Editing Tree planting (section)

===Israel===
: ''See: [[Jewish National Fund#Afforestation]]; [[List of forests in Israel]].''
Tree-planting is an ancient [[Jewish]] tradition. The [[Talmud]]ic rabbi [[Yohanan ben Zakai]] used to say that if a person planting a tree heard that the Messiah had arrived, he should finish planting before going to greet him.<ref>{{cite news|title=President of German States Council of Education Ministers Plants Tree at Kennedy Memorial|newspaper=Jerusalem Post|date=July 29, 2009|url=http://www.jpost.com/Green-Israel/People-and-The-Environment/President-of-German-States-Council-of-Education-Ministers-Plants-Tree-at-Kennedy-Memorial|access-date=December 13, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204002139/http://www.jpost.com/Green-Israel/People-and-The-Environment/President-of-German-States-Council-of-Education-Ministers-Plants-Tree-at-Kennedy-Memorial|archive-date=2013-12-04}}</ref> Due to massive afforestation efforts,<ref>{{cite web|title=Israel Forestry & Ecology|url=http://www.jnf.org/work-we-do/our-projects/forestry-ecology/|publisher=Jewish National Fund, East 69th Street, NY 10021 USA|access-date=29 October 2011|archive-date=7 February 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207064210/http://www.jnf.org/work-we-do/our-projects/forestry-ecology/|url-status=live}}</ref> this fact echoed in diverse campaigns.<ref>{{cite web|title=Trees from Israel |url=http://www.standwithus.com/pdfs/flyers/green-trees.pdf |publisher=standwithus.com |access-date=29 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061117182000/http://www.standwithus.com/pdfs/flyers/green-trees.pdf |archive-date=November 17, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Five Widely-Read Bloggers Tour Israel and Plant Trees|url=http://www.standwithus.com/app/iNews/view_n.asp?ID=2045|publisher=standwithus.com|access-date=29 October 2011|archive-date=2 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111102231610/http://standwithus.com/app/iNews/view_n.asp?ID=2045|url-status=dead}}</ref> Israeli forests are the product of a major afforestation campaign by the [[Jewish National Fund]] (JNF).<ref>{{cite web|title=JNF Tree Planting Center|url=http://www.jnf.org/support/tree-planting-center/|publisher=Jewish National Fund, East 69th Street, NY 10021, USA|access-date=29 October 2011|archive-date=25 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111025065017/http://www.jnf.org/support/tree-planting-center/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The largest planted forest in Israel is [[Yatir Forest]], located on the southern slopes of [[Mount Hebron]], on the edge of the [[Negev]] Desert. It covers an area of 30,000 [[dunam]]s (30 square kilometers).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1258489197018&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110115142404/http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1258489197018&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull |url-status=dead |archive-date=2011-01-15 |title=Planting of Yatir Forest |publisher=Fr.jpost.com |date=2013-12-17 |access-date=2013-12-21}}</ref> It is named after the ancient [[Levite]] city within its territory, [[Jattir|Yatir]], as written in the [[Torah]]: "And unto the children of Aaron the priest they gave [[Hebron]] with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Libnah with its suburbs, and Jattir with its suburbs, and [[Eshtemoa]] with its suburbs" ([[Book of Joshua]] 21:13–14).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1176152801104 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120708153954/http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1176152801104 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-07-08 |title=JPost &#124; French-language news from Israel, the Middle East & the Jewish World |publisher=Fr.jpost.com |date=2013-12-17 |access-date=2013-12-21}}</ref> In 2006, the JNF signed a 49-year lease agreement with the State of Israel which gives it control over 30,000 hectares of Negev land for the development of forests.<ref name="unccd.int">Professor Alon Tal, The Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, The Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben Gurion University of the Negev.[http://www.unccd.int/cop/reports/otheraffected/national/2006/israel-eng.pdf "NATIONAL REPORT OF ISRAEL, Years 2003–2005, TO THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION (UNCCD)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526081007/http://www.unccd.int/cop/reports/otheraffected/national/2006/israel-eng.pdf |date=2011-05-26}}; State of Israel, July 2006</ref> Research on [[climate change]] is being carried out in Yatir Forest.