INTEGRATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT INTO THE REGIONAL-DEVELOPMENTPLANNING PROCESS OF THE GALILEE

The Galilee region on the northern edge of Israel constitutes more tha n 15% of the state's territory, supplies more than half of its drinkin g water needs, and is an important recreational resource and destinati on for Israelis. One of the main objectives of the plan for the Galile e was to devise a regional physical and economic development strategy for the years 1992-2007 that would arrest the trend of emigration of i ts residents, attract newly arrived immigrants to the region, and at t he same time protect natural resources and environmental quality. This paper is limited to discussion of the environmental aspects of the pl an. It analyzes spatial concepts for distribution of projected populat ion growth, evaluates environmental impacts of alternative plans, and proposes a decision-making framework and tools for minimizing natural resources loss from development at the local level. Assessment of pote ntial environmental impacts generated quantitative data of natural res ources areas. Application of the data in the plan evaluation stage sho wed that the alternative that concentrated most of the new development in central Galilee was the second-best choice environmentally, but wa s preferred as the best choice for overall qualities. The planning stu dy offers an alternative environmental impact assessment (EIA) process to the one presently used in Israel by incorporating environmental co nsiderations at the initial plan-making stage and not at the plan-appr oval stage. It demonstrated that in order to be effective, environment al assessment and land-use planning should be seen as one effort that is integrated from the start and in each stage or the plan-making proc ess.