Israel: Ministries to advance plans to promote urban agriculture across Israel
Minister Gamliel sees great importance in developing urban agriculture — a significant and relevant issue especially in the corona period.
By Rina Bassist
Al-Monitor
July 27, 2020
Excerpt:
Environmental Protection Minister Gila Gamliel and Minister for Community Empowerment and Advancement Orly Levi-Abekasis announced July 18 that their respective ministries will advance plans to promote urban agriculture across Israel. The announcement was hailed by many environmental activists and groups.
Israel is currently experiencing an unprecedented economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. But for some Israelis, the pandemic also represents an opportunity for change. The Radical group is made up of such people and its Idea Lab promotes groundbreaking, innovative initiatives.
A few weeks ago, the group launched a competition for globe-changing ideas. There were 700 ideas submitted to Radical, which promised to present the winning idea to the relevant authorities and work toward real, concrete results. The contest led directly to Gamliel and Levy-Abekasis’ announcement.
“Minister Gamliel sees great importance in developing urban agriculture — a significant and relevant issue especially in the corona period,” her office told the press. The winning idea “implements the objectives of the environment protection ministry while adding an angle of innovation.”
Tel Aviv University professor Alon Eliran and activist Tami Zori were the ones to propose the winning idea. Their Forest City vision offers holistic, radical answers to the needs of our modern cities, designed for cars instead of people.
