Investigators: Fire in Israel is a typical example of the climate change effects in the Mediterranean

The Caramel mountain in northern Israel, Reaching 546 meters above sea level. The combination of heavy rainfall (average 800 mm per year), Mountain and few people in the field of pressure in the rich and varied vegetation. By: Ran Gluzman

The disaster of the fire in the Caramel mountain near Haifa is a typical example of the fight against climate change and the taste of the future, said Dr. Guy Pe'er, one of the authors of the first report of Israel to the United Nations on climate change. Ten years ago, was attended by Dr. Israel Pe'er and other scientific ideas on the impact of climate change for Israel. They warned in 2000, climate change expected, thermal events have been delayed rains and the rains of late winter, leading to an increased risk of intense fire.

According to Israel National Report on Climate Change "by Pe'er and other members of 'Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, on behalf of the Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection, the intensity and frequency extension of the fire would be willing to increase because of prolonged drought, increased evaporation and a higher frequency of heat waves. With a warming of 1.5 degrees by 2100, now as a conservative scenario models to predict the desert to the north between 300 and 500 km north to expand. Mediterranean ecosystems, as occurs in the Caramel mountain, Israel would then disappear. should forest fire in Mount Caramel in eight months preceded northern Israel of drought and came during a heat wave with temperatures around 30 ° C. Generally, the first rains in September or October came, and the maximum daytime temperature in this time of year should be around 15-20 ° C.

The Caramel mountain in northern Israel, reaching 546 meters above sea level. The combination of heavy rainfall (average 800 mm per year), mountain and few people in the field of pressure in the rich and varied vegetation, including Israel's largest natural forest of pine trees. Therefore, much is now protected in national parks and protected areas.

This is a view of a station in the Caramel mountain, on the morning of November 30, 2010. The station was burned down shortly thereafter. Credit Valley Gluzman

Dr. Guy Pe'er, currently associated with the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig, three forest fires in 1989, where a large part of Mount Caramel burned vehicles, through the suburbs of his city of Haifa. "After the fire, I spent a year studying the restoration of vegetation and fallow deer from Mesopotamia to the reintroduction center of Caramel Forest. I learned that fires are a natural thing and recover the wild, if not other disorders." Guy Pe'er, however, overwhelmed by the intensity and extent of the fire: The biggest fire in 1989 destroyed an area which was ten times smaller than the current one.

The worst forest fires in Israel's history has covered a total area of 5000 hectares, 42 people committed suicide and 250 houses burned. Damage estimated at more than 55 million €. Like the government, ministers and fire departments must contribute to this error: Israel has participated in debates on the responsibility seriously? Guy Pe'er has a different view, suggesting that the discussion should be longer and the root cause of the fire or to participate in climate change. "This is our consumption habits and our society. We consume more than we need and can support more than the earth, and so we have put climate change and the risk of our own future. We can act as responsible individuals and our habits? Change, "said Pe'er. From the perspective of conservation biology Israeli policy should take account of this international event for the UN Climate Change being held in Cancun, and ensure that its decisions to lead the fight against climate change. Because climate change is not a fiction: the Israelis these days a glimpse of what is expected in future generations.