New law in Israel protects trees from overzealous contractors.

Israel is not the only place in the world where building and development come into constant conflict with flora and fauna. However, Israeli contractors have earned a reputation for being particularly overzealous when it comes to flattening greenery on building sites.

It is standard practice in the Israeli construction industry to begin work on a new project by uprooting absolutely everything that grows – and worry about “rehabilitating the landscape” later. This has been known to happen even on construction projects certified as “green buildings.”

However, beginning in 2009 the Israeli tree can breathe a sigh of relief. The outgoing Knesset, which has distinguished itself by energetically promoting green legislation, recently passed a law meant to protect mature trees in areas designated for construction.

According to a new law (technically an amendment to the country’s planning and construction law), every building plan submitted to planning authorities must note the presence of mature trees within its boundaries. In order to get a plan approved, developers will be required to report the number and location of trees on a plot, and in some cases will even have to put down a deposit to ensure the trees’ protection.

According to its sponsor, Member of Knesset Ophir Pines-Paz, the new law will greatly improve the urban environment, as well as the quality of life of its residents. In a press release announcing the passage of the law, Pines-Paz added that the law will “significantly decrease the amount of trees, protected species and unprotected, that are cut down or uprooted, and will ensure that, if they are [uprooted], they will be transplanted or replaced with a new tree.”

Israel has a strong, but mixed, record on tree planting and preservation. On the one hand, the country’s forestry methods are widely admired. Thanks to the work of the Jewish National Fund, which has planted some 240 million trees over the past hundred or so years, Israel is reportedly the only country in the world to finish the last century with more trees than it started out with. In urban areas, as well, ancient trees and protected species are preserved, even when this presents developers with additional costs.

However, the list of protected species is not very comprehensive, and most mature trees have been left, until now, with no one to speak in their defense. On construction sites and in urban development schemes, mature trees are uprooted with little concern for the loss of the benefits that they provide. During the renovation of Ibn Gvirol Street in Tel Aviv, for example, several hundred mature street trees fell victim to the city’s tractors, despite the fact that they provided much-needed shade and cleaner air for pedestrians.

Fortunately, with the help of the new law, it will no longer be so easy to cut down mature trees in Israel. The law is slated to go into effect in mid-2009.

Photos courtesy of Daniel Cherrin. Origianally published on TreeHugger.com on December 21, 2008.