Background The current environmental problems in the West Bank and Gaza are immense. They are one of the major constraints to the prosperous development of the Palestinian people. The many problems related to degradation of land, water, air, and nature are often interrelated as a result of both the difficult external political circumstances and internal financial, institutional and management problems. The Environmental Quality Authority is involved in environmental planning, policy development and implementation, setting environmental national standards, environmental monitoring and promoting environmental education, training, and public awareness. Objectives The overall objective is to strengthen the Palestinian Environmental Action Program.The specific objectives of the project are to provide technical assistance to the Environmental Quality Authority (EQA) to follow-up effectively the planning documents that have been prepared, to increase the monitoring skills of EQA staff, and to prepare the EQA to complete a new planning cycle. The expected results are: 1.The development of an Environmental Implementation Plan for the projects identified in the National Environmental Action Plan; 2.The design of Environmental Monitoring Systems for (ground) water quality, marine environment, natural resources, air quality, and the living environment; 3.The initiation of a national system of Industrial Pollution Control; and 4.The development of a Monitoring and Evaluation system to enable to provide aggregated information on the level of the indicators, and to describe the impacts of the various environmental actions. The project will strengthen the capacity of EQA on local level in order to implement the international and global environmental treaties and conventions. External assistance will ensure technology transfer and know-how from EU to the Palestinian Territories. Results Not applicable.