Vision
The Institute of Environmental Sciences (IES) addresses the challenges facing agriculture and the environment. It does so through its teaching programs and by combining the diverse research approaches of the over 40 research laboratories that comprise the institute. The IES is uniquely posed at addressing the challenges most pertinent to the geo-socio-political characteristics of the conditions in Israel: high population density posing pressures on agricultural land, open spaces and biodiversity; water challenges, with high dependence on treated wastewater and desalination; high climatic gradient, with preponderance of semi-arid and arid areas; economic, political, and climatic uncertainty. Several global processes will lead in the coming decades many nations and regions to confront some of these same challenges. These include: escalating effects of global warming in dry areas, rising population growth and affluence, and weakening globalization trends. These processes threaten food security and demand greater reliance on local agriculture, and lead to greater pressure on the environment. Israel is highly developed economically and technologically, thus has contributed and is continuing to develop management tools and technologies to address these challenges. As such, the IES uses local conditions as a living lab to address regional challenges, with insights and findings of global importance, which could be adopted elsewhere for a better future to diverse peoples and the environment.
