Celebrating 114 Years of Green Action

Celebrating 114 Years of Green Action
With thanks to our Friends in Israel and around the World

Looking back in time...

115 years have passed since December 29, 1901, when KKL-JNF was voted into existence during the Fifth Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland. To a storm of applause, Theodor Herzl proclaimed "The Jewish National Fund has been created!"

KKL-JNF has since evolved from purchasing lands in Eretz Yisrael and developing them, to becoming Israel's largest green organization with friends and partners all over the world. In a rapidly changing world, KKL-JNF has always stayed relevant, never losing sight of its core focus: to develop and nurture the land of Israel and to share its technical and environmental knowledge with other countries, making the world greener and more sustainable for all of its inhabitants and the generations to come.

What's in store for 2016?

KKL-JNF has just welcomed its 13th World Chairman, Danny Atar and Co-Chairman Dr. Uzi Landau, together with its new Board of Directors.

The new KKL-JNF leadership (L to R): Atty. Shlomo Deri, Mr. Hernan Felman, Mr. Mike Nitzan, Mr. Zeev Noyman, Mr. Danny Atar, Dr. Uzi Landau and Mr. Nisan Cialic. Photo: KKL-JNF Spokesperson
Under the guidance of the new leadership, KKL-JNF will be focusing on developing Israel's periphery; ecological Zionist education in Israel and the Diaspora; and sustainable development.

Developing Israel's periphery:

Attracting young families and tourists to the Negev and the Galilee by building infrastructure for new/young communities, developing and recycling water sources for the development of agriculture, and creating parks, accessible forest paths and bike trails.

Fifth grade students in front of their new Green Leadership Classroom for the Marshan school in the Arab Israeli town of Shfaram in the Galillee. Photo: Tania SusskindEcological and Zionist education in Israel and the Diaspora:

A focused effort to connect Jewish children and youth worldwide with the principles of ecology and Zionism, through providing top-notch educational materials on Israel, KKL-JNF and the environment, as well as KKL-JNF emissaries for education to countries around the world.

Sustainable Development:

Ensuring responsible development that takes both the preservation of nature and societal needs into account, enabling people to live in harmony with their environment and with each other - across ethnic, religious and cultural divides. Examples of sustainable development include encouraging communal responsibility through the development of community forests, continued planting of trees to offset CO2 emissions, supporting the creation of renewable energy technologies and continued research in combating desertification and sustainable agriculture in arid and semi-arid regions.

So what has happened in 2015?

Much has happened in KKL-JNF over the past year, including and not limited to conferences in Israel and around the world, local and international exhibitions, missions and events, and of course, as always, the inauguration of new projects and the maintenance of current ones, in the fields of forestry and ecology, water, research and development, international cooperation and tourism, for the benefit of people and their environment – with the support of our friends and partners worldwide.
So what has happened in 2015?

Here, we highlight just a few of the main events of this past year:

  • World Marketing Conference

    January 2015 saw the convergence of KKL-JNF offices worldwide in Israel, for the biennial International World Marketing Conference - an action packed week of touring KKL-JNF projects and developing marketing strategies for its goals.
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  • Expo Milano

    EXPO Milano, the international world exhibition in Milan representing the cutting edge environmental technology of 145 countries, ran from the May 1st – October 31st under the banner 'Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life'.
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  • KKL France Israel Today and Tomorrow Mission

    Organized by KKL France, this focused on the Galilee, with its inspiring examples of multicultural coexistence between Israel's different ethnicities and cutting-edge water and defense technologies.
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  • International Solidarity Mission to Israel

    Hundreds of KKL-JNF representatives from all over the world came to Israel in May 2015, for a week of tours and visits across the length and breadth of Israel, especially to groundbreaking KKL-JNF projects established thanks to their support.
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  • Yearly Campaigns

    KKL-JNF's friends and partners worldwide work every day to support special projects in Israel. Here is an example of yearly campaigns from two countries.
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Festivals and Special Days

We also could not let the year pass without a mention of KKL-JNF's celebration of Israel's many festivals and Jewish holidays and special days, including special events for Pesach, Sukkot, Shavuot and Hanukkah, the Arava Open Day, Yom Haatzmaut, Jerusalem Day, Holocaust Memorial Day, and memorial day for Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

We have also just concluded a year of Shmita, the biblically ordained Sabbatical year where the Land of Israel rests, and the grounds lie fallow. During the Shmita year, KKL-JNF adjusted its work program accordingly, and did not undertake any plantings in Israel's soil. This past Rosh Hashana marked the end of the 5775 Shmita year, and KKL-JNF will resume planting trees in Israel's parks and forests.

KKL-JNF's Afforestation Plan for 2015/16

News Updates of 2015

To learn more about KKL-JNF's many and varied activities for people and their environment in Israel and around the world over the past year, check out our news archives: