UNEP's role in occupied Palestinian territories

In Palestine when someone comes up with an idea that is impossible to realise they have a saying which in Arabic sounds as follows: "Antah bedak tokeem al-deen fe Malta? Literally translated it means: "Do you want to set up a new religion in Malta?". I heard this expression for the first time during a recent visit to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank at the invitation of Yousef Abu Safieh, chairman of the Palestinian Environmental Quality Authority (EQA).

I was on a fact-finding mission to see how UNEP/MAP, as the secretariat to the Barcelona Convention, could help the Palestinian EQA, even if in a small way, address its huge environmental problems in the occupied territories. Pending further progress of the peace process and final status negotiations, the Palestinian Authority has not been able to become a signatory to multilateral environmental agreements, including the Barcelona Convention. But it enjoys observer status within UNEP/MAP and participates regularly in our activities.

I entered Gaza through the Erez Crossing, situated about an hour's taxi ride from Tel Aviv airport. It is a tight security entry point manned by Israeli teenage soldiers armed to the hilt. My identification documents, including my UN laissez passer, were thoroughly scrutinised before I was allowed to proceed through the checkpoint, making my way through iron gates and then electronically-operated turnstiles.

Concrete planks six metres high, similar to the ones being used to erect the wall that separates Israelis and Palestinians on the West Bank, line both sides of the crossing which is about 200 metres long. Armed Palestinian guards in makeshift rooms control the other end of the crossing.

Once on the other side I boarded an old and worn down taxi to take me to the hotel in downtown Gaza. According to the taxi driver I was the first customer in months. As for the hotel, that night I was the only guest.

Top on the list of EQA's priorities is the state of the environment in the settlements, which are being disengaged by Israel. In order to identify areas of environmental concern and interest, UNEP has been requested by the Palestinian EQA to carry out a post-disengagement environmental audit to establish the baseline environmental situation which can form the basis for future decisions and planning by the Palestinian Authority, especially before the Palestinians move into these areas. Through the audit, the environmental assets being handed over will be inspected with a view to document the current status of the environmental resources and map out areas of concern.

This project will be implemented within the framework of the existing cooperation between UNEP and EQA, following UNEP's governing council decision on the environment in the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT), adopted in February 2003.

The environmental audit will be a follow-up to the Desk Study On The Environment In The Occupied Palestinian Territories, which was conducted in 2002 by a team appointed by Klaus Topfer, executive director of UNEP, and headed by Pekka Haavisto, former Finnish Minister for the Environment and Development Cooperation. The desk study makes 136 recommendations on how to improve the environment in the OPTs.

Dr Topfer gives high priority to these projects because he strongly believes that environmental cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians could serve as a confidence-building tool in the peace process. UNEP is ready to take further steps to assist the parties in their efforts to improve the environmental situation in the OPTs.

During my visit I was shown a number of the Israeli settlements in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank (at the time these were making headlines as the deadline of August 15 drew closer). According to information provided by the Palestinian EQA, Israel is planning to disengage from all its 17 settlements in the Gaza strip with a total population of about 7,400 and from four settlements on the West Bank with a total of about 550 inhabitants.

I also witnessed the huge environmental problems that should be addressed urgently. It was explained to me that freshwater is scarce and the quality of water is rapidly deteriorating. There are only a few wastewater treatment facilities and most of them are not functioning properly with the result that untreated wastewater is polluting the aquifers and the seashore in Gaza.

To give one example, the wastewater treatment plant in the town of Beit Lahia, in Gaza, is located in a closed depression without a natural outlet to the sea which is 4.5 kilometres away. Originally the plant included four effluent ponds that would recharge the aquifer and evaporate. However, the overflow has now formed a lake of wastewater effluent covering over 40 hectares which is polluting the aquifer and is a major environmental health problem for the population surrounding the lake.

Most of the permanent disposal sites for solid waste are not sanitary landfills. Curfews and roadblocks have hindered transport to the municipal disposal sites resulting in the establishment of temporary disposal sites where open burning of waste takes place. There is no separation of hazardous and non-hazardous waste.

Biodiversity is under threat from a variety of pressures not least the lack or non-existence of cooperation.

What the Palestinians need to do in order to address the huge environmental problems in the occupied territories cannot be achieved without outside help. As the Palestinian saying goes, in trying to resolve these problems on their own it is as if they are trying to set up a new religion in Malta.

Mr Mifsud is the coordinator of the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP), a regional initiative by the countries bordering the Mediterranean to address pollution problems in the region within the framework of the Barcelona Convention. MAP is administered by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and is based in Athens.