One million species of animals and plants are currently endangered by extinction, including 40% of all amphibious animals, 33% of corals, 33% of marine mammals, and around 10% of insects. Three-quarters of the terrestrial environment and two-thirds of the marine environment have been significantly altered by human activity and huge areas have become desert and lost their fertility. Forests continue to be cut down, fish stocks are dwindling, water, air, and land pollution continue at an accelerated rate. The damage to biodiversity, flora, and fauna continues with such intensity that the UN warns that humanity is at a crossroads, and that the continued destruction of natural ecosystems endangers us. This is because nature provides us with essential services that we cannot live without such as clean air, pollination of agricultural crops, food, raw materials, and more. Against the background of these alarming data and the dire implications for our future, the biodiversity summit has been convened at the end of September to try and coordinate a joint global effort to halt the damage. UN experts say that the damage is still reversible and changeable if we decide to take a number of transformative changes including stopping forests and land destruction and rehabilitating them, shifting to sustainable agriculture, efficient use of water, reducing consumption of animal-based foods such as meat and dairy products and switching to a plant-based diet, preventing climate change and protecting and rehabilitating natural systems. This is a very challenging task, especially with the world’s population expected to grow up to 10 billion people by 2050, something that will increase the pressures on the planet’s already depleted resources. As such, we should all ask ourselves how we can help prevent the impending disaster, and what changes we can make at the individual, local, and national levels to improve nature and biodiversity. In this context, Israel can contribute greatly through sharing experience and technologies that can, on the one hand, reduce the extent of damage and even restore biodiversity, and on the other hand address the growing needs of humanity for raw materials, food, water, and energy. For example, 90% of the wastewater in Israel is purified while 80% of wastewater worldwide is discharged into rivers and oceans, causing heavy environmental pollution that harms the flora and fauna. It would have been possible to use this for agriculture or revive dried up rivers and streams and save large-scale pumping of water from nature. Preventing water leakage, water conservation, desalination, and the use of saline water in agriculture are all very advanced in Israel and enable the conservation of wetlands and the increase of agricultural crops. Another area in which Israel can contribute is agriculture, which would significantly increase agricultural production while enabling the protection of open and natural areas on a large scale in the world. Drip irrigation, precise agriculture, use of remote sensing systems, and more are some of the practices used in Israel that can greatly help preserve biodiversity and address the needs of the world population in food that is constantly growing. Israel is also a global pioneer in the production of animal protein substitutes, which can also help reduce the pressure on natural systems being that 70% of the world’s total agricultural area in the world is used to raise livestock for human consumption. If animal protein could be replaced by laboratory-grown meat or high-quality plant-based protein, large swaths of the world could be rehabilitated, the trend of climate change could be slowed down and the food security of billions of people strengthened. Israel has dozens of startups that specialize in the field, research and development institutes, and significant funds are raised to implement the research developments. Research is also ongoing in the field of renewable energies, including the development and extensive application of technologies such as energy efficiency, energy storage, energy control, and more. All of them are important and necessary for the mitigation of the climate crisis. Israel, which has been dealing with extreme climatic conditions for 70 years since its establishment, has developed a wide range of technologies, capabilities, and experience that can greatly assist the world in reducing biodiversity loss and moving toward its restoration and renewal. Israel will be happy to share its expertise in these areas, as nature does not recognize human borders and the problem of biodiversity destruction is a universal human problem that demands full international cooperation. Israel is ready to contribute so that we can all continue to see dolphins leaping in the water, hear cranes roaming the sky, smell the scent of wildflowers in the open fields and live in a better and healthier world. The writer is the Ambassador of Israel to Rwanda.
