Image: Minister Tamar Zandberg, center (white shirt) at the signing ceremony (c) Yaniv Cohen, Nature and Parks Authority
PALMAHIM NATIONAL PARK, ISRAEL
In a historic move on September 21st, 2022, Tamar Zandberg, Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection, signed a decree declaring a new marine reserve in the Mediterranean Sea named Glishat Palmahim. Quoted from an official statement from the Ministry, “This is a unique reserve of its kind within the exclusive economic zone [EEZ] of Israel in the Mediterranean Sea. This area doubles the marine protected areas in Israel.” The MPA is located in the Palmahim Slide Hope Spot, launched by Mission Blue in July 2022.
The Hope Spot Champions and their organization The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) have been promoting the reserve for four and a half years, starting with publishing the first proposal for the reserve in 2018 and succeeding in assimilating the proposal in the MSP published by the government in 2020.…