prohibit grazing in forests



Focus: goats feeding on scrubland; major tree species.



Prior to 1948 number of goats
estimated at 185,000.

(70,000 sheep
14,000 camels in 1943 est.)

Pre-’48 size of Bedouin herds unclear
(nomadism not constrained by borders.
No serious inventory.)


Bedouin Demographics
Until 1948 nomadic Bedouin tribes lived in semiarid and arid lands.
Population estimates: 65,000 to 103,000 at that time (Abu-Rabia 1994)
Extent of Rangelands: 10,000 km2
Economy: sheep, goat and camel herding. Modest farming
Seasonal patchwork rainharvested cultivation.

Dams blocked water and sediment runoff.
Rainy years, late winter.
Sustainability: Unclear.
Salinization unlikely result from rainfed activity.



After war (1950) goat numbers drop to 71,000



Pressure on scrubland reduced.





(number of Negev Bedouin drops:70,000 to 12,000)

1956 - “AUMs” (Animal Units Month) set
according to land carrying capacity
Eastern Mediterranean woodlands reappear.

Numbers start to “yo yo”
- 1973 increased to 115,000
- 1994 drop to o 70,000
- 1998 74,000 in 1998

Environmental Impacts






Pervolotsky posits: positive effects of reduced
grazing pressure due to resilience of dry
subhumid Mediterranean woodland ecosystems
and co-evolution of these systems with humaninduced disturbances, (i.e., grazing).
Little quantitative data about soil composition.
Recently – controlled grazing program with KKL
and Nature/Parks Authority.

Afforestation Policies








Amount of lands presently with forests
-1606 km2 (7% of Israel ).
Over 260 million trees planted.

(Over 15% of the dry subhumid and semiarid
regions of Israel).
Additional 360 km2 to be added
afforestation, 115 in semiarid region.

for

Afforestation Policies


Initially began as “employment program”



Later: rehabilitate degraded lands and prevent erosion.



Planting initially dominated by Aleppo pine Pinus
halepensis, a circum-Mediterranean species.

The “Jerusalem Pine”






As pioneering species, grows quickly on
marginal lands rocky terrain, sleep slopes.
Withstands drought.
Disadvantages: relatively low longevity, low
resistance to certain parasites, flammability.

Since 1980s - Planting diversity in
increases. Indigenous species promoted.

KKL

Tabor Oak Tree

Aforestation Policies in Drylands



Since 1950s forests created in semiarid areas,



conventional afforestation techniques.



1964 intensification

Afforestation Policies


National Master Plan #22 for Forests and Afforestation



Approved in November, 1995 – with 25 year horizon.



Plan sets function, legal status and management
practices in existing and future indigenous, afforested
and managed woodlands in Israel.

Aforestation Policies



Ex. Yatir forest covers 30 km2



250-300 mm annual rainfall,





“probably most arid periphery of global distribution of Aleppo pine”.

Regarded as a remarkable success of afforestation in an area of
high desertification exposure and vulnerability.
The Politics of Planting

Savanazation






1986 - afforestation practice, called “Savanazation”,
introduced in semi-arid and arid regions,
Based on harvesting surface run-off, through whole watershed
management in semiarid regions, within a precipitation range of
150-250 mm.
By 1999 23 km2 successfully
“savannized”.

Savanazation
Contour furrows dug on slopes of watersheds with
sandy-loessial soils.
Trees planted at density of 100/hecatre.

Considerable vertical distance between them.
The surface between furrows,
covered by a biogenic soil crust
- reduces infiltration
- generates surface run-off
- collected/infiltrates and
stored in furrows

.

Savannization - Upside
- probably reduces flash floods / soil erosion,
- increases overall productivity of semiarid soils. (pasture)
- overall plant biodiversity improves
- survival in drought years, better than rainfall dependent trees

Savannization – Downside
- “Sustainability”,
- “aesthetics”,
- hydrological impact debated.

Impact of Aforestation on Soil


Precise affect of afforestation/different trees on erosion unclear.



Generally, deters pastoralists, reduces grazing pressure.








Shading effect of trees can help rehabilitate indigenous vegetation
(contributes to soil conservation)
Improves infiltration of precipitation, soil moisture/recharge.
Israeli dry subhumid indigenous woodlands transpire more soil
water than dry subhumid agricultural lands. (Stanhill 1993)

(Effect on precipitation - still unclear.)

Erosion Control – The Official Word


“Ten years later the face of the land has become
rejuvenated – its wrinkles smoothed, its scars healed,
many of its gullies gone. Even, it seems the pallid hue
of eroded areas has been replaced by a healthier color
– a darker feritle soil. In every field, one still discerns
traces of the uncontrolled flow of water over the
years. But now, with the aid of different erosion
control measures, these traces are slowly
disappearing”

Soil Conservation in Israel - 1958

Is The Israeli Experience Relevant?

Kenyan Greenbelt Movement
Over 30 million trees planted to date.
3,000 local nurseries
Produces jobs.