by Nick Kolyohin
JERUSALEM, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Four years after the United Nations (UN) set 17 global goals for sustainable development by the year 2030, An Israeli minister introduced on Wednesday Israel's course of action.
Zeev Elkin, minister of environmental protection, manifested voluntary national review of Israel for the first time at the UN high-level political forum on sustainable development.
The minister highlighted the achievements of the country during the years, especially in cutting edge technology. Israel is renowned as one of the best technological nations.
"Through innovation we transformed our challenges into the source of our strength and we became the startup nation," Elkin said, adding that "creativity has laid the foundation for social and technological innovation throughout all aspects of life."
The sixth goal of the UN Sustainable Development Goals concerns clean and accessible water for all.
Israel with a semi-arid climate has tackled the water supply challenge since the day of its establishment. Nowadays it is probably the world leader in wastewater reuse and desalination.
"We live in one of the driest areas of the world and have faced water scarcity for many years," said Elkin and explained the steps Israel takes to manage its water supply.
Israel invented drip irrigation that saves lots of water, afterward, it reduced pipe leakage, "one of the gravest water loss-related challenges facing both developed and developing countries," according to Elkin.
Next step in water independence was to start mass use of desalinated seawater, based on innovative chemical-free technology.
Around 70 percent of Israel's municipal and domestic water is supplied by desalinated water of the Mediterranean Sea. It is expected that nearly the whole country's tap water in the future would be desalinated.
Galit Cohen, senior deputy director-general of planning and sustainable development at Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection, said the Israeli government made on Sunday the most important decision of implementing the 17 UN sustainable goals in all future strategic plans of Israel.
Cohen stressed that Israel already took an action and the work on achieving the sustainable goals is in a process.
Yoav Yair, dean of the school of sustainability at Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, said "some sectors of society are still not aware of the meaning of the Sustainable Development Goals and need to quickly adapt to this reality."
The private sector is lagging behind and not yet fully committed to the goals, Yair said in an interview with Xinhua.
Yair stressed that Israel has an impressive plan and excellent scientific and technological capabilities which could be used as well to help other nations.
"We can do more to help our neighbors in the Middle East cope with the dire consequences of desertification and climate change," said Yair.
