ISO-Certified Cities in the Negev Desert

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The Negev Desert, Israel’s largest land reserve, boasts some of the country’s largest nature reserves and national parks, but this desert is also used by its chemical industry for quarrying, mining, and agriculture. In the mid-1990s, Israel set up two industrial municipalities, one of which is the Romat Hovav Industrial Park, situated 12 kilometers south of Beer-Sheva. It has 21 chemical factories spread over 6,000 acres. All of the factories deal with the treatment of hazardous waste, air pollution, chemical waste, and chemical sewage. Over 400 acres at Romat Hovav Industrial Park serve as evaporation pools. The resultant air pollution and chemical leaching into the soil and water have earned the region recognition as one of the country’s most polluted and polluting sites.

Thus, the region is vulnerable to land degradation and environmental hazards with impacts on groundwater, air quality, and public health. The chemical waste has a direct impact on the health and well-being of some 400,000 residents in North and Central Negev, of which over 230,000 live within a 20 kilometer radius of the area. This is one of Israel’s peripheral zones, not just due to the significant environmental problems caused by unsustainable planning, but also because it is populated by economically marginalized groups like the Bedouin.

To promote sustainability in the area, Bilha Givon, without government help or affiliation to a national body, set up Sustainable Development for the Negev in 1998. She has dedicated her career to engaging communities in environmental awareness, protection, and restoration. In 2003, she created environmental responsibility forums that, for the first time, brought together industry polluters and community for constructive dialogue. The outcome was an upgrade in environmental standards and industry taking responsibility for the surrounding communities. Today, Israel has nine such active forums, with 12 factories in the Negev region.

In 2005, the Sustainable Development for the Negev initiated a comprehensive environmental empowerment program in Dimona, a development town with 40,000 people. Its pursuit of the sustainable settlement concept earned it International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 certification, which is audited every year. It is the first settlement in Israel to earn this title.

These and other initiatives have been replicated in other settlements such as Beer-Sheva, with 200,000 people, Ofakim, and Kiryat Gat and Kiryat Malachi, and also with six Bedouin cities: Raat, Kseifa, Arara, Hora, Segev Shalom, and Tel Sheva.

Bilha Givon

Web site: http://www.negev. org.il