The Association For The Promotion And Development Of The Megiddo Area

The biosphere reserve is a plan for managing an area based on human-environment relations and the participation of local communities. It is an international plan recognized and promoted by the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Commission The Megiddo Regional Council is a regional council in northern Israel encompassing land on the Menashe Plateau, and partly in the Jezreel Valley. The council is bounded by the city of Yokneam Illit to the north, and the Carmel mountain range to the east, and houses about 9,600 people on nine kibbutzim, and four moshavim located in its municipal territory. The council is named after the ancient city of Megiddo, with the remains of this ancient city being located in the proximity of kibbutz Megiddo, in the territory of the council. The Head of the Regional Council from 2024 is Gil Lin. There is one high school located in the regional council, Megiddo Regional High School, located in kibbutz Ein HaShofet. There are three primary schools: Hatikva in Eliakim, Omarim in Yad Labanim Regional Center, and Plagim in HaZorea. Some students from the settlements in the Megiddo Regional Council attend schools located outside of the council's territory. The Megiddo Community College is an institution for adult education and extracurricular activities, sponsored by the Israeli Ministry of Education. The college offers a variety of classes for both children and adults, including languages, computer skills, art, dance, music, history, Judaism, world religions, and martial arts. The college also organizes educational field trips for adults. The Megiddo Dance School works to nurture the art of dance in the settlements of the Megiddo Regional Council. The school offers dance classes in the schools of the area, and works to involve dance in the lives of disabled students. The Megiddo Music School offers practical and theoretical music classes to students in the schools of the regional council, including classical music, modern music, theory of music, and voice lessons. 84 million square meters of the 170 million of the Megiddo Regional Council constitute a nature reserve, including forested areas, various water sources, volcanic hills and archaeological sites. The park is currently in the process of becoming recognized by UNESCO as a biosphere reserve. In addition to the agricultural and other industries in the various communities in the Regional Council, the Regional Council has joined with Yokneam Illit, and the Druze villages of Daliyat al-Karmel and Isfiya to develop a Jewish-Arab high-tech industrial park named Mevo Carmel that will become part of the larger Startup Village - Yokneam Ecosystem.[3][4]