SPNI was founded in 1953 by Azaria Alon and Amotz Zahavi in response to plans to drain the Hula Valley. The Israeli government and the JNF ultimately did drain a majority of the Hula wetlands to prevent the spread of malaria and to create agricultural land.[2] After 40 years of SPNI campaigning, some 10% of the Hula wetlands were re-flooded in the early 1990s.