CIVIL SOCIETY & LOCAL AUTHORITIES > ISRAEL

And business men joined the green cause

n Working with children lecture at the El Gadir elementary school

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Awareness is low, poverty is on the rise. Other problems are considered more urgent. But waste management is finding its way up on political agendas everywhere in the world, including in conflict-torn regions. In many of the Arab towns in Galilee and Palestinian urban areas of the West Bank, environmental problems can reach the point where they pose health risks. An EU-funded initiative is supporting local authorities in their struggle for proper waste management and awareness. And the results are impressive: even business men are now joining the cause
Text and photos by : Yair Qedar

TEL AVIV Garbage? Its everywhere, and as time goes by, we have more and more of it. The only real solution is to improve the awareness of our citizens about this issue. Baker Awawdy is the general director of the Galilee Society, the largest environmental organization in the Arab sector in Israel. We are in the city of Shefa-'Amr, as old as the Roman Empire. The city lies over several hills overlooking the bay of Haifa, and 35,000 inhabitants live in it. When you drive through the alleys of the village, it is hard to ignore the presence of rubbish on the paveThis publication does not represent the ments. In the geography of the Arab village in modern Israel, trash has become an abundant fact: visocial view of the EC ible, smelly and uncomfortable. or the EU institutions. But what can be done to solve the problem? The project Green The EC accepts no Cities - Strengthening the Capacity of Local Authorities for Ecolog- ENPI Info Centre Feature no. 50 responsibility or This is a series of features on liability whatsoever ical Modernisation is an EU supported initiative aiming to develop projects funded by the EUs with regard to its the capacity of local administrators to prevent or reduce waste, to Regional Programme, prepared by content. recycle it and to reuse it. The Galilee Society is a major partner and journalists and photographers on the actual projects implementer on behalf of the city of Shefa-'Amr, the ground or the ENPI Info Centre. ENPI Info Centre/EU 2011 together with the Palestinian Environmental Network (PENGON)

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Garbage? Its everywhere, and as time goes by, we have more and more of it. The only real solution is to improve the awareness of our citizens about this issue

and the Bulgarian Institute for Ecological Modernisation. Green Cities is one of the 21 projects financed in the framework of the regional programme CIUDAD, a 14 million strong initiative aiming to help local governments in the EUs neighbourhood address urban development problems in a sustainable manner. We are doing our best to address the problem of proper waste disposal, explains Baker Awawdy, who is also the Green Cities project manager. Its a very severe issue that deeply aects the villages life.

n Illegal waste in the

village of Sachnin

Recycling corners in schools

In many of the densely populated Arab towns in Galilee and in Palestinian urban areas of the West Bank, environmental issues can reach the point of posing health risks. This happens because in Israel, Arab towns dispose of small municipal budgets and low quality urban services, and there is little public awareness of good principles of waste management. In the West Bank, local governments suer from very serious economic and political restrictions. For example, in the West Bank, 41% of solid waste is organic, but only 1% is recycled. And 69% is dumped in the open. The project tries to deal with this problem in a holistic way, continues Awawdy, taking into account many factors. Its a complex issue for which we need a complex answer, but we begin by trying to change peoples minds about the fact that the solution should only come from the authorities. Public awareness activities are therefore carried out to ensure understanding and to increase knowledge of the issue. We have divided every community we work with into eight parts, explains Awawdy. In each part, we have set up a special committee dealing with the project. In every school, we have an educational committee. The aim is to raise students awareness on how important it is to separate garbage. In every school, there is a recycling corner where garbage is separated, and a recycling company comes and takes the plastic away. In every village we launch special events, like A day for the planet Earth. We have also established a forum gathering villages district managers that work at governmental level, creating communication between dierent arms of the government." The project aims at improving waste disposal also by training local authorities. We strengthen the ability to deal with this issue at local government level, says Awawdy, so we encourage local authorities to enforce the laws, to build strategic plans, to develop a specific environmental sensitivity. Within the framework of the project, special initiatives are also carried out, in which religious authorities are involved. Right now in the village of Pki'in a conference of 30 Imams is ongoing explains Awawdy: their word will reach over 20,000 people. That's influence!"

n Baker Awawdy

The new generations will grow up with a stronger awareness of the environment than we did

In every school, there is a recycling corner where garbage is separated, and a recycling company comes and takes the plastic away. In every village we launch special events, like A day for the planet Earth

Lessons to kindergarten teachers and businesses

But things arent easy, and problems have arisen at several levels. First of all, the whole

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subject of waste and environmental sensitivity is new. There is a low level of consciousness and it is hard to explain why and how communities can benefit by addressing the problem. There is also a high level of poverty. There are personal and communal problems that are considered more urgent than waste. At school, people are focused on educational achievements, more than environmental challenges... "There are a lot of political tensions at local level," testifies Mai Assadi, project Environmental Coordinator for the village of Sachnin, "but the project does not deal with political conflicts." I work with dierent organizations, adds Assadi: for example I did several in-house lectures for womens organisations. About 15 women attended each one of them. I have also organized a workshop for 30 women, where I taught them how to recycle. I give lessons to kindergarten teachers, organising workshops in preliminary schools The new generations will grow up with a stronger n Mai Assadi awareness of the environment than we did. And the interest doesnt stop there: "We get interesting calls from the business sector, concludes Awawdy. Some people call us in order to get information on how to make their business go green For example, the Mall of Sachnin has asked us for support. So I met each owner of the 25 shops there, and I suggested a work plan to save cartons for packaging We gave a series of lectures on global warming in the Mall, and many people came. I believe we are changing things."

CIUDAD Sustainable urban development

http://www.ciudad-programme.eu/
Aims to help local governments in the ENPI region address urban development problems in a sustainable manner, promoting cooperation between local actors and their EU counterparts
Participating countries Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Syria, Tunisia (South), Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine (East) Timeframe 2009-2013 Budget 14 million Aims The programme Cooperation in Urban Development and Dialogue (CIUDAD) aims to promote mutual understanding, dialogue and cooperation between local actors in the EU and in the Partner Countries of the Eastern and Southern Neighbourhood (ENPI region) through the provision of capacity building for the modernisation and strengthening of local and regional government. It also seeks to create new partnerships and strengthen existing ones, among local and regional authorities in the ENPI region (South-South, East-East and South-East partnerships), leading to longterm benefits extending beyond the life of the programme. Find out more Project fiche > http://www.enpi-info.eu/maineast.php?id=310&id_type=10 TourMedEau minisite > http://www.open-med.eu/portal/en/ms_TOURMEDEAU.wp Civil Society and Local Authorities- Thematic portal > http://www.enpi-info.eu/thememed.php?subject=14

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