1. Designing and setting up a system of representative Protected Areas
2. Palestinian biodiversity surveys and elaboration of specific, participatory management strategies and action plans for in situ conservation of threatened, endangered and rare species, genetic varieties and habitats
3. Ex-situ conservation through establishment of a gene bank and botanical garden related to the in situ conservation programme above for both domesticated and wild varieties
4. Habitat restoration with natural forests and groves, and rangelands including through the use of indigenous knowledge and the reintroduction of locally extinct endemic species
5. Educational reform and information system including a biodiversity information centre and network
6. Biodiversity legislation including various categories of protected areas
7. Understanding, surveying and preserving indigenous knowledge of biodiversity conservation
8. Collaborative management for conservation (both preservation and sustainable use) of biodiversity based resources
9. Biotechnology (with emphasis on bio-safety)
10. Marine and coastal zone management including the mawasi system
11. Pilot initiatives in the sharing of economic benefits from biodiversity conservation, (including eco-tourism)
12. Desertification control including monitoring climate change and its impact on biological diversity

As stated in the BSAPP Guiding Principles, the development of the BSAPP needs to be an on going, “learning by doing” experience, involving institutional actors as well as local communities and the private sector. The produced document should be seen as a baseline and a starting point that requires constant updating, preferably from primary sources, keeping in mind political and institutional concerns.

On the basis of these Guiding Principles, the priorities for action need to be made concrete with the full participation of various stakeholders in the Palestinian society and with due consideration to socio-political and environmental realities. In this way, the Biodiversity Conservation Strategy will enhance its meaningfulness and effectiveness, and will also become genuinely "Palestinian” strategy.

Once the BSAPP is approved, the Strategy Implementation Body – including an Executive Arm and a Supervising Council) will take a different approach towards priorities that need to be tackled essentially at national level and priorities that need to be tackled essentially at the local (Sustainable Resource Management Unit) level. For the former, it will proceed to develop relevant initiatives and projects. For the latter, a Participatory Implementation Process will be pursued. For priorities that need to be responded via concerted action at national and local level, national initiatives and local participatory implementation processes will be pursued in an integrated way.

Priorities at Different Levels

Priorities at national level	Educational reform and information system including a biodiversity information centre and network
	Biodiversity legislation including various categories of protected areas
	Biotechnology (with emphasis on bio-safety)
	Desertification control including monitoring climate change and its impact on biological diversity
Priorities at local Sustainable Resource Management Unit level	Habitat restoration with natural forests and groves, and rangelands including through the use of indigenous knowledge and the reintroduction of locally extinct endemic species
	Collaborative management for conservation (both preservation and sustainable use) of biodiversity-based resources
	Marine and coastal zone management including the mawasi system
	Pilot initiatives in the sharing of economic benefits from biodiversity conservation, (including eco-tourism)
Priorities that need concerted action at national and local Sustainable Resource Management Unit level	Designing and setting up a system of representative Protected Areas
	Palestinian biodiversity surveys and elaboration of specific, participatory management strategies and action plans for in situ conservation of threatened, endangered and rare species, genetic varieties and habitats
	Ex-situ conservation through establishment of a gene bank and botanical garden related to the in situ conservation programme above for both domesticated and wild varieties
	Understanding, surveying and preserving indigenous knowledge of biodiversity conservation

