Israel must prepare for a situation in which it will become a passage to Europe for refugees escaping drought and rising ocean levels in Egypt, Jordan, and North Africa, a report prepared by the Climate Change Information Center and presented this week to Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan warns.
The report was compiled in response to the center\’s grim environmental forecast published in January of this year, which predicted that climate change would cause rising temperatures, decreased rainfall, desertification of southern Israel, increased heat waves, and flooding.
The report recommends a number of courses of action regarding water, health, biodiversity, climate, green construction, geostrategy, and economics. The experts see the problems presented by climate change as an opportunity to "turn climate change concerns and threats into a springboard to move ahead with projects that Israel should push anyway" – such as increasing the water supply and securing the country\’s supply of food and energy.
Recommendations in the report include increased research and an expansion of Israel\’s meteorological infrastructure, as well as a number of specific proposals for water management, such as economic incentives for private companies that will participate in cleaning wells and groundwater sources.
Israel\’s water supply was cited as one of the three most important factors to take into account when discussing the effects of climate change, along with "a change in the geopolitical balance of power in the Middle East… and population migration (into, around, and through Israel)."
To that effect, the report\’s authors called upon Israel to complete the construction of border fencing, including marine borders in the Mediterranean and Red seas.
The Environmental Protection Ministry is due to review the report. While Erdan agrees wholeheartedly that "climate change is already here and demands widespread preparation," he does not necessarily agree with the proposal to fence the country off.
"Hiding behind fences is not a solution. Instead, it\’s important to develop cooperative (initiatives) with neighboring countries and international agencies," the minister declared.