The “Nature Heals” program, run by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) since November 2023, uses nature to help Israelis, particularly young people, deal with mental health challenges after the October 7th attacks. Since the 2023 attack on Israel, over 100 thousand Israelis have gained some sense of peace and calmness through this program. 

See Related Article: How SPNI is Rewilding Cities and Rebuilding Resilience

Traditionally, SPNI is dedicated to conservation and initiatives within Israel’s natural areas. However, SPNI recognized the urgent need to address the widespread psychological distress gripping the nation and particularly Israel’s youth community. 

SPNI is not new to helping the Israeli community. After the destruction of the October 7th attacks, SPNI gave emergency shelter, in their facilities, to over 220 families at no cost. Additionally, schools run by SPNI in Eilat and Ein Gedi partnered with IsraAid and the Ministry of Education to provide space for displaced children to attend school, thereby offering some sense of normalcy during such volatile times.   

The “Nature Heals” program is not only targeting adolescents. They also provide services for displaced families, military personnel, and the general public. Over 4,000 children have already attended the program’s 4-day tours. If someone is unable to participate in a tour, SPNI offers online eco-therapy. Over 30 thousand Israelis have viewed their “Nature at Home” content. The content includes live birds, tours, and lectures. 

The in-person program is designed around a three-phase framework: Respite, Resilience, and Rehabilitation. The respite phase focuses on providing immediate relief through easily accessible natural experiences. The resilience phase, highlighted by the tours, offers an immersive experience that focuses on long-term physiological growth and instills positive beliefs in its participants. Finally, the rehabilitation phase aims to provide therapeutic activities aimed at long-term recovery.

So far, the results have been almost entirely positive. SPNI reports that 92% of teens stated they felt less anxious after attending one of the camps. Additionally, the programs are helping entire families, with 97% of parents reporting that their child had a significant, positive experience due to SPNIs’ work.

The success of the “Nature Heals” program would not have been possible without the support of various forces. Collaborations with local municipalities, therapists, and other welfare programs allow SPNI to reach out and recruit those from the most affected communities in Israel. One example of these positive partnerships is the collaboration with Sheba Medical Center. SPNI, Sheba, and the Eilat municipality have recently agreed to proceed with an eco-therapy retreat for recovering IDF soldiers. The program will provide professional trauma therapy in a natural setting. 

Looking forward, “Nature Heals” does not plan to stop its work after the war is over. It plans only to expand and become a mainstay in eco-therapy in Israel. The program provides a compelling blueprint for trauma response and underscores the profound impact that eco-therapy can have on an individual. The goal SPNI set for itself is to engage over 700 students from the West Negev to Northern Israel at no cost. 

::SPNI

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In the heart of Jerusalem, a city often defined by its layers of stone, history, and conflict, a special, quiet scene unfolds daily: a herd of over 100 endangered wild mountain gazelles roaming freely through the grasslands of a restored valley. Even in a time of war, Israeli children can be heard laughing along the winding trails. Birdwatchers hide from migratory birds while viewing their natural beauty. 

See Related Article: Near-extinct gazelle brings Israelis and Palestinians to peace-making plan

This is the Gazelle Valley Urban Nature Park, one of Israel’s first urban wildlife refuges and one of the most powerful symbols of what the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) stands for: a belief the nature belongs to everyone, and that green space-especially in cities- is not just a sanctuary, but a solution.

Founded in 1953, SPNI emerged from a grassroots protest against the draining of the Hula Valley wetland. This move destroyed biodiversity and compromised the water quality of the wetland in northern Israel. Though the campaign failed in its goal of stopping the project, it gave rise to one of Israel’s and the world’s first environmental NGOs.

Today, SPNI operates a diverse portfolio that encompasses biodiversity conservation, sustainable urban planning, education, and advocacy. “If you learn about nature, you’ll love nature, and you’ll want to protect it,” says Jay Shofet, Director of Partnerships and Development at SPNI, who has lived in Israel for over 40 years.

