Knowledge and practices about nature and the universe include knowledge, skills, competencies, practices and representations developed by communities interacting with the natural environment. These ways of thinking about the universe are expressed through language, oral traditions, feelings of attachment to a place, memories, spirituality and worldview. They also strongly influence the values ​​and beliefs and underlie many social practices and cultural traditions. They are in turn shaped by the natural environment and the larger world of the community.

Intangible cultural heritage

This area includes many areas such as traditional ecological wisdom, knowledge of local flora and fauna, traditional healing systems, festivals, languages ​​and visual arts. Traditional knowledge and practices are at the heart of the culture of Israeli communities. The protection of Israel's natural environment is closely linked to safeguarding the country as well as other aspects of its intangible cultural heritage.

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The State of Israel is a Middle Eastern country located along the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea and the Northern border of the world's largest desert belt.  Israel has a semi-arid climate, with lengthy summers and short winters. According to the Köppen-Geiger climate classification system Israel is composed of three climate zones. Areas on the Mediterranean coast are classified as "dry-summer subtropical", and experience both the hottest and coldest months of the year. 

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Closer inland Israel transitions into a dry semi-arid climate, with an average temperature of 18 C.  Rainfall is relatively higher in the North. As a result, resource development, in particular water, has benefited from relatively high government support throughout most of the country's history. For example, Israel's water conservation and reclamation infrastructure is one of the most advanced in the world, with approximately half its water supply derived from reclaimed and treated waste water, brackish water and desalinated water. Additionally, Israel is party to several international agreements regarding air pollution and climate change, including the Kyoto Protocol, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and Montreal Protocol. 

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Environmental Research in Israel *

Israeli scientists have developed a host of new technologies - placing Israel at the forefront of world developments in a number of environmental fields.

Water Management

Israel is a world leader in the development of drip irrigation, a technique by which relatively small amounts of water are delivered directly to the roots of plants. These techniques have the further advantage of reducing adverse environmental impacts associated with continuous irrigation, such as increased salination.

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In addition, Israel today is a world leader in wastewater recycling, which now accounts for some 30% of its total supply, up from 3% two decades ago. By recycling urban wastewater for irrigation purposes, in accordance with strict permits issued by the Ministry of Health, the country not only saves precious fresh water but prevents the environmental damage caused by indiscriminate discharge of wastewater into streams and seas.

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Strategies implemented since Israel's establishment in 1948 have succeeded in pushing the edge of the desert southward, and reversing the process of desertification. Using a number of innovative methods, rainfall and runoff are redirected and relatively highly-productive patches are created within the desert landscape. As a world leader in arid zone management, including afforestation, water harvesting, water and soil conservation and use of saline water, Israel is taking an active part in regional and international efforts to combat desertification.

Solar Energy

Israel  has become a world pioneer in the use of solar energy. As a result of university research carried out as early as the 1950s, Israeli scientists were able to develop the first solar absorption coatings - black enamels that made it possible for solar panels to retain a higher proportion of the sun's energy. This development led to a decision to equip all residential and commercial buildings in the country with solar water heaters. Today Israel produces most of its domestic hot water and 3% of its national energy balance from solar power, as well as exporting tens of thousands of solar water heaters all over the world. 

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It is estimated that 10 square kilometers of the Negev desert receive an annual average of solar energy equal to all of the electricity generated by the Israel Electric Corporation - a process that consumes about one-third of the country's entire fuel imports. Therefore, it is only natural that in Israel's arid south, Ben Gurion University's Solar Energy Research Center is testing and demonstrating a variety of solar-powered thermal and photovoltaic technologies. The Center makes it possible to take a new idea from the initial laboratory stage right through to final large-scale testing in the sun-soaked Negev desert, further enhancing the exploitation of solar energy.

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Source: https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/InnovativeIsrael/AboutIsrael/Spotlight/Pages/Environmental%20Research%20in%20Israel.aspx

Israel’s eco-houses

Mud is a traditional natural insulator along with straw bales. Forward-thinking communities such as Kibbutz Lotan and Kibbutz Neot Semadar in the Negev desert have long built with these materials. As eco-construction moves into suburbia, the most popular natural product for insulation is hempcrete, a weather-resistant composite biomaterial of powdered lime and hemp hurds, the woody inner portion of the hemp stalk. Due to hemp’s natural properties and the way it’s processed for construction, buildings made with hempcrete take less energy to build, create less waste and consume less fuel compared to concrete houses.

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Ben-Gurion University Prof. Isaac Meir, a pioneer in Israeli green building initiatives, is involved in a European project to design net-zero energy communities where buildings incorporate renewable energy technologies to offset their energy consumption. The Israeli city of Hadera’s new net-zero preschool could be a model for such communities.

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National Parks

• Ahziv National Park 

• Alexander River National Park 

• Ashkelon National Park 

• Baram National Park 

• Beit Alfa Synagogue National Park 

• Beit Govrin National Park 

• Beit She 'an National Park

• Beit She'arim National Park 

• Caesarea National Park

• Castel National Park 

• Cochav Hayarden National Park

• Corazim National Park 

• Ein Gedi Antiquities National Park 

• Ein Hemed National Park

• Eshkol National Park

• Gan Hashlosha National Park 

• Hamat Tiberias National Park 

• Hermon National Park 

• Herodion National Park 

• Hurshat Tal National Park 

• Kursi National Park 

• Nimrod Fortress National Park 

• Massada National Park

• Mount Carmel National Park 

• Qumran National Park 

• Sharon National Park 

• Shomron National Park 

• Tel Arad National Park Yehiam Fortress National Park 

• Tel Hazor National Park

• Yarkon National Park 

• Zippori National Park 

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Nature Reserve

• Gamla Nature Reserve

• Yehudiya Forest Nature Reserve 

• Hula Valley Nature Reserve 

• Nahal Ayoun Nature Reserve

• Tel Dan Nature Reserve 

• Ein Afek Nature Reserve 

• Carmel Hai-Bar Nature Reserve 

• Nahal Me'arot Nature Reserve

• Stalactite Cave at the Avshalom Reserve 

• Ein Gedi Nature Reserve 

• Ramon Park Complex 

• Yotvata Hai-Bar Nature Reserve 

• Coral Beach Nature Reserve

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