I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together, so that people may see and know …that the hand of the Lord has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it. Isaiah 41:19-20
Israel is the only country in the world that entered the 21st century with more trees than it had at the start of the 20th century. 
Israel is a thin strip of a country, smaller than the state of New Jersey. Situated on the western edge of the huge Arabian Desert this tiny land is half desert itself.
In 1948 when Israel was established, there were fewer than 5 million trees in the entire country. Since then, the JNF has planted over 240 million trees on more than 225,000 acres – and by 2020 it plans to have planted trees on 405,000 acres.
Distribution of Open Space as Percent of Total Open Space in Israel.
|
Region |
Country |
Forested area
(in thousands
of dunams) |
Percentage of national territory |
Per capita area
(in dunams) |
|
Eastern Mediterranean
Basin |
Israel
Jordan
Lebanon
Syria |
800
700
400
1,900
|
3.7
0.7
3.8
1.0 |
0.2
0.2
0.1
0.2
|
- Click Here for CARING FOR THE FORESTS – a special article about the JNF's Everyday Work.
- Click Here for DESPITE IMPOSSIBLE ODDS – an article about turning the deserts into thriving forests.
- Click Here for MAKING THE FORESTS ACCESSIBLE – an article about JNF's work to enable the access of special needs individuals.
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