The Human Impact

The Human Impact exhibition is an interactive digital exhibition that presents the impact of humans on nature and biodiversity in Israel, by visually demonstrating the changes in nature in Israel and the region during the last 200 years.

Ecosystem changes and species disappearance are natural processes but the increasing intervention of humans in nature accelerates these processes. These situations arise from habitat destruction, pollution, climate change, hunting, overfishing and invasive species – these originate in industrialization, rising quality of life, world population growth and consumption of natural resources.

For example, until the 12th century, lions lived in Israel around Mt. Hermon, and in the coastal plain, Negev, Judaean Mountains, and Samaria. Intensive hunting, mainly by crusaders who came to Israel during this period, led to the extinction of this apex predator from Israel’s landscapes.

Biodiversity is a general name for the diversity of life forms, species and landscapes on the earth. This is the infrastructure of our life, since nature provides oxygen, water, food and medicinal compounds that humans consume around the world. Population growth in Israel and acceleration of development and construction, agriculture and industry during the last 150 years have led to environmental destruction and a dramatic reduction in biodiversity; therefore, conservation of this diversity is a challenge for us all – for our own wellbeing in the present and for future generations.