Palestine plans - Palestinian Authority's natural resources protection plan

Architectural Review, The, March, 1998

The Palestinian Authority has commissioned a landscape plan to guide legal policy in safeguarding some of the most famous sites in the world and to suggest action on areas debilitated by war and neglect.

With remarkable foresight in very difficult circumstances, the Palestinian Authority has commissioned an emergency natural resources protection plan for the West Bank.(*) It is intended to be a first step in creating a policy for protecting natural resources and fostering sustainable development generally.

The first law to fully protect some of the country's famous historic sites is to be passed this year. Landscape architects Derek Lovejoy Partnership acted as consultants to the Palestinian Ministry of Planning and International Co-operation, and they made a detailed examination of the country's 5600 square kilometres to assess the nature of the topography and its state of use. Although the country is tiny, it has several distinct and dramatically different zones. To the north, small fertile plains are delineated by mountains. In the middle, the Ramallah and Jerusalem Governorates are mountainous with extensive olive groves. To the south, the mountains become more arid in the Bethlehem and Hebron Governorates which slope down to the bright blue Dead Sea. The Jericho area, deep down below ocean level in the lush green valley to the east of the country, is dominated by the mountains of Jordan across the river.

There has been no planning in the country for many decades. All areas are menaced by a wide range of threats varying from bad agricultural practices, like overgrazing, to quarrying which is carried on in some of the most sensitive areas with no controls and no means of causing exploiters to make restitution. A major cause of landscape deterioration is construction and domestic waste. Random urban developments sprawl outwards from existing settlements. Particularly difficult problems are caused by the Israeli settlements, which are dense and land consuming in themselves, and are usually stridently located on hilltops in buildings quite different from those of local tradition; they are served by roads made without regard for landscape values.

The emergency plan identifies four grades of landscape: places of outstanding value, and categories one, two and three. All areas were graded according to six factors: landscapes as a resource (ie, national or regional rareness), scenic quality, unspoilt character, sense of place, conservation interest and consensus (agreement between professional and public opinions about the importance of a place). Areas which do not fulfil more than a couple of the criteria are rated in grade three and are usually pretty frightful, ruined by war and neglect (about a quarter of the country comes into this category). Outstanding places (10 per cent of Palestine's area) are relatively unspoilt, have fine scenic qualities and are ecologically sensitive; it is some of these ravishing, precious ancient landscapes and settlements which are to be officially saved for the first time by the proposed law. Work continues on creating sustainable plans for the less fine areas.

* See for instance, Ministry of Planning and International Co-operation, Directorate for Urban and Rural Planning, Landscape Assessment of the West Bank Governorates, Emergency Natural Resources Protection Plan. Thematic Report 01, Ramallah, 1996.