See Related Article: Why is the Society for the Protection of Nature (SPNI) in Israel Supporting Settlements in the West Bank?

While SPNI’s base and roots are in wildlife protection, preserving nature reserves, restoration, and defending against habitat loss, its focus has shifted to cities where over 90% of Israel’s population resides. This shift is embodied in SPNI’s “Promoting Urban Nature” initiative. The goal of this initiative is to combat pressure to utilize land reserves for housing. SPNI works with the Israeli government and, more importantly, municipal leaders to create plans to make Israel’s cities greener. The key to this is creating and lobbying for urban nature sites. The sites offer residents a unique experience of nature in an urban setting, distinct from traditional parks. They emphasize natural biodiversity. The sites not only help nature but also help people. Their work is also “About protecting nature for our health and enjoyment,” says Shofet. SPNI emphasizes the mental health and physical health benefits that nature has. 

No site better captures this philosophy than Gazelle Valley. Located in western Jerusalem, the valley was once planned for the construction of 30,000 living units. However, with passionate residents by their side, SPNI organized a campaign to preserve it—the result: Israel’s largest urban nature site. Gazelle Valley boasts 64 acres of restored open space, where mountain gazelles, one of hundreds of species, roam freely with wetlands, food, and care at their disposal. 

Gazelle Valley is also a fully functioning, living lab. SPNI and other researchers track biodiversity indicators, such as the gain or loss of dragonflies and otters, both indicator species, and collaborate with scientists from various institutions, universities, and private organizations, as well as the government, to monitor numbers and migrations. Educational programs are held on-site that educate youth and members of government and business. 

SPNI is one of Israel’s leading organizations in environmental education, helping to create Israel’s nationwide mandate to integrate nature studies into the school curriculum. The work started over 30 years ago and is now expanding with the support of the Ministry of Education.

“We teach the teachers,” Shofet explains. Through short-term development programs, classroom materials, and outdoor field experiences, SPNI helps facilitate environmental education for Israeli students. Urban sites, such as Gazelle Valley, serve as outdoor classrooms, providing children with the opportunity to learn about ecosystems, biodiversity, and sustainability, even in an urban setting. 

Additionally, education helps inspire and promote environmental activism. “The environment is a great entry point to activism,” says Shofet. “Educate, Love and Protect,” Shofet adds, are the three primary keys to SPNI’s mission.

See Related Article: Waze saves wild lives

As urbanization continues to grow and intensify around the world, Israel may hold a hopeful model. SPNI’s integration of ecology, education, health, and urban planning remains a driving force in this space. SPNI plans to expand its Urban Nature initiative in 2025 and beyond, particularly to Israel’s rebuilding of northern and southern cities. Their goal is simple yet ambitious: to bring nature to every Israeli, regardless of their location or background.

::SPNI

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When hightech startups are created they are not usually done to create societal impact, but when they are willing can have a great impact in unforeseen ways.  In an effort to reduce the staggering number of wild animals that are run over on Israel’s roads every year, The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) joined forces with Waze towards the end of 2016 to encourage drivers to report roadkill incidents via the popular community-based traffic and navigation app.

Over the last six months, SPNI has compiled the data from more than 12,000 user-generated reports and utilized this information to develop a map detailing which Israeli roadways are most dangerous to the country’s wild animals.

After filtering out urban roads and streets that pass through built-up areas, SPNI has determined that Route 2, the coastal highway from Tel Aviv to Haifa, and Route 6, the trans-Israel highway, have the highest number of roadkill incidents with more than 700 reported sightings each. Some of this roadkill can include much loved pets, like cats and dogs.

“We are currently studying the data from several areas where unusually high levels of roadkill have been observed, and we are examining roads that cross authorized ecological corridors, such as Route number 70/75, east of the Carmel Mountain,” said Shmulik Yedvab, Director of SPNI’s Mammals Center. 

