Report on Nationally Defined Contributions (NDC) to climate change.

In order to combat the impacts of climate change, with their severe implications for the economy, the State of Palestine developed its Nationally Defined Contributions (NDC) in accordance with the UNFCCC s commitments. Main interventions included in this nationwide sectoral document are directed to improvements in the State s energy security, with a reduced dependence on imported electricity and increased energy reserves through development and exploitation of the Gaza Strip s gas field. The NDC proposes two kinds of actions (i) mitigation contribution; and (ii) adaptation. As for the mitigation contribution, the Government provides for two possible scenarios: an independence and a status quo scenario. Furthermore these measures are divided according to two different interventions by the international community: they can be either conditional on the receiving of international support or actions to be implemented unconditionally. The latter are (i) sustainable urban demonstration projects, including mostly public buildings; (ii) afforestation projects; (iii) greening projects; and (iv) interventions for range land development, improvement and rehabilitation. While the interventions conditioned by international support are (i) solar photo-voltaic; (ii) energy efficiency in buildings; (iii) use of waste for cement production; (iv) use of waste for electricity generation; (v) reduction of methane from landfill; (vi) energy efficient lighting; (vii) hybrid electric vehicles and compressed natural gas powered vehicles; and (viii) afforestation.
Regarding the adaptation to adverse impact of climate change, the NDC follows the UNFCCC s NAP Guidelines for Least Developed Countries that identifies highly vulnerable issues in relation to the following 12 sectors: (i) agriculture; (ii) coastal and marine (Gaza Strip only); (iii) energy; (iv) food; (v) gender; (vi) health; (vii) industry; (viii) terrestrial ecosystems; (ix) tourism (West Bank only); (x) urban and infrastructure; (xi) waste and wastewater; and (xii) water.
To help eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition, the intended actions are (i) planting alfalfa for feeding farm animals; (ii) increasing food crops; (iii) reusing treated wastewater; and (iv) encouraging women to use their house gardens to produce food.
In order to make agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable, the Government intends to (i) adopt climate-smart production practices and more resource efficient post-harvest processing practices in agricultural value chains (including fruit trees, vegetables, field crops and livestock); (ii) improve infrastructure for livestock-production together with increasing of the availability of animal feed (including plant and organic residues) at an affordable price; (iii) introduce new saline-tolerant crops; (iv) increase water availability in the sector by constructing large scale earthy ponds, cisterns, and rehabilitating wells and conveyance infrastructure; (v) improve water-use efficiency and using alternatives water resources, also supporting the improvements in efficient use of water in women's private small-scale agricultural projects; (vi) promote the reclamation of unused agricultural lands and development of grazing lands; and (vii) increase the green areas.
To enable more inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems, main actions include (i) enhancement of agricultural value chain and improvement of infrastructure for livestock-production; (ii) construction of large-scale steel silos for grain to enable import and storage during periods when prices on the international markets are low; (iii) establishment of farmers' support, such as subsidies and awareness training programs; and (iv) improvement of handling, fumigation, packaging, and storage techniques for raw materials intended for export.
The resilience of livelihoods to disasters will be increased 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) agricultural disaster risk reduction and management (DRR/M); (iii) development and improvement of storm-water systems and drainage infrastructure; and (iv) establishment of an early warning system, including utilizing mobile phone applications.