Feeding and Protecting the Planet
Working together with other academic and scientific institutions both in Israel and abroad, KKL-JNF funds research that impacts agriculture and the environment, sharing its extensive knowledge with developing countries around the world.
In recent years, KKL-JNF has cooperated with the American Forestry Service, various programs of the United Nations, and other institutions in research and development. Regional cooperation among nations, with each focusing on finding solutions for ecological issues and then sharing its findings with its neighbors, advances s all countries.
Forestry Research
KKL-JNF shares its extensive knowledge, particularly in the fields of desert afforestation and agriculture, water management and biological pest control, with developing countries in other parts of the world. For example, a tiny insect discovered by KKL-JNF scientists working in Australia turned out to be the natural predator of the gall wasps in Australia that were endangering millions of acres of eucalyptus tree plantations intended for industry and energy production in Southeast Asia, the USA, Africa and South America. Research funded by KKL-JNF made it possible to combat the wooly pine aphid that kills 10 to 25 percent of the pine trees it attacks. These research projects and others discovered ways to kill pests by taking advantage of their natural enemies rather than by chemical pesticides.
Regional Research and Development for Food Security
Agricultural research and development is the basis for the development of new products to benefit people. KKL-JNF established regional research and development stations in Israel's border areas in order to promote agricultural development and create means of production.
In agricultural regions, regional research and development stations operate with the aim of developing new crops and improving farming techniques for existing ones.
The field advisors and researchers who work in the R&D stations contribute to food security by taking advantage of the natural potential of the local conditions, including climate, soil, varieties of water sources and manpower quality. They increase the profitability and stability of agriculture by improving existing crops and introducing new ones needing little water and land resources, thereby raising regional employment opportunities and expanding existing communities.
International Research Cooperation for a Greener World
Regional cooperation among nations that find solutions for problems and then share their findings with its neighbors helps to create a greener and better world. KKL-JNF has research ties with countries in the Mediterranean Basin including Italy, Cyprus, Spain, Greece, France and Turkey. Many of these countries have environments similar to that of Israel and deal with issues that KKL-JNF has placed high on its agenda. KKL-JNF also shares research with the Kingdom of Jordan, modest in size but highly effective for both sides, for example, eradicating the Mediterranean fruit fly, which harms extensive agricultural areas on both sides of the border. Cooperation on a more limited scale is also carried out with the Palestinian Authority. Cooperation with foresters in Italy and Spain focuses on extinguishing forest fires and renewing forests after conflagrations.
Planning the Future – Conferences and Visits
KKL-JNF hosts conferences on various environmental topics and invites dignitaries from abroad to visit its many research projects. Recent conferences include the 2015 Negev Conference on Agricultural Research and Development, where KKL-JNF displayed the groundbreaking technologies it supports, which enable farming in desert regions: growing strawberries above the ground, pepper harvesting in extreme heat, growing peonies in the desert and other fascinating practical research. At the 2014 Addressing Climate Change Conference, KKL-JNF professionals met with colleagues from Israeli universities, the Volcani Institute and the United States Forestry Service to discuss best practices for addressing climate change in Israel. And when the Honorable Jason T. Kenney, Canada's Minister of Employment and Social Development and Minister for Multiculturalism visited Israel in 2014, he dedicated a first-of-its kind greywater recycling pilot project in the city of Raanana, where shower water from a bathhouse is recycled to flush toilets and irrigate a garden.