<ref name="SahneyBentonFalconLang 2010RainforestCollapse">{{cite journal|vauthors=Sahney S, Benton MJ, Falcon-Lang HJ|year=2010|title=Rainforest collapse triggered Pennsylvanian tetrapod diversification in Euramerica|journal=Geology|doi=10.1130/G31182.1|volume=38|pages=1079–1082|issue=12|bibcode=2010Geo....38.1079S}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Bachelet|first1=D.|author-link1=Dominique Bachelet|title=Climate Change Effects on Vegetation Distribution and Carbon Budget in the United States|journal=[[Ecosystems]]|volume=4|pages=164–185|year=2001|url=http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/Library/nationalassessment/forests/Ecosystems2%20Bachelet.pdf|doi=10.1007/s10021-001-0002-7|first2=R.|last2=Neilson|first3=J. M.|last3=Lenihan|first4=R. J.|last4=Drapek|issue=3|bibcode=2001Ecosy...4..164B |s2cid=15526358|access-date=2011-10-29|archive-date=2003-06-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030620031759/http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/Library/nationalassessment/forests/Ecosystems2%20Bachelet.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Studies of the [[Weizmann Institute of Science]], in collaboration with the [[Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research|Desert Research Institute]] at [[Sde Boker]], have shown that the trees function as a trap for carbon in the air.<ref name="haaretz.com">{{cite web |last=Issar |first=Arie |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1131595.html |title=Benefits of planting trees in the desert |work=Haaretz |date=2009-11-30 |access-date=2013-12-21 |archive-date=2010-03-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100315054505/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1131595.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.kkl.org.il/eng/forestry-and-ecology/afforestation-in-israel/turning-the-desert-green/ |title=KKL-JNF cooperating on afforestation at Yatir forest |access-date=2015-09-22 |archive-date=2015-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906132345/http://www.kkl.org.il/eng/forestry-and-ecology/afforestation-in-israel/turning-the-desert-green/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Shade provided by trees planted in the desert also reduces evaporation of the sparse rainfall.<ref name="haaretz.com" /> Yatir Forest is a part of the [[NASA]] project [[FluxNet]], a global network of micrometeorological tower sites used to measure the exchanges of [[carbon dioxide]], [[water vapor]], and energy between terrestrial ecosystem and [[atmosphere]]. The [[Arava Institute for Environmental Studies]] conducts research that focuses on crops such as dates and grapes grown in the vicinity of Yatir forest.<ref>[http://programmes.france2.fr/vu-du-ciel/accueil.htm Vu du Ciel-documentary by Yann Arthus-Bertrand] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091014101303/http://programmes.france2.fr/vu-du-ciel/accueil.htm |date=October 14, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.watsonblogs.org/meef/subjects/plants/ |title=2000 year old seed grows in the arava |publisher=Watsonblogs.org |access-date=2013-12-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220010831/http://www.watsonblogs.org/meef/subjects/plants/ |archive-date=2012-02-20}}</ref> The research is part of a project aimed at introducing new crops into arid and saline zones.<ref>[http://www.desertagriculture.org/index.html MERC Project M-20-0-18 project] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111173935/http://www.desertagriculture.org/index.html |date=2012-01-11}}</ref>

The JNF has been criticized for planting non-native pine trees which are unsuited to the climate, rather than local species such as olive trees.<ref>Rabbi David Seidenberg."The Giving Tree: A Way to Honor Our Vision for Israel"; Neohasid, 2006</ref> Others say that JNF deserves credit for this decision, and the forests would not have survived otherwise.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1214726157819&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull |title=JPost &#124; French-language news from Israel, the Middle East & the Jewish World |publisher=Fr.jpost.com |date=2013-12-17 |access-date=2013-12-21}}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=December 2013}} According to JNF statistics, six out of every 10 saplings planted at a JNF site in Jerusalem do not survive, although the survival rate for planting sites outside Jerusalem is much higher – close to 95 percent.