Ministry of Environmental Affairs (Palestine)

The Ministry of Environmental Affairs (MEnA) is the central authoritative body for all environmental issues in the Palestinian territories. It is the umbrella under which all environmental regulations, projects and strategies are created and implemented. MEnA's primary concern is the conservation and sound use of the natural environment. It seeks to maintain and safeguard the environment with plans to protect human health, curb and reduce the depletion of natural resources, combat desertification, prevent the aggravation of air and water pollution, promote environmental awareness and ensure achievement of sustainable urban development.

On 10 December 1996, the President of the Palestinian National Authority, Yasser Arafat, established the first organization in the State responsible for protecting the natural environment and mitigating effects on human health: the Palestinian Environmental Authority (PEnA). PEnA was created in parallel with the Oslo II Accords, which agreed to establish a number of ministries and authorities aimed at the planning, management and implementation of environmentally beneficial tasks within the Palestinian National Authority. By the end of 1997, a merger was constructed to join PEnA, the Environmental Planning Department and part of the Ministry of Planning. In August 1998, President Arafat appointed a State Minister for Environment, which granted the collaborative more power than the 1997 merger did. The order gave the Minister authorization over PEnA, which eventually displaced the organization and created MEnA by the end of the month. Today, the name Environmental Quality Authority is also used to define MEnA, a step that reflects the importance and concern for the environmental sector.

MEnA sees the most significant environmental issues stemming from the shortage of natural resources, and specifically, water. The coupling of high population growth, many years of negligence, prolonged Israeli–Palestinian conflict and poor educational standards have led to detrimental impacts on agriculture and the economy as a whole, a lack of experts and technicians and little to no environmental awareness throughout the community.

MEnA attributes many of Palestine’s water issues to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank since 1967, which the United Nations Development Programme sees as the source of conflict between the two countries. MEnA also sights Israeli occupation as the reason why many Palestinians are sufficient with living a low-quality life with environmental conditions below human dignity.

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