Setting Sustainable Goals for Environmental Remediation: The Case of River Remediation in Israel

Abstract

People who undertake river remediation projects have a variety of goals, both ecological and social, that they seek to fulfill. Practical examples of river remediation projects implemented in Israel in recent years illustrate how conflicting goals can be balanced in the actual implementation of such projects. While restoration, in terms of rehabilitating riparian landscapes and ecosystems, was one of the key aims of Israel’s river remediation program, it has not been the dominant outcome in individual river basins. Instead the program has produced a variety of environmental conditions depending on the situation at hand. While these environmental conditions may or may not have the same ecological value as the original river environments prior to significant human impacts, the anthropocentric value of these remediated environments is now undoubtedly many times greater than it was prior to the remediation program. The pragmatic approach taken by the Israelis in effect acknowledged that the full restoration of past riparian environments was impossible and that a balance between ecological and human goals needed to be struck to achieve a sustainable outcome.