In preparation for Israeli election day, we present a series of posts with a summary of the environmental positions of the parties running for the Knesset on the following topics: Open Areas and Beaches, Green Energy, Radiation and Global Warming, Sustainable Development, Recycling, Water, and Air & Industrial Pollution and Enforcement.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Green Movement – Meimad
1. Creating a secure urban environment for children
2. Returning life to the urban street – encouragement and incentives for business activities in the urban streets, and preventing the migration of businesses to the malls and city outskirts.
3. Advancing natural areas in the city, so that every citizen has access to a natural area near their home.
4. Enforcement of the environmental laws, first and foremost noise prevention and neighborly consideration.
5. Increasing sanitation in the public domain, and creation of a clean looking city.
6. Increasing the supply of affordable living
7. Promoting green building that conserves water and energy
Green Party
1. Comprehensive planning of complete communities, including housing, shops, places of work, schools, gardens and municipal services essential for day to day living.
2. The plan will take into consideration, amongst other things, the need for the following: development of public transportation, allocation of open spaces and more.
3. Community designs need to help the conservation of resources and reduction of waste.
4. The planned land use at the regional level needs to be incorporated into the a wider transportation network based on public transportation instead of main roads.
5. The areas will include continuous areas of “corridors” that are made up of “green strips” or wilderness that will be set according to the natural conditions.
Hadash
1. Developing a comprehensive policy of environmental protection and adoption of the values of environmental justice. Promoting equality in the use of natural resources.
2. Securing the budgets needed to connect the cities and villages, including Arab, to the national sewage system, and building facilities for garbage disposal and sewage purification.
3. Stopping the privatization of the environmental infrastructure in land, transportation, water services and the energy market.
Protection under the law and budgetary directives of central cities as residential and cultural environments through the protection of their unique character
4. Providing appropriate budgets for prevention of the pollution of air , water and environment and for the treatment of ecological hazards.
Israel Beiteinu
1. Belief in the connection between human health and the environment and the obligation to create all encompassing policy of environmental protection as a basic right.
2. Protection of the Earth in general, and quality of life in our country, specifically. This from an obligation to human welfare and the values of nature and heritage for this and the coming generations.
3. Founding of an “environmental court.”
4. Continuing the creation and promotion of ecological legislation in the realms of recycling, energy, air pollution, land ,water, wildlife, green transportation, etc.
5. Promoting green building and keeping “green lungs” in population centers.
Israel Hazaka
1. Supplementing the fire fighting network with more special equipment and planes for putting out fires.
2. Return the governmental public campaigns against damaging nature via the media.
3. Gradual increase of emergency fuel reserves for security and economic function, and transferring it gradually to bomb-proof underground storage facilities – in a way that enables the economy to withstand lengthy wars, a long term fuel embargo , damage to the fuel depots from missiles or attacks and natural disasters.
Kadima
1. Preserving sustainable development, including protection of resources of nature, landscape and heritage for the generations to come.
Labor
1. Promoting only sustainable development
2. Granting preference to strengthening existing settlements over creating new ones, through the recognition of the importance of strengthening the urban texture.
3. Ensuring “green lungs” inside cities and between them, for a better standard of living and based on social and environmental considerations.
4. Requiring green building in public buildings and encouraging private green building
Likud
1. Promotion of incentives for “green building” via tax incentives or increased building percentages.
Shas
1. Preservation of nature and landscape as an important part of our lives on this holy land. The cultivation of the environment holds deep jewish meaning as part of guarding god’s creation. Therefore priority should be given to building that is considerate of nature’s resources.
This summary was compiled in Hebrew ::Bar Ilan Environmental Clinic :: Chayim Usviva :: Translated by the greenprophet.com team.
Yes. I’d be afraid to sit before any court that was set up by Israel Beiteinu…
One of the implementation of “environmental courts” is to have specific courts dedicated to hearing environmental cases, headed by judges who have expertise in the field.
The rational behind this suggestion is that environmental cases are often complex and highly technical. Unless the judge is an environmental professional, the technical details may be over her head, thus preventing her from reaching the correct decision.
I’m not sure how Israel Betenu will prefer to implement environmental courts in Israel, so they might have something else in mind.
Reading over Agenda for a Sustainable America, which was edited by John Dernbach was actually easy to follow.
As the book makes clear, sustainability is not just the new buzz word for environmentalism. Sustainability , rather, is about how the environment is linked to everything else we care about.
Daniel – is there anymore on what exactly Israel Beiteinu’s ‘environmental court’ would entail?
You’re doing a great service with this series on all the parties environmental agendas….lets hope Israel’s electorate takes note and votes ‘for the earth’ …