1. The conservation of Palestine’s biodiversity;
2. The sustainause of Palestine’s biodiversity;
3. The enhancement of local and traditional knowledge and skills and the improvement of people’s attitudes and participation for the conservation of biodiversity and the sustainable use of biodiversity;
4. The equitable sharing of biodiversity benefits within Palestine; and,
5. The development of Palestinian human resource capacity in the field of biodiversity.

These objectives blend those of the CBD with the realities of the Palestinian national concerns. They are flexible and their focus can be modified as more information becomes available, through the monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the BSAPP (“learning by doing”).

In order to assess and analyse the biodiversity situation in Palestine, PEnA contracted a number of national experts with competence in different areas of biodiversity conservation, including flora, fauna, marine and freshwater, social, economic and legal issues, climate, as well as agro-biodiversity. The production of the BSAPP has been influenced by the urgent need for policy options at a time when Palestine needs to plan rational use of its natural resources, particularly those related to biological diversity and the potential for sustainable development. Therefore, the reports of the technical working groups were used as the scientific base upon which the BSAPP was elaborated. The essence of these reports constitutes the Situation Analysis, which appears as Part III of this document. The work of the technical working groups also formed the foundation for a more detailed country study that is in process.

Although it is anticipated that priorities may change or be refocused during BSAPP implementation, it is important to have a clear initial focus for activities and actions that will move Palestine towards the overall goal. Towards this end, an Agenda for Action has been developed for each of the five BSAPP objectives. These agendas list and prioritise recommended actions as immediate, medium-term or long-term priority. Each agenda is intended to represent a list and schedule of activities that can realistically be achieved. It should be noted that although actions are listed under individual objectives, some activities will actually work toward two or more objectives. For example, training scientists in species identification will help both to conserve Palestine’s biodiversity (Objective 1) and to increase human resource capacity (Objective 5).

During the course of preparations a number of activities for improved public awareness were carried out all over Palestine. These included illustrated talks and discussion groups in schools, organisation of an international conference on biodiversity and education in collaboration with national NGOs, production of posters on endangered flowers, birds, mammals, and wetlands, various information brochures on biodiversity, the BSAPP and the CBD, and a related documentary film.

For more details on the methodology employed for the elaboration of BSAPP and some of the activities including in the promotion of public awareness that were undertaken during the life of the project, please refer to Annex III.