“The information streaming in from Waze users is an invaluable resource throughout this process and it illustrates the severity of the problem of wildlife run-overs.”

Over the last several years, the increasing awareness regarding the difficulty and risks roads pose to wild animals led planners to build special passages for animals when constructing new roads or expanding and upgrading old roads, but there are still no solutions on many of the roads now determined to be Israel’s most dangerous for wildlife and escaped or homeless cats and dogs.  It is for this reason that SPNI’s campaign with Waze continues to be so crucial for wildlife conservation.

“We call on the public to increase its cooperation with this project and provide SPNI with the additional data required to assist us in formulating the optimal action plan towards reducing roadkill and saving Israel’s wildlife,” added Yedvab.

The public can ensure the continued success of this important campaign by being vigilant about reporting roadkill and encouraging their friends to do the same.  And of course by keeping pets like cats and dogs on a leash when out hiking. After clicking the circular orange report icon within the Waze app, users should select the yellow triangular “Hazard” symbol, followed by “On road” and “Roadkill.”

The accumulated data collected by SPNI thus far was presented for the first time at a session of the Knesset Science Committee on June 20, headed by MK Uri Maklev. Initiated by SPNI, the session focused on the subject of using technological tools and methods to assist nature preservation activities and safeguard the environment and Israeli nature.

Now keep animals everywhere safe!

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Further to my article in the Jerusalem Post about open places in Netanya being squeezed out by mega housing projects, this writer decided to pay a return visit to one of the nature reserves, the Argaman Iris Reserve, located in southern Netanya next to the ongoing Ir Yamim development project. The iris reserve contains a variety of indigenous wild flowers, most notably the wild purple or Argaman iris.

Found in only a few parts of Israel, including small areas in southern Netanya, this perennial plant blossoms only during a 2 to 3 week period from mid February to early March. The iris reserve is confined to a site of around 100 acres, and bordered on the east by the construction projects and on the west by what used to be the city’s garbage dump, until it was relocated elsewhere. 

“Neither the Argaman Iris site nor the Winter Pond (about 3/4 of a kilometer north of the iris reserve)  are protected nature sites,” says Alon Rothschild, in charge of Environmental Protection and Natural Sites in the Central Region for the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI).

Entrance to iris preserve: note construction in background

Rothschild, who was interviewed for the JPost article, says that a hotel project was originally planned  to be built on part of the area now allocated for the Argaman iris reserve, but it was moved elsewhere due to lobbying efforts from the SPNI and other “green” organizations.

The entrance to the reserve is off the main coastal road heading out of Netanya, and  parking lots are located on either side of the reserve. Signs at the reserve’s entrance tells visitors the various kinds of plant and animal life located in the reserve, much of which covered the entire area now being developed by the Ir Yamim project, which also will include a galleria-type shopping mall.

Trails with rope barriers are designed to allow visitors to the reserve to observe the irises and other plant life without causing any damage to fragile flowers like the irises. This doesn’t always work out according to plan however, as people often want to touch or be photographed by these lovely flowers.

Another problem is “invading” plant life that competes with the irises and other native species for space. “We have to remove these invasive plants from the site so the natural species can thrive,” says Rothschild. Fortunately, on my visit to the site on a particularly lovely Friday morning in mid February, the irises were “cooperating” and were starting to bloom. Other native flowers and flowering plants were blooming too, and the buzzing of pollen gathering bees could be heard everywhere.

Not just irises, but other beauty too

There may be hope yet for the iris reserve and other nature sites in this city of 208,000, as the Netanya Municipality is becoming more aware of the need to preserve these “green spaces” for future generations.

According to Sara Gazit, Parks and Infrastructure Architect for the Municipality, and who was also interviewed for the Jpost article: “Until 10 years ago, we at the municipality did not have ecologists to advise us on what needs to be done to maintain these natural sites. Since then, we have conducted surveys and made a lot of changes to area building plans in order to take the ecological situation into consideration in these natural sites.”

