Palestinian Youth to Take Climate Action for Marking World Environment Day
Bethlehem- West Bank – ActionAid Palestine (APP) supported Palestinian youth to take climate and environmental actions to mark World Environment Day which falls on 5th of June. This Day is considered as an occasion to raise awareness and mobilize actions towards urgent environmental issues. The theme of this year is “Beat Plastic Pollution”. Through its program of “Strengthening Palestinian young people, Particularly Young Women’s Leadership and Influence for Resilient, Just and Green Societies” within Strategic Partnership 2 with ActionAid Denmark and funded by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), AAP supported youth climate actions so that youth can be empowered to lead actions and initiatives for combating impacts of climate change.
Youth participated in cleaning natural and environmental walks in the south village of Battir and Al-Makhrour in the south of West Bank. The aim of this activity is to create a clean environment and create awareness of plastic pollution and educate the community on the importance of using friendly environment items. These kinds of activities allow youth to play important role in environmental advocacy as those locations are located in area “C” which is under full Israeli control denying access of Palestinian municipalities and structures to enter these areas for removing and recycling plastic waste. Youth voluntary and climate actions are needed to clean these areas and raise awareness of Palestinian community on climate injustice in Palestine. The municipality of Battir welcomed youth volunteers and briefed them on how Battir village is affected by plastic pollution.
Youth also organized environmental activities targeting Bethlehem city by planting trees and conducting diverse awareness activities in streets of Bethlehem city to promote nature conservation and combat plastic waste in collaboration with Bethlehem municipality. Youth cleaned agricultural sections of Bethlehem streets preparing them for planting to increase green spaces.
Mohammad Al-Mohtaseb, he is a volunteer and youth environment activist. He has a small project for recycling plastic called “green World”. Mohamad says: “I participated in cleaning natural walks and gathering plastic garbage to be recycled in friendly environment ways to mitigate its impact on the environment. We are all responsible for protecting our environment by leading initiatives and campaigns that will mitigate impact of climate change which will negatively affect our future and our children's future.”
Hanin Oudah from Bethlehem is a youth activist and volunteer with ActionAid Palestine. Haneen says: “I’m happy to participate in this environmental voluntary action such as removing plastic. We are planning to recycle it into more friendly products as plastic has dangerous effects on the environment. I believe that youth and NGOs must work on more such activities as each one of us has the responsibility to keep this planet clean and together we can fight climate change.”
Plastic is considered as one of the most important components of solid waste in Palestine constituting about 16.4% of the total solid waste in the West Bank and about 14.0% of the total solid waste in Gaza Strip.
The spread of plastic materials and pollution is an environmental challenge facing oPt. Israel commits different violations against the Palestinian environment as smuggling of waste and hazardous materials into Palestinian lands, including plastic making it unlivable. Hence, data from the Environment Quality Authority indicate that during 2022, there were 37 cases of smuggling of solid, liquid and hazardous waste that were seized, represented by trucks carrying solid waste coming from Israeli areas, tanks for draining liquid waste, in addition to chemical waste, used car tires, plastic and other dangerous waste, where the Palestinian side returned the seized smuggled waste to the Israeli side.
Background Information
ActionAid in Palestine (AAP) is a part of global federation working for social justice and gender equality and eradicate poverty in more than 45 countries around the world. AAP started its work in Palestine in 2007 to strengthen the resilience of Palestinian People as ActionAid believes that they should enjoy their rights to freedom, justice and self-determination. AAP implements a number of programs through its engagement with communities and women and youth groups seeking to empower them and enhance their influential civil and political participation to understand their rights and undertake collective activism to address the protracted rights violations resulting from the prolonged occupation of Palestine. AAP works simultaneously to enhance their leadership capacity and knowledge to practice their citizenship in holding authorities and other duty bearers to account.
For more information, please contact.
Riham Jafari
Coordinator of Advocacy and Communication in Palestine
Mobile:
+972 (0) 595242890
Office:
+972 (0) (2) 22 13 137
Email: