National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan for the State of Palestine.

This National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (or NBSAP) for the State of Palestine (SP) aims to create a template within which the Palestinian society can be radically transformed. It is believed possible to use the opportunity of building a Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan that contributes to making genuine and lasting transformations in the Palestinian society and its interaction with the environment Accordingly, urban and rural communities can live in ecological harmony with the land and resources of SP. To achieve this, full participation and effort from every sector of society: governmental institutions, local authorities, NGOs, CSOs, academia, religious communities, media, and the general public. The NBSAP provides an entry point and a means by which capacity building can be undertaken. Action will come about through increasing awareness and building abilities at all levels from the individual to the institutional. Appropriately focused agency will bring about participation in the economic, social, and political elements that provide the basis for an ecologically sustainable society. The National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan for Palestine must deal with the five main global threats: climate change, over-exploitation, habitat destruction, invasive species, and pollution, while enhancing the benefits to people from nature.
This text sets the following vision: “By 2050 human and natural communities will be coexisting in harmony, where biodiversity is valued, conserved, restored and wisely used, maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy Palestinian environment and delivering benefits essential for all people”. The NBSAP sets parameters, conditions, and programs to 2030, to be revisited every five years thereafter to achieve the vision stated via participatory strategic planning and implementation, capacity building, mainstreaming, and bridging science-policy-practice gaps. Strategic Goals here identified are as follows: Goal A. Increase protection and conservation measures to halt the decline and minimize loss of habitats and species; Goal B. Enhance ecosystem services (nature’s contribution to people) and equitable benefit sharing; Goal C. Mainstreaming and valorizing biodiversity conservation at all levels of society in an inclusive and participatory manner; and Goal D. Improved governance, partnerships, and resource mobilization. Each of these goals has its related strategic objectives. With the implementation of the strategy and action plan: 1) State of Palestine would develop into a socially stable and economically successful society living in harmony with its natural environment; 2) The public would have greater awareness of environmental issues and through this have a deeper connection with the land and nature. More food with a low carbon footprint would be sustainably produced, thus contributing to greater food security.