1. Palestine is one of the West Asian countries that suffers from the lack of water availability and access. The major water resources of the West Bank are the Jordan River and the West Bank Aquifer System. Palestinians are not allowed to use more than 15% of their groundwater and are denied access to the Jordan River. The situation in Gaza is even more serious in terms of access to fresh water resources. The destruction of forests and rangelands exacerbates this very tight water situation and constitutes a major constraint for sustainable management and use of natural resources.
2. The average population density of the Gaza Strip is approximately 2330 persons/km², while the population densities in the refugee camps range from 29,000 to over 100,000 persons/km². This has caused severe pressure on meagre natural resources, including on the biodiversity of the area.
3. The Eastern Slopes agro-ecological region makes up most of Palestine's rangeland and grazing areas. Of the 150,000 ha existing rangelands, 127,500 ha are closed to Palestinians as a result of Israeli Settlements and military areas. Bedouins and other livestock raisers who used to have access to adequate land for grazing, are now forced to use a severely limited and overgrazed range area.
4. The paucity of rivers and the damming of the major ones leading to the Eastern Mediterranean, have caused an extreme oligotrophy, which, together with the high salinity and temperature of these waters, cause a biological impoverishment in the flora and fauna of the eastern Mediterranean.
5. The closing of the fishing grounds off the Sinai Peninsula after 1978 has resulted in a large drop in fisheries production. Meanwhile, Palestinian fishing communities are limited to only four small fishing zones in Gaza extending only 12 nautical miles, in clear contradiction with the Oslo Agreements, which give Palestine 20 nautical miles– while the Israeli and other international fishing vessels are engaged in heavy capture of this biota.

Agenda for Action

Immediate Priority (implementation within 1-5 years)

1. Assist fishing communities to develop fishery co-management arrangements in both freshwateand marine environments in Gaza strip, to prevent over-fishing and develop alternative livelihood schemes
2. Establish collaborative management regimes in all rangelands being returned to Palestinian control and ensure that adequate attention is given to the conservation of biodiversity-related values (e.g., by proposing a moratorium on livestock grazing and fostering alternative livelihoods including ecotourism, bio-prospecting, groundwater recharge). Give adequate consideration to the need for a regional approach to the management of rangeland ecosystems given the nomadic pastoral and transhumant nature of livestock management and rangeland use systems.
3. Carry out participatory action research on the recovery capacity of rangelands, using grazing exclosures and other established methodologies, and apply results to the regeneration of Eastern Slope rangelands (e.g. via collaborative management agreements).
4. Assist local communities including Bedouins to develop their own pilot system of permits or quotas for rangeland grazing based on legislation and land carrying capacity.
5. Assist rural communities to develop systems of collaborative management of water resources, including rain-fed farming, water harvesting, catchments and watersheds.
6. Assist rural communities to reduce usage of agrochemicals via integrated pest management systems.
7. Develop participatory systems of land use planning that encourage the protection of existing agricultural land and forests and the rehabilitation of degraded land and forests (e.g., through better drainage, reforestation and replanting).
8. Identify causes of desertification and indigenous knowledge of land and resource use to combat desertification.
9. Encourage a better understanding of the value of medicinal plants and ensure its appropriate and sustainable use.

Mid-term Priority (implementation within 6-10 years)

1. Develop techniques for determining the value of biological resources, including sustainable local food systems, and incorporate those into local accounting and cost benefit analyses.
2. Encourage sustainable grazing, including regulations for closed seasons and closed areas (e.g., areas of steep slopes) in lands under collaborative management agreements. For instance, the government could provide economic incentives, including cheaper commercial feeds and tax support to pen feeding.
3. Promote ecotourism in established nature reserves and across a variety of ecosystems (desert, wetlands, highlands etc.), ensuring that the development of ecotourism activities takes full account of habitat sensitivities and ecotourism carrying capacities.

Long-term Priority (implementation > 10 years)

1. Introduce economic and social incentives for biodiversity conservation and abolish perverse policies that lead to the loss of biodiversity.
2. Establish policies that foster the development, acquisition and adaptation of sustainable biotechnologies.
3. Conduct research on organic farming, focussing on the use of indigenous species and opportunities for expansion.
4. Encourage research into the use of alternative feed resources and agro-processing by-products as ruminant feeds, in order to reduce pressures on native rangelands.
5. Identify the ways in which climatic change and desertification affect the sustainable use of biodiversity and elaborate coping strategies for them.

Notes

The sustainable use of Palestine’s biodiversity is promoted via sustainable production systems (e.g. traditional methods of agriculture, agroforestry, organic farming, and fishing with non-destructive methods, etc.) Participatory action research is fundamental to these efforts, as are governmental policies sensitive towards both sustainable agriculture and rural development, and policies for the management of rangelands, forests, and wildlife.

The active involvement of local resource management institutions and local associations of users should be promoted also via donor-assisted integrated conservation and development initiatives.

Potential Partners

Local and indigenous people and their communities, including farmers, Bedouins and fisher folk; the Palestinian Authority including PEnA (Palestinian Environmental Authority), MOA (Ministry of Agriculture), and Ministry of Planning and International Co-operation, Palestinian NGOs, Private sector, the relevant international funding organisations including ODA, IDA (International Development Association) and regional and sub-regional development banks (World bank), UNDP, UNEP, GEF.