Nationally Determined Contributions.

This Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) is a nationwide multi-sectoral document aiming at achieving a number of national development and policy objectives as well reflecting the country's vision for climate action. These include (i) improvements in the State’s energy security, with a reduced dependence on imported electricity from Israel; (ii) increased energy reserves through development and exploitation of the Gaza Strip’s gas field; (iii) improvements in the Palestinians' living conditions, health and environment, through better air quality, less unmanaged waste, increased food production and increased water resources are also important co-benefits. Palestine intends to reduce its CO2eq emissions by 2040 according to two possible scenarios (1) independence scenario and (2) status quo scenario. In the first case, the reduction will reach 24.4% relative to business-as-usual, in the second, instead, 12.8% relative to BAU. The document includes both mitigation and adaptation actions. As for the mitigation measures they regard the following sectors (i) Energy; (ii) Waste; (iii) Transport; (iv) Forestry. As for the adaptation measures, they are provided for the following sectors (i) Agriculture; (ii) Coastal and Marine; (iii) Energy; (iv) Food; (v) Gender; (vi) Health; (vii) Industry; (viii) Terrestrial ecosystem; (ix) Tourism; (x) Urban and Infrastructure; (xi) Waste and wastewater; (xii) Water.
To help eliminate hunger and malnutrition, the NDC aims to (i) improve food security with food crops and reusing treated wastewater and by planting 200 dunum of alfalfa; (ii) construct large-scale steel silos for grain to enable import and storage during periods when prices on the international markets are low; (iii) promote greenhouse management; (iv) encourage women to use their house gardens to produce food.
More productive and sustainable agriculture can be achieved by (i) improving farmers’ and agricultural engineers’ adaptive capacity through improved irrigation management, treated wastewater reuse, introducing new fodder seeds and minimizing soil erosion through minimum tillage; (ii) promoting agricultural disaster risk reduction and management, in particular for highly vulnerable sectors; (iii) introducing new saline-tolerant crops; (iv) adopting climate-smart production practices; (v) increasing annually forested land of 200 hectares through reclamation of unused agricultural lands and development of grazing lands; (vi) increasing carbon stock in plant biomass and soil organic matter through agroforestry and rangeland development (i.e. with new forage plants such as shrubs and trees); (vii) improving irrigation by installing water tanks; (viii) increasing water availability in the sector by constructing earthen ponds.
More inclusive end efficient agricultural and food systems shall be enhanced by (i) establishing farmers' support (subsidies, awareness training programs); (ii) supporting improvements in efficient use of water in women's private small-scale agricultural projects; (iii) improving handling, fumigation, packaging, and storage techniques for raw materials intended for export; (iv) adopting more resource efficient post-harvest processing practices in agricultural value chains.
To increase the resilience of livelihoods to disasters, the NDC envisages both mitigation and adaptation measures, including (i) generation of electricity using solar photovoltaic; (ii) promotion of energy efficiency in buildings; (iii) use of waste for electricity generation and cement production; (iv) reduction of methane from landfill; (v) enhancement of transport sector both at the private level (by using hybrid electric and compressed natural gas powered vehicles) and the public level; (vi) increasing of water availability by constructing cistern and earthy dams; (vii) minimization of water leakages by installing new water conveyance systems; (viii) rehabilitation of sloped terrain to minimize soil erosion; (ix) water harvesting (i.e. rainwater collecting wells) and soil conservation; (x) increasing of the awareness of people, particularly women, in water-poor areas of measures they can take to help prevent major diseases related to water, sanitation, and food; (xi) replacement of imported raw materials with local materials whenever possible; (xii) improvement of waste collection system; (xiii) promotion of reduction, reuse, recycle.
As for Governance, the Palestinian Government has chosen the Environment Quality Authority to be the single national entity responsible for driving the implementation of the NDC, and reporting on progress on NDC implementation. Palestine has a National Committee on Climate Change, which is a cross-ministerial expert advisory committee with the aim of supporting the Palestinian Government in the implementation and evaluation of its climate policies.