Ramallah - "Jerusalem" dot com - invited the head of the Environmental Quality Authority, Dr. Dr. Nisreen Al-Tamimi called for the formation of an expanded and joint environmental working group from all private, civil, and academic sectors, interested parties, and official institutions to unify national efforts in protecting the environment and work hard towards that, so that this group would be a reference base for consultation, setting goals and directions, following up on work and achievements, and sharing roles and responsibilities on the grounds of partnership and integration.

The invitation of Dr. Al-Tamimi during a closing workshop for national consultations in preparation for the Stockholm +50 Conference, which was held in the A.M. Qattan Foundation Hall in Al-Tira, in the presence of the representative of the Prime Minister, Prof. Mahmoud Ataya, President of Birzeit University, Dr. Bechara Doumani and Ms. Yvonne Healy, Representative of the United Nations Development Program and Dr. Abdel-Rahman Al-Tamimi, representative of the Environmental NGOs Network, prof. Kamel Mujahid, Vice President of the Palestinian Businessmen Association and representative of the Private Sector Coordination Council.

Dr. indicated. Al-Tamimi stated that this workshop is the last stop in a series of consultations that have taken place since the launch of the work, where four national workshops were held in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in a face-to-face manner that included large sectors of partners and those interested in environmental work and in the three axes of the conference, which are protecting the planet and recovering from the effects of pandemic and accelerating the achievement of sustainable development goals, in addition to holding virtual consultative meetings with the youth, women and people with disabilities sectors in order to explore their views and involve them in this broad consultative process.

In her speech, she touched on the fact that the planet faces many risks and threats, whether natural or man-made, and that these risks cast a shadow and their effects on all of us, and in our Palestinian reality and because of the Israeli occupation, these threats and risks increase and add more obstacles to achieving our environmental goals and advancing the environmental reality. Perhaps the control of water sources and natural resources, especially in areas called C, the confiscation and leveling of lands, the establishment of settlements and camps, the seizure of natural reserves, the smuggling of waste to the lands of the State of Palestine and many other violations, all of which impede the Palestinian progress towards achieving environmental goals and advancing reality. environmental.

I thanked Dr. Al-Tamimi everyone who contributed to the success of the consultative process from its inception to the preparation of a national report worthy of Palestine in the end, praising the role of the United Nations Development Program for the true partnership in this work, and the Kingdom of Sweden for supporting all efforts and for hosting the conference that will be held at the beginning of next month in Stockholm.

Ataya conveyed the Prime Minister's greetings to the audience, noting that Palestine was keen on the world's participation in achieving the sustainable development goals to end poverty, protect the planet, achieve peace and ensure prosperity for all.

In turn, Dr. Domani affirmed Birzeit University's commitment to environmental issues, and that the university in all its departments and institutes adopted a conscious philosophy towards the environment and worked to transform the university and its spaces into environmentally friendly patterns and to promote environmental concepts and issues in education, referring to the university's quest to become the first green university in Palestine.

The workshop included speeches by the Vice-President of the Palestinian Businessmen Association and the representative of the Coordinating Council for the private sector. Kamel Mujahid and Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Tamimi, representative of the Environmental NGO Network, during which they stressed the importance of preparing for the Stockholm +50 conference and standing up to the Palestinian environmental challenges.

A. indicated. Yvonne Healy highlighted the importance of the role of the Environmental Quality Authority, Birzeit University and all partners in accelerating the implementation of the consultative action plans to develop an action plan related to the environmental sustainable development goals to prepare the national report on the main themes of the conference represented in a healthy planet that provides prosperity for all and a sustainable recovery from Covid 19.

The workshop included presenting the work methodology, presenting the results of the consultative workshops, presenting the results of the public opinion poll, and discussing the importance of implementing plans related to environmental sustainable development in line with the sustainable development goals agreed upon by the United Nations.