BE'ER SHEVA CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION

Israel's fourth largest city, Be'er Sheva and in fact the entire Negev region, has been neglected for many years, by the local government and environmental groups. The city and the region where our forefathers dwelled have become Israel's garbage dump, as well as the place where lowest income new immigrants were located.

SPNI intends to address every segment of the Negev's diverse and challenging community: new immigrants, Bedouin, groups with special needs and the average Israeli. The Be'er Sheva branch's work stretches across the Negev, from Dimona to Yerucham to Rahat to Omer to Mitzpe Ramon and beyond.

SPNI-Be'er Sheva plans to create a center that will promote an urban environmental agenda and provide residents with a voice to enact change and maintain quality of life in their local neighborhoods and the city as a whole. SPNI will lead the processes of Public Participation in Planning: encouraging citizens to attend meetings of local committees, submitting materials to decision-makers, and sending out applications and letters to their local authorities.

SPNI has identified several major issues that threaten the region:

• Open areas: public areas inside the city that have become neglected and a place of waste dumping
• Ramat Hovav: Israel's main toxic waste dump
• Duda'im Landfill - Solid waste dump that replaced the now closed down Hiriya landfill (in the Tel-Aviv region)
• Air Pollution: the natural result of Ramat Hovav and the Duda'im landfill