Climate change is expected to affect the water economy of the State of Israel, the health of the residents, the existence of biodiversity and the provision of ecological services in the various ecosystems, our urban climate and energy consumption in the homes and localities in which we live. Already today we have to deal with these changes, although still on a relatively moderate scale: changes in the occurrence of rains, an increase in heat load, migrant workers and \/ or refugees whose causes of migration may also be climatic, diseases transmitted by vectors, and more.<\/p>\n
In accordance with a government decision, the Ministry of Environmental Protection was tasked with preparing a national plan for Israel’s adaptation for climate change. To this end, the ministry has decided to establish an Israeli knowledge center on the subject, which will work to strengthen the existing scientific knowledge in everything related to preparing for climate change in Israel and will even work to market the accumulated Israeli knowledge in other target countries.<\/p>\n
The Israeli Climate Change Information Center (ICCIC) has been established in March 2011 at the University of Haifa, in collaboration with Tel Aviv University, the Technion and the Samuel Neaman Institute. The website was established and funded by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, to allow access to all the areas examined as part of the work of the Knowledge Center.<\/p>\n
After several years in which the site was not updated and in light of the growing importance of the issue, the Samuel Neaman Institute decided to renew the site and update it regularly. The site contains scientific articles from relevant knowledge bases, national and local programs for preparing for climate change from around the world, reports, summaries of discussions and more. The knowledge center is headed by Prof. Ofira Ayalon.<\/p>\n