• ~35,000 households in Israel are members of SPNI.

• ~9,000 individuals made a donation to support our mission

• ~900,000 people have hiked with us.

• ~600 children have taken part in our summer camps.

• ~35,000 students have taken part in our environmental education programs.

• ~20,000 hikers took part in “Urban Nature Week.”

• ~40,000 hikers took part in our “Winter of Nature Conservation” event.

• ~120,000 people like our page on Facebook.

• ~3,000 people follow us on Instagram.

• ~35,000 people subscribe to our newsletter.

• ~200,000 people visited Gazelle Valley Park.

• ~23,000 people visited our Beit Ussishkin and Beit Levi Eshkol Visitor Centers

 

SPNI is an organization of people. Our strength and power are built upon the shared efforts of a large community of people who love and are fascinated by nature. This community understands that we are living at a time when accelerated development, while necessary, must take into account our unique and precious ecosystems--the limited natural resources on which we depend and for which we are responsible. We are facing an unprecedented global climate and ecological crisis. It is vital that we protect nature now to ensure our own future. We would like to thank the hundreds of thousands of supporters who worked with us in 2019, and we call on all of you to continue to march forward with us—for all our futures, and for the future of nature in Israel.​

 

In 2019, it was your support and your work with our communities that enabled us to achieve such incredible success.

One outstanding example of public support for nature conservation can be seen in the tens of thousands of hikers who attended our traditional Tu B’Shvat event in Modiin’s southern hills. They helped drive home the message that Modiin has incredible nature right at its doorstep, and that its southern hills must be protected from construction and development. The hikers also heard about sustainable alternatives to develop the city that will not harm nature. In August 2019, a master plan for Modiin was issued, according to which the southern hills will not be earmarked for development in the near future. This is a very significant step towards protecting this wonderful area. We have already begun work to change the zoning of the southern hills, so that the area will be designated as a national park--a move that will ensure Modiin remains forevermore a city that safeguards Israel’s precious wildlife corridor. 

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Every weekend throughout February 2019, thousands of hikers came to learn about the unique HaSharon Park near Hadera and to support the work of SPNI’s Hadera community. They made it very clear that there must be no development on land between Highways 2 and 4, and that this beautiful area must be protected from construction for the sake of both nature and local residents.

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In February 2019, some 6,000 people came out to support our opposition to the Rekhes Lavan building plan, in Jerusalem, which proposes the construction of a new, completely unnecessary, neighborhood at the expense of a spectacular natural area that is home to many plants and animals. If it went ahead, the plan would destroy an area of publicly accessible open space and one of the most precious areas in the Jerusalem hills. Hundreds of volunteers went out in all weathers to recruit supporters, raise awareness, and sign petitions. So far, the fight has not been successful--but with your support we will continue to do all we can to preserve our wonderful nature.

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At the beginning of December 2019, tens of activists attended a hearing in the Haifa District Court, where we had joined in opposition to the petition filed by Yitzhak Tshuva against the Haifa District Committee’s decision to cancel his plan to build four towers on Haifa coast. This development would irrevocably destroy a strip of beach--and would even entail drying out a seabed to create a strip of artificial beach for construction purposes. We stood as a united front to make it clear to the Court that the sea and the beach are first-class public natural assets, a unique ecological environment, and a fertile and special habitat for a variety of organisms including birds, crabs, endangered sea turtles, and unique flora. The beach is one of the most popular and accessible leisure sites for the Israeli public, and as our population grows, so too does the need for protected, open public beaches.

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In Tel Aviv-Jaffa, we work with you—the public and local nature lovers—all across the Gush Dan region. Our activist groups continue to expand, and more and more people are joining our “environmental veterans” groups where they learn about the wonderful nature in this part of Israel. It is vital that we protect the “green lungs” of crowded urban areas like Gush Dan. Together, we learn about nature, and improve our skills and abilities, so that we can share the wonders of nature with an even wider audience.

