NBSAP
National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan
Palestine, like other developing countries suffers from the five main global threats to biodiversity: climate change, overexploitation, habitat destruction, invasive species, and pollution. Yet, our environmental situation was made worse by socio-political situation including the Israeli occupation/colonization and the COVID-19 pandemic. The few bright spots in terms of things like environmental education, research, and conservation efforts are localized and spotty and are not “system-wise” to turn the corner and stem the environmental deterioration. We were tasked by the Environment Quality Authority to work with all relevant stakeholders to update National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP). The world and our State of Palestine recognize that:
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Ecosystems and their biodiversity underpin the global economy and human well-being and need to be valued and protected
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Damage to global ecosystem services and biodiversity is acute and accelerating
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Ecosystem damage carries costs for business and society
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Investing in ecological infrastructure can offer greater returns than man-made alternatives and thus makes economic sense.
“Nature can be conserved, restored and used sustainably while other global societal goals are simultaneously met through urgent and concerted efforts fostering transformative change.” IPBES (2019), Global assessment report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany. 1144 pages
The NBSAP set goals both to 2030 and to 2050 and the government and stakeholders will revisit progresss every five years. The new NBSAP is now available at the Clearing House Mechanism (another project we at PIBS led) at this link