Figure 2:Implementing National and Local Initiatives

Participatory Implementation Process

• Strategy Implementation Body will identify a number of Eco-social Management Units in Palestinian-controlled territories on the basis of both biodiversity-related considerations (e.g. encompassing a major ecosystem or necessary territory for the protection of a species) but also social considerations (encompassing the major social actors with interests and concerns on the territorial unit; feasibility of gathering all such actors) as well as management considerations (institutional mechanisms, etc.).
• For each sustainable resource management unit, the situation analysis and BSAPP document (including identified priorities) will be distributed to the key social actors within the Unit. The recipients will be asked to have a critical reading of the documents, identifying the points of convergence between the documents and their experiences, as well as the points of divergence and the missing considerations. (For social actors without familiarity with jargon-filled documents, some simple summary could be prepared and made available or even conveyed verbally or by videos; great care should be taken to present the documents as open and in need of input – including critical input – rather than as regulations coming from the government). With the document, an invitation will also be issued for a Sustainable Resource Management Unit-wide, multi-stakeholder meeting in which one or more priorities for action (or some new priorities, if this will be the consensus emerging from the group) will be tackled in detail and one or more initiatives will be designed to respond to those priorities.
• If a social actor will estimate to be in need of internal organising before being able to come to the meeting, Strategy Implementation Body – possibly via relevant NGOs - will support that process (both technically and financially, as appropriate).
• For each Sustainable Resource Management Unit, a first multi-stakeholder meeting will be organised for all relevant social actors willing to participate. The meeting will finalise a list of crucial priorities for the local conservation of biodiversity (on the basis of its unique opportunities and resources). In the meeting, the convened social actors will be invited to form appropriate partnerships to develop ‘solutions’ projects, as well as collaborative management agreements and institutions for the on-going, sustainable resource management units.
• Strategy Implementation Body will provide on-going assistance and support to the partnerships developed on the basis of the initial unit meetings and organises subsequent Sustainable Resource Management Unit meetings, as appropriate, at regular intervals. Such subsequent meetings and on-going support will result in a number of proposed initiatives and management plans that may require specific inputs (capacity building, technical support on specific issues, financing, etc.).
• Specific (simple and realistic) proposals – including an analysis of feasibility as well as expected environmental and social impacts - will be made to request such inputs. The proposals will be submitted – via Strategy Implementation Body – to a Fund to Support Biodiversity Conservation in Palestine, which will be set up by the appropriate interested donors. The Fund will judge as rapidly as possible on the merits of the proposals (final decision to be expected within a 3-month delay from presentation) and on the basis of a set of criteria to assure positive biodiversity conservation and social results in the spirit of the strategy’s objectives. The Fund will then disburse financial resources and organise technical assistance as necessary.
• The established local partnerships will implement the proposals with Strategy Implementation Body assisting in monitoring and on-going evaluation (“learning by doing”).

The above participatory implementation process will be applied to any of the priorities for action identified as having particular relevance at local level, within one or a given Eco-social Management Unit (e.g. marine biodiversity in Gaza). It could also be applied for priorities that need to be responded to by concerted activities at national and local level. In this case, the activities outlined above will also be linked with activities at the national level.

Main results of the Participatory Implementation Process

• More effective and sustainable initiatives contributing to conserving biodiversity in Palestine.
• Greatly enhanced ownership of the Biodiversity Conservation Strategy by the Palestinian society at large, with a variety of social actors knowledgeable and engaged in biodiversity conservation activities.
• Skills to support participatory processes developed within Strategy Implementation Body (and among relevant NGO staff, as appropriate).

Essential assumptions/inputs of the Participatory Implementation Process

• Willingness of Strategy Implementation Body to consider the produced BSAPP document as a “working draft” in need of ample, on-going social discussion and confirmation;
• Technical capacity to support the participatory implementation process fully available to Strategy Implementation Body. This includes capacity to set up effective social communication campaigns, capacity to assist in organising and facilitating planning meetings and encouraging the proper utilisation of the participatory process (e.g. fostering active participation of all stakeholders; obtaining well-organised conclusions on the basis of a clear agenda and excellent facilitation; etc.), capacity to support monitoring and evaluation activities in a “learning by doing” mode, and so on. The development of such capacities may involve training of appropriate government and non-governmental staff in a number of practical skills, including:
  • multi-discsituation analysis
  • identification of E analysis
  • social communication skills
  • support to stakeholder organising (in particular organising for environmental management and biodiversity-related initiatives)
  • facilitation of participatory planning workshops (including skills to manage conflicts in resource use and skills to assist developing negotiated solutions)
  • participatory monitoring and evaluation (with an emphasis on impact evaluation)

• Availability of financial resources to support the participatory implementation process (e.g. to support the organisation of some social actors, to hold meetings, to help in writing project proposals, etc.)
• Willingness of donors to set up a Fund for the Implementation of the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan in Palestine - with flexible end utilisation balanced by rigorous criteria for approval of proposals and disbursement of financial resources.