State of Palestine’s First Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) - Updated Submission.

These Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) is a 20-year nationwide multi-sectoral document aiming at including amendments and additions to actions than those proposed in the previous document of 2017. It is focused on climate adaptation actions, while not neglecting climate mitigation and the global objective of the UNFCCC and Article 2.1 (a) of the Paris Agreement. In comparison to the first NDC, the new conditional actions are gender responsive, time-bound, and contain measurable targets. in fact, the Palestine’s key climate goal is to reduce its climate vulnerabilities, primarily through increasing adaptive capacities, and, thereby, enhance the climate resilience of the national development process and local communities. The document follows a holistic approach: considering that the NDC actions in each sector have both positive and negative impacts on NDC mitigation and adaptation actions in other sectors, it has been developed a NDC Partnership Plan that provides for development of NDC implementation action plans addressing the nexus between sectors, in particular between: (a) agriculture, waste, energy, water, and food; (b) waste, water, energy, and infrastructure; and (c) transport and energy (particularly regarding electric vehicles).
To help eliminate hunger and malnutrition, the NDC envisages the following adaptation actions for the food sector (i) enhancing agricultural value chain and improving infrastructure for livestock production; (ii) greenhouse management; (iii) construction of large-scale cold storage; (iv) construction of large-scale steel silos for grain to enable import and storage during periods when prices on international markets are low.
To make agriculture more productive and sustainable, the interventions will be directed to the development of (i) climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and climate-resilient land planning and management. In the Forestry sector, 2% of the total area of forest land, rangeland and upland will be rehabilitated and sustainably managed.
More inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems will be enhanced by applying gender-sensitive climate-smart agriculture in 50% of farms. The entire document provides recommendations to ensure that all solutions adopted by Palestine are designed through a gender and inclusion perspective, including through providing opportunities for inclusive participation, capacity, and skill-building.
To increase the resilience of livelihoods to disasters, the document aims to (i) upgrade the electricity grid to enable distribution of renewable energy, primarily from solar photovoltaic (PV); (ii) improve energy efficiency by 20% across all sectors; (iii) increase by 20-33% the electricity generated from renewable energy, primarily from solar PV; (iv) improve the capacity for disease prevention; (v) increase the awareness of people, particularly women, about measures to help prevent major diseases related to water, sanitation and food; (vi) increase by at least 50% the capacity to monitor the safety of water, food and sanitation; (vii) reduce emissions in the transport sector and promote sustainable road usage; (viii) improve waste management and reduce emissions in the sector; (ix) increase the amount of waste re-used or recycled by 30%; (x) re-use 70% of the treated wastewater in large-scale wastewater treatment plants in the West Bank and Gaza; (xi) increase the harvesting of rainwater in the West Bank; (xii) reduce by 15% non-revenue water; (xiii) drain and collect 5% of rainwater in priority urban areas; (xiv) rehabilitate 100% of identified wells and springs; (xv) improve coastal and marine management in Gaza Strip; (xvi) improve the building sector by using sustainable materials; (xvii) improve handling, fumigation, packaging, and storage techniques for raw materials intended for export; (xviii) enable industries to adapt to climate change; (xix) develop a national network of protected areas and biodiversity hotspots.
As for Governance, the Government policy aims to encourage participation of the private sector at all levels of planning, including governance and collaboration; integrating climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction and management into business plans; aligning private-sector activities with national targets; creating the enabling environment for public-private partnerships; and including the support of private organizations. To realize the opportunities presented by private climate finance, creative approaches will need to be considered. For example, blended finance, which strategically uses development finance to attract commercial capital, can help de-risk investment opportunities. The NDC implementation action plans seek to secure public funding for baseline assessments and pilots, while also engaging the private sector in these efforts.