Introduction to Palestine

Palestine, located in the eastern mediterranean region, has a population of 4.9 million people,1 of which 23 percent is rural.2 With a hot and arid climate across the West Bank and Gaza, Palestine exhibits fluctuations in temperature and precipitation based on altitude. The agriculture sector, contributing 7.1% to the country’s GDP3 and employing 7% of the working population,4 is particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts. The service sector dominates the economy, while the manufacturing and industrial sector contributes 28% to the GDP5 and employs 32% of the labor force.6 Israel is the primary market for 90% of Palestine's exports.7 Palestine has been witnessing increasingly severe extreme weather events, and faces significant environmental challenges due its fragile natural resources, constrained financial assets, and lack of sovereignty. Since 1967, Israel has been illegally occupying the Palestinian territory, encompassing the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The Israeli government's policies of land confiscation, illegal settlement, and displacement, along with pervasive discrimination, have caused immense suffering to Palestinians.8 In addition to denying their fundamental human rights, including their rights to self-determination, sovereignty, and control over resources, the settler-colonial policies of Israel have heightened Palestinians’ vulnerability to the adverse impacts of climate change.

Mapping Major Climate Events and Climate-Induced Displacement

Palestine is highly vulnerable to the climate crisis, and faces significant risks of floods, increased temperature, heat waves, droughts, storms, and potential inundation due to rising sea levels. From 2008 to 2022, storm, extreme temperature and flood internally displaced 23,000 people in Palestine.9 Far more people have been displaced during the same period with the number standing at 720,000 due to forcible evictions and home demolitions, resulting from the Israeli occupation of Palestine.10 The convergence of climate impacts and the enduring occupation amplifies the multitudes of challenges faced by Palestinians. In 2014, Israel dropped 21,000 tonnes of explosives on the Gaza strip which is likely to have significantly damaged the soil, decreasing agricultural productivity already compromised by drought. In early 2022, torrential rains resulted in widespread flooding across various regions of Palestine, exacerbating the suffering of those residing in semi-structured or transitional shelters after being displaced due to Israeli hostilities.11 In times of such emergencies, movement restrictions enforced by Israeli authorities hinder Palestinians’ access to critical services, such as medical treatment. Furthermore, Israel’s curtailment of Palestinians' freedom of movement impedes the possibility of migration as a viable recourse in the face of climate impacts.

Mapping the Costs of the Climate Crisis

The GDP of Palestine is 18.04 billion,12 with 36% of the population living below the poverty line and 26% of the workforce unemployed.13 Additionally, 83% of workers in Gaza received less than the minimum wage in 2021.14  The climate crisis threatens to worsen the suffering of Palestinians grappling with social, economic, and political inequalities as a result of Israel’s occupation. In the Gaza strip, where 2.1 million Palestinians are crammed into a 365 square km area, sea level rise poses a dual threat of land loss and saltwater intrusion into an already strained aquifer.15 Climate change is expected to exacerbate the severe water stress and droughts in the region with Israel controlling about 80% of the water reserves in the occupied West Bank, and Israeli settlers consuming six times more water than Palestinians.16 Projected climate changes include more frequent droughts, decreased rainfall, and higher temperatures, which are expected to accelerate the rate of depletion of water resources and significantly reduce groundwater levels. Furthermore, Palestinians are confronted with substantial threats from climate change mitigation efforts. By exploiting the narrative of climate mitigation, Israel is implementing large-scale renewable energy projects in occupied territories, a strategy that serves to further prolong its illegal occupation, greenwash human rights violations, and expand its settler colonial project in Palestine. 17

Mapping Resilience and Mitigation Pathways

While the population of Palestine represents 0.06 percent of the world's total population,18 and is responsible for less than 0.004 percent of the global cumulative carbon dioxide emission,19 the state is grappling with the destructive impacts of climate change in the form of severe floods, droughts, storms, and extreme temperature. Palestine pledged to take action to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change by ratifying the Paris Agreement, with the aim of reducing 17.5% of its greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 under status quo, and 26.6 percent if the Israeli occupation ends.20 In implementing its NDC, Palestine aims to implement equal and fair safeguarding measures for women, children, the impoverished, and other vulnerable groups disproportionately affected by climate change.21 Palestine’s Environment Quality Authority (EQA) applied a bottom-up initiative and worked with over 300 stakeholders from across 12 sectors to develop its National Adaptation Plan.22 Identified adaptation measures include establishment of flood preparedness strategies, implementation of efficient irrigation practices, enhancement of rainfall interception capabilities, and ensuring equitable utilization of transboundary water resources.23

Necessary Changes

Despite having an insignificant contribution to global cumulative emissions, Palestine is among the countries worst impacted by the devastating effects of climate change. In addition to increasing support and financing for mitigation and adaptation efforts in Palestine, the international community needs to recognize that environmental and climate issues in the regions are inextricably linked to the political reality of Israeli militarization and occupation. Palestinians face climate apartheid in developing sustainable infrastructure, implementing renewable energy initiatives, and adopting climate-resilient practices due to restrictions on land use, water resources, and access to essential services. Furthermore, the political realities of the illegal occupation impede the development of comprehensive climate change policies and coordination mechanisms within Palestine. Therefore, efforts to combat climate change and promote sustainable development in the region need to be accompanied by a recognition and commitment to resolving the underlying political issues. This includes ending Israel's apartheid practices and illegal occupation, and ensuring the inherent rights of Palestinians to self-determination, sovereignty, and control over their natural resources.