Read more on environmental issues affecting nature sites in Israel:

Is Jerusalem Stone Under Threat?

Ancient Ceasarea Needs Every Grain of Sand

The post The Wild Winter Iris in Israel appeared first on Green Prophet.

Last week Green Prophet told you that Naomi Tsur, former head of Society of Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) Jerusalem and founder of the Sustainable Jerusalem coalition, was elected to the municipality as part of part of Barkat’s ‘Jerusalem Will Succeed’ list – a move that has inspired optimism among the ranks of the city’s environmentalists.

This Wednesday 26 November, Tsur is giving a lecture on the subject of environmental activism and will no doubt have some interesting post-election insights to share.

Naomi Tsur

The talk will be followed by a screening of the film, Bullshit, previously shown at cities across Israeli during May’s EcoCinema festival. The award-winning film follows Indian activist and physicist, Vandana Shiva, from her organic farm at the foot of the Himalayas to battles against globalisation, patenting and genetic modification of crops.

Starts at 8pm at SPNI Jerusalem, Sergei Courtyard, 13 Helena Hamalka. Entrance NIS 15, call 02-6252357 to reserve a place.

Top Photo by Michael Green

The post "Green Jerusalem" Councillor Naomi Tsur Lectures On Environmental Activism appeared first on Green Prophet.

No. 3 on Mayor-elect Nir Barkat’s winning list, Naomi Tsur is going to be spearheading any changes the city makes to beautify the city in the near future. Formal head of SPNI’s Jerusalem office and founder of the Sustainable Jerusalem, a coalition of 60 environmental groups is now going to tackle those same issues but this time from the inside.

Tzur wants to get the community caring and involved: “What is really lacking is public participation in planning processes. We need a process to get wisdom from neighborhood residents, so we can solve problems, but in a way that makes sense [for local residents]. There hasn’t been enough done in the last two decades.”

After our previous posts on the biking culture of Jerusalem we’re happy to hear that among her planned projects Tzur explained that “There are plans for bike paths – they just haven’t been implemented. Being able to get to work on a bike or [by] walking is crucial. You should be allowed to take your bike onto the light rail and heavy rail so that you can get to work.”

Naomi Tsur

Her other projects includes stopping the depletion of Jerusalem’s forest, creating continuous parks along the railway line from Emek Refaim to Malha and providing better open spaces for all residents of the city. We at Green Prophet hope her much success and look forward to seeing a greener, healthier Jerusalem.

::Jerusalem Post

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The Nahal Betzet Beach, located in the western Galilee south of Rosh Hanikra, is home to diverse plant life and is an important egg-laying site for sea turtles.  It has been, until now, a beautiful and natural public beach – undisturbed by human construction.  That is, until the Israel Lands Administration recently opened up the beach for private development.

Private entrepreneurs will soon be able to bid for 206 dunam plots of land directly on the beach in order to build resorts and an artificial lake.  Not only will this threaten the plant and animal life on this truly unique beach, but it will take a public beach away from Israel’s citizens.

The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) is not taking this lightly.  They have already started an online petition to protest what they consider to be an illegal, undemocratic, and environmentally harmful act.  The petition calls on all people who believe that the few remaining public beaches should be preserved for future generations and who respect the importance and beauty of the plant life and sea turtles on Nahal Betzet Beach to sign and protest.

Read more about other green stories in the Galilee:: Green Prophet Visits Amirim, a Vegetarian Paradise in the Galilee, Ras Al-Ayn: A Model for Composting in Israel! and Israel’s First Wind Energy Developer Mey Eden (Eden Springs), Gets Windier on the Golan

The post Real Estate Developers and Environmentalists Clash Over Nahal Betzet Beach in Western Galilee appeared first on Green Prophet.

The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) announced yesterday that they would boycott the 60th anniversary gala evening held by the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

The reason? The Ministry supports the building of a new settlement, Mirsham, in the Lachish region.

