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Delegation to Brussels

At the beginning of December, a delegation of our EU Partnership for Peace (PfP) Project partners from Palestine Wildlife Society and the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel went to Brussels for briefings and a conference.

At the beginning of December, a delegation of our EU Partnership for Peace (PfP) Project partners from Palestine Wildlife Society (PWLS) and the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) as well as Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) representatives from our Jerusalem office went to Brussels for briefings and a conference about the project. We met with representatives from other NGOs at a round table discussion on the topic of nature conservation and peace building, and heard about future possibilities for cooperation within the sector. Since both of our project partners are also BirdLife International partners, we met with the BirdLife office in Brussels and heard about their various projects and fundraising work. During our meetings with representatives from the European Union External Action Service, Director-General for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, as well as with the Directorate-General for Environment, we were able to present the results of our project, listen to success stories from other projects and find out about new projects and funding opportunities. 

A highlight of our delegation was our meeting with Markus Ferber, Member of the European Parliament, who showed great interest in the project, its activities and the difficulties we are facing while implementing them. A further highlight was the lunchtime conference, which hosted by the Director-General for International Cooperation and Development. During the conference various aspects of the project were presented such as, the new masterplans for nature reserves in Israel and Palestine, courses for licensed eco-tour guides, a strategy paper for nature reserves and nature conservation, as well as project activities such as field trips, community events and taxonomy and eco-tourism courses. Concluding the conference was the presentation of plans for another project on key biodiversity areas and nature reserves in Israel and Palestine with both PWLS and SPNI.