News- Environmental Justice

Author: Svenja Oberender - Program Coordinator/ Environmental Justice On 15th April 2014, the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s Palestine & Jordan office invited to a round table debate titled “The Red Sea-Dead Sea Canal – Implications for Palestine” aiming to discuss the topic with experts and representatives of Palestinian civil society, universities, and governmental institutions. Background for the discussion was a Memorandum of Understanding signed in December 2013 by Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority regarding the construction of a desalination plant in Aqaba, Jordan. The discussion about this topic was kick-started by input from HE Dr. Shaddad Attili, head of the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA); Dr. Abdelrahman Tamimi, the Director General of the Palestinian Hydrology Group (PHG) and lecturer at Al-Quds University; Dr. Azmi Shuaibi, Commissioner for Combating Corruption at AMAN (Transparency Palestine) and commissioner at the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights; as well as Dr. Maher Abu-Madi, associate professor for Water and Environmental Studies at the Institute of Environmental and Water Studies (IEWS), Birzeit University. 

Climate change will have an impact on all parts of the world, but the Arab countries of the Middle East and North Africa are certainly among those most affected by it. Some of the most significant effects of climate change which have already affected or will affect most of the 340 million people in the Arab region are increased average temperatures, less or more erratic precipitation and sea level rise, in a region which already suffers from aridity, recurrent drought and water scarcity.

One of the great challenges of the 21st century is to bring about global equity without further overstepping the planet’s ecological limits nor overusing the earth’s finite resources to the extent that future generations are deprived of the opportunity for shaping a sustainable and equitable social coexistence and the associated economic and production patterns. Social equity is inseparable from ecological sustainability. Inequitable distribution and overuse of resources, both domestically and internationally, is one of the key reasons why millions of people today live below the poverty line, while at the same time the earth’s sustainable ecological limits have long been exceeded..

Last Wednesday, 05 December 2012, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Ramallah presented its new mapping study of those actors in the Palestinian civil society that are working in the field of environment. Nada Majdalani-Azzeh, environmental assessment and management specialist and author of the study presented its methodology and main findings, and representatives of the various Palestinian NGOs as well as of the Ministry of Environmental Affairs discussed the results and possible open questions..

In the Second Regional Summer School, the Heinrich Böll Stiftung Ramallah (hbs), in cooperation with the regional offices Beirut and Tunis, focused on climate change adaptation strategies throughout the Arab Middle East and North Africa. Conducted from 30th September until 4th October 2012 in Amman, Jordan, the Summer School’s sessions tackled specifically the question of gender-responsiveness in these efforts (overall assessment, best practices, risks and challenges) and the impact of climate change on urban livelihoods and living conditions.

On 24th September, Heinrich Böll Stiftung Ramallah invited to a round table discussion in our new conference room in Ramallah, focused on “The German Energy Transition and the Potential for Renewable Energy in Palestine”. We were happy to welcome Arne Jungjohann of the HBS office in Washington, D.C., Dr. Riyad Hodali of the Palestinian Solar and Sustainable Energy Society (PSSES), and Mohammad Qaraqa of the Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem (ARIJ) who provided valuable input for a lively discussion. The discussion was moderated by George Korzom of MA’AN Development Centre

Over the last months, the Heinrich Böll Stiftung Ramallah, in cooperation with the Palestinian Environmental Quality Authority (EQA) and the Goethe Institut Ramallah, has been conducting a series of workshops focusing on “Climate Change and its Impact on Palestine”.