JIIS’ Environmental Policy Center together with its partner the Ministry of Environmental Protection launched a new web site this month presenting the latest developments of their joint project “Sustainability Outlook 2030 for Israel.” The goal of the project is to present a vision of sustainability for the year 2030 towards which Israel should aspire, thereby enabling Israel’s decision makers to understand existing trends, recognize disparities in pursuit of the vision, and identify the appropriate routes to achievement of the vision. For now, the web site is in Hebrew; an English version will be available soon, and plans are underway to launch Arabic version in the near future.

see http://kayamut2030.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=178&Itemid=149

Sustainability Outlook for Israel 2030

Introduction

The project “Sustainability Outlook 2030 for Israel” was initiated jointly by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Environmental Policy Center of the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies. It commenced in October2010 and is expected to conclude in June 2012.

Its goal is to build a vision of sustainability to 2030 which would enable decision makers in Israel to understand the implications of existing trends, recognize any disparities in pursuit of the vision, and identify routes by which Israel could progress towards achieveing the vision.

Global Outlooks (UNEP GEO reports, OECD Outlooks, WBCSD Business Outlooks) have provided frameworks for reviewing issues for which international commitment is necessary but they have not necessarily provided the framework for long term policy making at the national level which would reflect national concerns as well as global issues. Read more…

About us

The project was initiated jointly by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Environemntal Policy Center of the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies (an unaligned think tank). Read more…

Project Methodology

The methodological steps of the project are illustrated in the project scheme and outlined below:

Indicators Base

As the Stiglitz report pointed out, policies are frequently influenced by what is measured. Bearing this in mind, the first stage in preparing the Outlook was a review of which indicators could provide a picture of trends which have occured over the last 2 decades and which have affected the environment. As to be expected in a developed economy, production and consumption patterns are the driving forces, within the context of a market economy. Read more…

Expert Knowledge Base

Experts in various fields were requested to identify trends in their field of expertise over the last 2 decades, identify where they could see opportunities and risks for the future and indicate where intervention and policies were needed to strengthen resilience. Read more…

Scenarios

Seven scenarios were developed for Sustainability Outlook 2030 – a “business as usual” scenario and six alternative scenarios. Read more…

A Common Vision of Sustainability

The creation of a vision includes developing different types of vision, beginning with a positive vision, continuing to a defensive vision, and concluding with a satisfactory vision. The positive vision aspires to the maximum, while the defensive vision identifies thresholds that must not be crossed. As such it is a minimal vision. The expert group progressed from individual visions to building a group vision. In building the vision it used models of visions built by various groups, such as the WBCSD VISION 2050. Read more…

Emerging Strategies for Action

Nine robust strategies were identified which was relevant to all scenarios. In addition, attention is being focused on five strategic directions which could be promoted by the Ministry of Environmental Protection together with other leaders. Read more…

Policy Packages for Implementation

It is increasingly apparent that policies are suffering from inadequate and ineffective implementation. Frequently a single instrument is selected for implementation without due consideration as to its efficiency or effectiveness in achieving targets and without due consideration to the political and social acceptability of the instrument. Read more…

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1. 1. A report from 2009 by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, a French government initiative