Environmental Conservation and Protected Areas in Palestine

Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) used this opportunity to present various achievements in the field of nature conservation in Palestine through an EU funded Partnership for Peace project. These achievements range from capacity training for nature experts and tour guides, data collection and management, refining of data and drafting of management plans for nature reserves, marketing of nature reserves through websites, brochures, and community events, up to a strategic paper on nature park development in the Palestinian Territories. 

As for the latter, the strategic paper "Environmental Conservation and Protected Areas in Palestine - Opportunities and Challenges" by Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh, Bethlehem University, and Dr. Zuhair Amr, Jordan, has been peer reviewed by Palestinian experts as well as by Hanns Seidel Foundation. The conference introduced now the report to a wider public and invited for further scrutiny by Palestinian academia and green civil society movement. The subsequent national discussion will offer a range of recommendations for a final version to be endorsed by the EQA. 

During her presentation, H.E. Adalah Atteereh, Chairperson of the EQA, highly appreciated the role of Hanns Seidel Foundation in this process. She also underlined the foundation’s contribution to promoting nature conservation and environmental awareness to a wider public, especially through a series of 13 community events that have been lately conducted in Areas A, B, and C as well as in the Gaza Strip. 

Mohammad Najajreh from the Palestine Museum of Natural History presented the mentioned report on behalf of Dr. Mazin Qumsieh, Bethlehem University, and encouraged to conduct further studies, the drafting of national management plans for protected areas, as well as an enhanced coordination between EQA and Palestinian NGOs. Furthermore, it was encouraged to regulate the work of ecotourism and ensure their sustainability. 

Ikram Quttaineh, Hanns Seidel Foundation, presented the achievements of the website mahmiyat.ps website since its launch in April 2016. This site has grown to an indexed size of 900 subpages with a database on Palestinian flora and fauna, description of nature reserves, and a readership of more than 6000 users, mostly from Palestine and neighboring countries. At the end of the conference, the chairperson EQA honored the ecotourism tour guides personally and distributed certificates.