Over View
The Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) are areas of high but threatened
biodiversity. Since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, there
have been increased resources devoted to capacity building and to develop
nature protection systems highlighted by the introduction of the Palestinian
Environmental Law 1999. One of the mandates of this law is to protect
specific areas of high biodiversity and this gained even more importance
with Palestine signing the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Wadi
Al-Quff (WAQ) region between Tarqumiya and Beit Kahil in the occupied
Palestinian territories is an area of special attention as the first Palestinian
administered nature reserve and the first one to receive detailed work to
generate a management plan. As part of this work we report in these series
of papers surveys on the flora and fauna. A significantly rich fauna and
flora is noted but is facing a number of threats, with habitat fragmentation
and destruction being the most significant. This survey recorded a rich
fauna with more than 89 species of birds, 19 species of mammals, 21
reptiles, three amphibians, over 250 identified invertebrates, and over 230
species of plants, despite habitat degradation and limited sampling (time,
resource limitations). As a result of our analysis we made four urgent
recommendations and six less urgent but highly needed recommendations
for biodiversity conservation of WAQ. Urgent recommendations include: 1)
Cull/remove feral dogs, 2) Block roads and/or limit access in some areas
of WAQ, 3) Discuss with farmers and others stake holders protection
measures and limits on activities near or in the park, 4) Prevent fires. The
longer-term recommendations are: 1) Monitoring and preventing unlawful
activities, 2) Develop sustainable use of some areas, 3) Ameliorate habitat
fragmentation and destruction, 4) Work to end the Israeli occupation and
empower and educate local people, 5) Address climate change, and 6)
Develop an environmental educational center in the protected area
