Cooperation, Italy and Palestine renew environmental agreement

Rome, June 6, 2023 – The Minister of the Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin and the Ms. Adalah Atira, Minister of Environment Quality Authority of Palestine, (EQA) have signed the new Memorandum of Understanding, with a duration of 5 years, which renews the collaboration in the field of environmental protection and sustainable development.

Bilateral cooperation with Palestine began on February 23, 2016, with the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, focused in particular on waste management, reduction of air pollution, contrast to soil degradation, protection of biodiversity, improvement of monitoring the state of the environment and strengthening the legal and institutional framework for its defense and protection.

The New Memorandum identifies the joint initiatives on mitigation and adaptation by providing, among the actions:

• Development of effective mitigation measures by supporting the implementation, monitoring and reporting of the  Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs);
• collection, analysis and dissemination of methodologies for observing and measuring the impact of climate change on potentially vulnerable sectors including air quality;
• improvement of risk assessment and disaster management;
• protection of biodiversity and reduction of environmental degradation;
• promotion of sustainable forests management;
• integrated Coastal Zones management and prevention and Hydrocarbons Marine Pollution Prevention and control;
• sustainable and integrated management of water resources;
• technology transfer and capacity building in the renewable energy and energy efficiency sector;
• sustainable waste management and development of the circular economy;
• development of public awareness and education campaigns on global climate change and sustainable development;
• strengthening public participation and exchange of good practices on environmental assessments;
• pollution control and prevention.

The cooperation will be based on the principles of impartiality, equality, reciprocity and common interests, and the initiatives will be implemented through:

• Promotion of projects, programs and activities, giving high consideration to the participation of public, and non-profit sectors, also including, where appropriate, universities, scientific and technical research bodies, non-governmental organizations and institutions of both sides ;
• promotion of capacity building, capacity development, capacity strengthening, technology transfer and technical assistance;
• exchange of experts, visits by delegations and trainees, also involving universities, research centers and university consortia;
• exchange of information, relevant documentation, including publications, expertise and study results
• organization of joint workshops, seminars and other meetings;
• implementation of joint research and development programs;
• promoting the participation of private sector and public-private partnership initiatives.