MEnA - International Attendcnce

6^th January - 15^th March 1997, New York, USA. Biological Diversity Strategies and Action Plans for the Arab Region. Through the UNDP/GEF unit at the Regional Bureau for Arab States in New York. Our delegate assisted in the formulation of project briefs and national Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans for: Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Algeria, Yemen, Oman, Sudan and Djibouti. During the meeting, our delegate contributed to the elaboration of a regional Biodiversity program to backstop in the implementation of the national BSAPs.
2^nd - 18^th March 1997, Tokyo, Japan. International Conference on Combating Desertification, dealing with the new methods and cutting-edge technologies in this field.
15^th - 21^st March 1997, San Diego, USA. The Middle East and Mediterranean Desert Development Program. High level technical meetings with participants from 10 Arab and Mediterranean countries. PEnA was chosen to be on the Steering Committee of the program representing the Palestinian Authority. The PA will benefit from two projects on Water Harvesting and the use of GIS for Arid Land Management and water resource conservation.
13^th - 15^th May 1997, China. Second Asian Ministerial Conference on Combating Desertification. The Interim Secretariat of the CCD organized the conference of the Asian Annex to discuss areas of regional collaboration and mechanisms for implementing National Activities.
20^th - 21^st May 1997, Manama, State of Bahrain. The First Regional Focal Points Meetings for the Ozone Depletion Substances (ODS) Officers Network/ West Asia (ODSNET/WA).
PEnA Represented Palestine in the 8^th/9^th /10^th sessions of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (Geneva and New York) and Participated in many regional and sub-regional meetings for the CCD (Jordan, Egypt, and United Arab Emirates).
14^{th July}- 1st August, 1997, USA. Environmental Education and Activism in the United States, held in the United States Information Agency (USIA) and took place in 4 states: Washington, California, Arizona and Texas.
8^th - 19^th September, 1997, Munich, Germany. Workshop on Nature Reserves Conservation in Germany. PEnA Participated in this workshop in which practical experience was emphasized through actual visits and related lectures. The workshop was organized by the German Environmental Ministry to help Palestinians to develop human building capacity in the field of Nature Conservation and Resource Management.
23^rd - 24^th September 1997, Madrid, Spain. Preparatory Meeting for the Helsinki Conference on Environment.
29^th September - 10^th October 1997 in Rome, Italy. The First Conference of the Parties of the Convention to Combat Desertification
2^nd October - 4^th October 1997, Italy. Bari Environmental Exhibition (Terre) in Italy. One of the main characteristics of these exhibitions is the well-planned setting for demonstrating Italian products and technology applications. It was observed that almost all sites of Italian firms visited had no connection with the Palestinian Authority agencies and private sector. A strong enthusiasm of the Italian companies to cooperate and established new dealerships in Palestine is considered a priority.
8^th - 11^th October 1997, Cairo, Egypt. Conference on the Environment in the Region. Arab League Meeting for the Ministers of Environment was held to discuss environmental issues related to the Arabic Region.
1^st - 3^rd November 1997, Brussels: High Technical Preparation Meeting for Euro-Mediterranean Conference on Environment.
3^rd - 6^th November 1997, Amman, Jordan, IPCS/EMRO Training Workshop on Chemicals Information Management. The training workshop focused on new CD-ROMs dealing with chemicals and chemicals' safety.
23^rd - 27^th November 1997, Manama, Bahrain. Regional Workshop on Urban Waste Management in West Asia.
30^th November - 4^th December 1997. Bahrain. "Regional Expert Meeting on Medical Waste Management" in which an international guideline was modified to apply to our region.
From 25^th- 28^th November 1997, Helsinki, Finland. Ministerial Euro-Mediterranean Environmental Conference. It generated the "Helsinki Environmental Protection Plan Declaration" with annexes of key notepapers on Desertification, Integrated Coastal Zone Management, and Hot Spots. The Conference hosted 27 countries including Palestine, in which Short and Medium Term Priority Environment Action Plan (SMAP) was analyzed thoroughly and adopted in the final draft and was signed by all participants. Worth mentioning, Palestine was represented as a full member of the meeting for the first time.
2^nd - 6^th December 1997, Bonn, Germany. Trilateral Conference was held between Palestinian Environmental Authority, Israeli Natural Reserves Authority facilitated by the Federal Agency of Nature Conservation in Germany. An agreement was signed with the Israelis to establish a system for Natural Reserves and National Parks Management in the Palestinian Territories. Based on this agreement, INRA would transfer all data and expertise available to the Palestinian Environmental Authority to facilitate the supervision of such projects. In addition, the German party has committed itself to support PEnA in the build up of the Nature Resource Conservation Directorate financially and administratively.
13^th -17^th December 1997, Syria. Regional Workshop on the Control and Monitoring of the ODS Consumption for Article 5 Countries in West Asia. Followed by The Second Meeting for the ODS officers Network/West Asia.
15^th -17^th December 1997, Beirut, Lebanon. "METAP second Focal Point meeting" to discuss the Identification of Environmental Indicators in the region.