International Workshop on Regional Implication
of Future Climate Change
(in cooperation with the Ministry of the Environment)
1993

In recent years, the effect of future climate changes on the environment has been placed at the forefront of scientific as well as political activity worldwide. Global changes can be studied on two distinct levels, the global and the regional. This workshop placed particular emphasis on the regional implications of such change. As Israel is a very small country on the edge of a desert, the consequences of global change may have much greater effects regionally than those observed globally. These may be of particular significance with respect to the future of water sources in the region.
In order for the State of Israel to plan its immediate and long-term action on this issue, and to enable it to participate in global efforts by acceding to the relevant international conventions and protocols, the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, via its President, the State of Israel and the Minister of the Environment, collaborated in order to organize the first workshop in Israel on the regional implications of these expected changes. The international workshop was attended by prominent scientists worldwide as well as from Israel.
The objectives of the workshop were to determine the requirements, the necessity and the importance of climate change research in Israel.
 
Among the recommendations of the workshop:
A. Short and long-term research projects involving scientists from different disciplines should be enhanced and encouraged in order to establish a database in Israel that will serve as input to the various climatic models.
B. Establishing a detailed research program on the local and regional water cycle is of vital importance to Israel. Such a program should include the following research fields: cloud development; the impact of ground cover changes on the albedo on the one hand and on evaporation on the other, and their impact on the recharge of ground water aquifers in Israel. These issues should be studied in view of the future rise of inland water bodies and of the Mediterranean Sea - estimated today at between 8 and 30 cm in the year 2030.
 
Among the issues discussed were:
1. General issues
2. Climate changes over the past 10,000 years
3. Expected regional changes based on numerical models 4. Environmental implications
5. Potential international impacts of global warming.
 
* The Report (311 pages)  is  availbale for you perusal in the Academy Library; Additional copies are available upon request (while supplies last) - by pressing the ´´Send E-mail´´ button above.