Desertification indicators in the Palestinian Territory have reached more than 50% due to the occupation practices harmful to the environment in the Palestinian Territory, from the cutting of forests and the bulldozing of agricultural land, in order to establish settlements on forest lands after cutting them.
This was based on the results of the first national report submitted to the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, issued by the General Directorate of Forests, Pastures and Wildlife at the Ministry of Agriculture on the occasion of World Day to Combat Desertification, which falls on Monday.
According to the report, the most important cause of the land degradation in Palestine is the Israeli occupation, which razed agricultural land, and the systematic cutting of forests (more than a million different trees since 2000) by settlers or through the Israeli occupation forces, Citizens, and create dozens of camps and settlements on forest land after cutting.
According to the report of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Arab countries are one of the most affected regions in the world. The African and Asian continents are the most affected by this phenomenon in terms of density of the affected area. The State of Palestine is considered one of the Arab countries affected by this phenomenon, which is reflected from human factors and natural factors. And the proportion of carbon stored in the soil. More than one quarter of the globe sufferers from the risk of land degradation, which affects nearly 110 countries, nearly 1.5 billion of the world´s population.
Since 1994, Palestine has been an observer member of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), which has been a permanent member since 2017. The National Strategy for Combating Desertification has been prepared in 2012. It has identified four strategic objectives to reduce the impact of desertification, Of poverty.
The Ministry pointed out that many indicators of desertification and land degradation appear in the Palestinian territories, which were monitored in large areas, as reflected in the first national report, which was prepared in 7/2018, that is months after the arrival of Palestine to This Convention based on the default information which are available from the European Space Agency (ESA) are based on three common key indicators as a basis for reporting through national reports to all countries of the world. These are: vegetation, productivity and stored carbon.
In addition to the adoption of the unified land divisions approved by the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, which showed that there is a deterioration of 15% of the land of the Palestinian state, although there are projects and programs in the Ministry of Agriculture to increase vegetation cover and rehabilitation of land and increase productivity.
And stressed the need to continue and cooperate and coordinate between government ministries and civil institutions and universities working in this area through the National Committee to Combat Desertification, in order to work to achieve the objectives of the strategy of the agricultural sector (steadfastness and sustainable development (2017-2022).
That the rehabilitation of these natural resources destroyed by the Israeli occupation needs considerable efforts and budgets.
It called for the continuation of projects to combat desertification, especially by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Environmental Quality Authority, which achieves the concept of combating desertification and strengthening the steadfastness of the Palestinian farmers in their land through continuing efforts to increase vegetation cover and productivity through planting new forests and pastures, Methods of water harvesting and prevention of soil erosion.