The SPNI and other environmentalists have strongly objected to the project, arguing that the Lachish region is one of the only remaining open spaces north of the Negev.

There’s a strongly political slant to the situation, because Mirsham is slated to become the home of 45 families who were evacuated from Gaza during the disengagement. (Consequently the Jerusalem Post has dubbed the settlement approval “Orange Triumphs Over Green,” because orange was the rallying color for those who were opposed to the disengagement.)

While the Union of Gush Katif Evacuees has offered to work together with environmentalists to minimize future environmental damage, the divisive nature of the whole affair is most likely irreparable, at least from this Prophet’s point of view.

:: Jerusalem Post

Green Prophet has featured the SPNI in several articles:
Israel to Start Drilling for Oil in a Nature Reserve
Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection to Clean Up the Kinneret
Urban Renewal Brings Jews and Arabs Together in Haifa

The post SPNI Boycotts Ministry of Environment Gala Over New Settlement appeared first on Green Prophet.

It’s September already and officially the end of the summer (not that you would notice by the still-scorching Middle Eastern climate). As the temperature begins to cool down (slightly), the next couple of months offer the ideal time to hit one of the many hiking trails, forests, or natural springs in Israel.

But sometimes enjoying the Great Outdoors can leave it in a worse state than it was found, as I discovered at the weekend rafting on the River Dan with fellow Green Prophets James and Jeff. The tranquillity of drifting along a wide, clean river a few minutes from the Lebanese border was tempered by the plastic bags, bottles and other human debris that have accumulated along its lush, green shores.

To educate campers and day-trippers about their ecological footprint, the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics in Colorado developed a guide for ecologically-responsible outdoor recreation. Their seven Principles of Leave No Trace have recently been adapted for the Israeli landscape courtesy of Derech HaTeva, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel’s environmental education initiative:

1. Plan Ahead and Prepare
2. Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
3. Dispose of Waste Properly
4. Leave What You Find
5. Minimize Campfire Impacts
6. Respect Wildlife
7. Be Considerate of Other Visitors.

Israelis take note: Number 3 means take your rubbish home with you (preferably to recycle).

Derech HaTeva has been putting the theory into practise on their annual Israeli Trail Teen Adventure, which begins at the Tel Dan archaeological site not far from the wonderful river of the same name. The month-long hike takes young Israelis and North Americans over the mountains of the Galilee and the desert in the south of Israel, combining Jewish learning with environmental stewardship.

“It’s opening them up to the world, whether Israel, Judaism or their inner selves, and the outdoors is the best classroom to do that,” Yael Ukeles, director and founder of Derech Hateva, told Green Prophet. “The depth of learning and growth is worth years of learning in other settings.”

More Middle East eco-tourism stories on Green Prophet
Eco Tourism in Lebanon
Eco Tourism in Jordan
Eco Tourism in Syria
Eco Tourism in Iran
Eco Tourism in Yemen
Eco Tourism in Egypt

:: Leave No Trace.
:: Derech HaTeva.

Photo: Yavniel Valley/Israeli National Trail, Michael Green.

The post Leave No Trace: Ecologically Responsible Hiking appeared first on Green Prophet.

It’s a drawback to being popular: Litter has become a big problem on the coast of the freshwater Kinneret lake (the Sea of Galilee).

To take charge of the problem, Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Israel Police force and the Kinneret Authority inaugurated a new environmental policing unit to clean up the coast.

The program is called Going for Cleanliness: It’s Our Kinneret. Millions of shekels will be allocated for this project in the next three years.

One of our favorite environmental organizations, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI), is getting involved with an educational program for kids. Given Israeli kids’ known penchant for hanging out on the banks of the Kinneret and even throwing slumber parties there, this makes loads of sense and the only mystery is why it hasn’t been done long before this. 

This is all good news, but we’d be really interested to hear which government organization is taking action against the water shortage.

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