The first nature lesson, fourth grade – remember? We'll remind you quickly. The teacher draws a tree or a stalk with two leaves on the board and writes in big letters "Photosynthesis." There's some noise, the teacher threatens that she has eyes in the back of her head, and she then continues and explains that photosynthesis is a chemical process in which plants absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) and light and converts them to organic material and to oxygen, which improves the quality of the atmosphere. That is to say, plants "breathe" the gas that we emit, and emit the gas that we breathe. But it's not just that.
Carbon dioxide has an immense contribution to global warming. Carbon dioxide is emitted naturally from living creatures, rocks, water sources, marshes, volcanoes and so on, but in recent years burning fuels, cutting down forests and the emissions of different industries have raised the percentage of this gas in the atmosphere dangerously, which adversely affects the global climate.
This is the point where trees come to our help. With the help of photosynthesis, trees are the most efficient and widespread instrument for restoring carbon dioxide to the soil. In numbers, according to the research of Israel Prize recipient Prof. Dan Yakir, forests in Israel absorb 4% of the carbon dioxide emissions in its area, or three million tons of carbon dioxide out of the 78 tons emitted each year by our factories, power stations, private and public vehicles and other sources of pollution. 4% – does that sound like a small number? On the contrary! No other means comes near to the work done by trees in absorbing carbon dioxide, and all this in a natural and "automatic" step, for free.
Let's talk about objectives. For the sake of our shared home, called "Earth," and for the sake of the health of the citizens of Israel and humanity as a whole, Israel has undertaken to reach 0% greenhouse gas emissions (of which one of the main ones is carbon dioxide) by 2050. This goal has two components: reducing emissions by transitioning to renewable energy and electric vehicles, saving electricity in homes and other preventative actions, and at the same time, increasing absorption of emissions. But the second component is almost entirely absent from the discourse, despite the fact that it is essential and easy to implement. In fact, the only thing needed is simply to plant more and more trees.
From a global perspective, the oceans are also a wonderful instrument for absorbing carbon dioxide, with absorption capability that is only slightly smaller than that of trees, and today no technology competes with these natural absorption treasures. To give you some idea of the numbers, the planet emits 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year, of which only 20.7 billion tons are re-absorbed – 11.5 billion tons by the forests and 9.2 billion tons by the oceans. However, studies show that specifically in our region not only does the Mediterranean Sea not absorb carbon dioxide, but it actually emits it as a result of its warming and acids rising to its surface. Therefore, Israelis remain with only one natural savior: trees.
The Chief Scientist of KKL-JNF, Dr. Doron Markel, carried out a series of calculations the results of which leave no room for doubt about the decisive role of trees in this story. Dr. Markel, who grew up in Kibbutz Afikim on the shores of the Sea of Galilee and for many years managed the monitoring and operating system of the Sea of Galilee and of the Water Authority, examined the case of the drainage basin of the Sea of Galilee and the Hula Lake.
When Dr. Markel took the familiar data on the carbon dioxide absorption of a dunam of forest and multiplied the number by the total area of the drainage basin of the Sea of Galilee, he received the following result: the forests in the basin absorb 0.3 million tons (300,000 kilograms) of carbon dioxide a year, a quantity equal to the emissions of 75,000 residents (in areas without heavy industry), or of all the residents of Tiberias and Zfat combined. In other words, the forests in the Sea of Galilee area balance the carbon dioxide emissions of the two northern cities.
Fascinated by the results of these calculations, Dr. Merkel continued and examined the Hula Lake, which he knows well from his doctoral thesis, and which was created by KKL-JNF in the scope of the peat lands project, in order to assist agriculture in the region. Wetlands such as the Hula Lake absorb more carbon dioxide, according to their size. KKL-JNF's Chief Scientist calculated the lake's carbon dioxide absorption, together with the absorption of the marshy area in the Hula nature reserve, and then added another figure to the equation: the Hula Lake project stabilized the peat lands around the lake, which until the 1990s became worn out and burned in an area of 30 square km. and thus emitted carbon dioxide. Therefore, Dr. Merkel also took into account the amount of carbon dioxide emissions prevented by stabilizing the land.
The result: in the area of the lake and the marshy land in the Hula nature reserve 0.2 million tons (200,000 kilograms) of carbon dioxide are fixed each year. This amount of absorption balances the annual emissions of 50,000 people, or all the residents of Kiryat Shmona and the Upper Galilee regional council.
The conclusions of Dr. Merkel's calculations are clear: Israel needs more trees, the leading resource in absorbing carbon dioxide, which will balance the emissions of Israel's residents, and in addition – we need to preserve our wetlands, such as the Hula Lake. These environments are threatened by global warming, but they are the ones that can assist in the struggle against the climate crisis. The calculations also show that Tu BiShvat, which has somehow become affixed in Israeli culture as a kind of "second-rate holiday," is apparently the most important holiday for our future and that of our children.