Living Land

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Functional rehabilitation of desertified

ecosystems in Israel: ecological

and socioecological perspectives

David Brand, Chief Forester, Head of the Forest Department, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael — Jewish National Fund;

Itshack Moshe, Deputy Director Southern Region, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael — Jewish National Fund;

and Moshe Shachak, Ben Gurion University of the Negev

he multifunctional cultural landscape in the

southern arid and semi-arid region in Israel (the

Northern Negev), has been shaped by human activ-

ity over the millennia. These anthropogenic ecosystems,

common to the Northern Negev, are degraded systems

that regularly lose soil and water resources necessary to

support the ecosystem in its entirety.

Desertification processes in Israel are caused by uncontrolled

land-use such as grazing, vegetation removal, cultivation and

the neglect of ancient agricultural sites. The results include

decreased landscape diversity and primary productivity,

increased flood intensity and soil erosion, degradation of

water resources, and harm to native flora and fauna.

Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael — Jewish National Fund (KKL-

JNF), a national organization responsible for afforestation and

land reclamation in Israel, has accumulated rich experience

and advanced knowledge through years of research and day-

to-day field management, and can offer a unique set of tools

for confronting these desertification processes.

KKL-JNF rehabilitates desertified areas in Israel based on

long-term research that combines, measures and quantifies

ecosystem processes and feedbacks which have changed due

to desertification. This knowledge base enables KKL-JNF to

Image: David Brand

A typical view of degraded areas in the arid zone of Northern Negev

iving

and