Wildfires are a main cause of deforestation in Israel, and in recent years climate stress has decreased the forest resilience to fires . The original landscape, a shrubland or maquis consisting mostly of oak and Pistacia, has been used since time immemorial as grazing land for goats, sheep and camels belonging to Indigenous Bedouin people . Competing land use has reshaped the landscape with pine monocultures and cattle farming, reducing the availability of land suitable for herding goats the indigenous way . In addition, since 1950, plant protection legislation has decreased Bedouin forest pastoralism in Israel by defining indigenous black goats as an environmental threat . In nature reserves where no human interference has been allowed, these areas have regenerated into herbaceous shrublands susceptible to wildfires . Meanwhile, urbanised Bedouin exist on lower incomes and experience higher levels of unemployment compared to other citizens, and some keep non-pastoralised livestock in cities as a strategy for food sovereignty . In 2019, many severe wildfires occurred in Israel due to extreme heatwaves and, in response, plant protection legislation was repealed, allowing Bedouin pastoralists to graze their goats in areas from which they had been excluded. The amount of combustible undergrowth subsequently decreased, reducing the risk for wildfire and their related impacts, while simultaneously facilitating indigenous food sovereignty among the Bedouin .
IPCC
Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
IPCC Report