Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) proliferated in Palestine after 1967 because the defeat of Arab regimes in 1967 forced remaining Palestinians both in the areas occupied in 1948 and those occupied in 1967 to develop self-reliance mechanisms to cope with Israeli occupation (Qumsiyeh and Isaac, 2012). Initially there were few NGOs dealing with environment or sustainability issues in Palestine. NGOs globally were of high significance (World Wildlife Fund, International Union of Conservation of Nature, Greenpeace, etc.). The latter NGOs were even significant in contributing to development of International environmental laws and treaties (Tarlock, 1992). In 2012, the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of the Interior registered 2,245 NGOs in the occupied Palestinian territories. Few are focused on the environmental, agriculture and water resources and conservation issues. Many active ones are in the Bethlehem District. More NGOs need to be established in other areas like Gaza which suffers from isolation and neglect and more NGOs should become inclusive of women and youth. All NGOs relating to the environment (and most other issues) suffer from lack of gender balance. Organizations with more proactive agendas seem to have a better understanding of the relative importance of different environmental stakeholders compared to reactive, defensive, and accommodative groups (Henriques and Sadorsky, 1999). In the case of Palestine, there are some efforts at being proactive but most NGOs are trying to make it in difficult economic situations and their agendas are driven by donor desires rather than cohesively fitting into a national agenda for conservation. The other issue is the lack of cooperation between NGOs working in similar fields. An attempt to rectify this came with the establishment of a network called the Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network (PENGON). PENGON is a partner with Friends of Earth-Palestine. The aim is to “serve Palestinian environmental issues by coordinating endeavors between the member organizations, strengthening and building the efficiency within each organization, and enhancing relations within the Network as well as with other organizations domestically and abroad, such as local government agencies and international environmental organizations and advocacy groups.
Missions of these NGOs vary from public awareness and education to multiple tasks that cover most of subject matters related to biodiversity and conservation but most of the NGOs have interest in public awareness and is a part of their mission and objectives.
List of Local NGOs related to Environment and Biodiversity in the State of Palestine