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In Beersheba, too, the local community is working hard to protect nature. Hundreds of local people took part in activities run by SPNI’s Beersheba community to conserve the city’s natural spaces, create a sustainable community, and to protect nature in Israel’s southern capital.

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Thousands of young people all around Israel took part in activities organized by our Patrol Teams. This year, these committed teenagers organized grassroots activism projects that inspired and influenced decisionmakers and the general public. These young ecowarriors joined the fight to prevent the construction of new marinas on Israel’s beaches, and, undeterred by soaring temperatures in July, went out to talk to people who were vacationing on the country’s beaches to raise awareness of the movement to oppose the marinas.

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This year, SPNI worked with the Israeli-Arab community across the country on various initiatives for people of all ages and backgrounds. We ran education programs for kindergarten children and schoolchildren, and worked with communities to create awareness of nature and the environment.

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Throughout 2019, we continued to run our environmental educational programs in schools and kindergartens across Israel. Through our “Children Leading Change” program, children develop a sense of responsibility and belonging, and become agents of change who can influence adults. We worked with educators in their schools to help them embed sustainability values within the curricula, and to gain a green school accreditation certificate from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Ministry of Education.

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This year, we ran a new and particularly successful continuing education program for kindergarten teachers, which involved developing activities for preschool children in outdoor spaces and urban woodlands. The program enhances the children’s classroom education by helping teachers promote sustainable lifestyles through outdoor activities in urban nature, and by instilling children with knowledge, skills, values, and a sense of community. Every week during the school year, the children go outside and get to know nature near their kindergarten. They learn and explore in nearby urban woodlands or in another urban nature site. This outdoor experiential activity teaches them how to resolve ethical and moral dilemmas, face challenges, and find solutions. The out-of-class learning touches on a range of key educational topics, from core kindergarten subjects through local biodiversity.

 

Topics covered in the learning include:

• the changes that take place in the woodlands throughout the different seasons;

• protecting and reusing natural resources;

• promoting environmental values and cleanliness;

• developing connections with animals and plants;

• developing compassion for wildlife in the woods;

• creating spaces for play and movement;

• discussing the role of the individual in public and community life.

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The program directly links this outdoor experiential learning back to the children’s studies inside the kindergarten classroom, which empowers kindergartens to promote sustainable lifestyles. Within the kindergarten itself, educational staff, children, and parents work together to create spaces and activities that reflect what was learned outside, including unmediated play spaces with natural materials, a sensory pathway, a tea and relaxation corner, games and building in mud, an eco-garden, and a space for studying and watching birds. To strengthen ties with the local community and encourage other kindergartens to go outdoors, the kindergarten teachers also get involved with various initiatives and sustainability projects such as adopting local woodlands, planting local wildflowers and bulbs, and setting up reusable tableware kits that families can borrow for events, to reduce the use of disposable plates and cutlery.

 

Our outdoor and urban woodland activities for kindergarten children in Herzliya have been nominated for the Ministry of Education’s Prize for Unique Contributions to Education.

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Israelis For A Clean Israel

This year we launched a public campaign calling on Israelis to keep our public spaces and green areas clean and tidy. In Israel, the problem of public littering is getting worse, and our urban and green spaces are becoming dirtier and more polluted. Israel’s natural resources and open spaces are shrinking, and if we do not work together now to create cultural change around public cleanliness, our country will soon become overcrowded and littered. Today, we have reached the point of no return, and we simply cannot carry on this way. This year, we started to work with you to create change. We still have a long way to go, and we have pledged to use all the resources at our disposal to bring about much-needed change in public attitudes to cleanliness.

In 2019, we joined forces with global civic movement “Let’s Do It!” which works to create clean public spaces all over the world. Let’s Do It! connects volunteers and environmental organizations from across the globe, and creates communities that work together and learn from each other. In September, we took part in the movement’s global event, World Cleanup Day, and held a full week of cleanup activities, during which we were joined by volunteers and hikers from all over Israel. During the week, thousands of Israelis participated in environmental cleanup activities, and helped make Israel a cleaner and tidier place.