The Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), comprising the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip, is part of Historic Palestine (27,000 km2), with a population of approximately 6 million people, and spans an area of nearly 6,000 km2. The majority of Palestinians in the OPT rely primarily on agriculture as their main source of income. Olive trees and their derivatives—fruit, oil, and byproduct waste (solid and liquid)—constitute the largest part of the agricultural sector in the OPT. This research focuses on the links among green entrepreneurship (GEn), the green economy (GEc), and sustainable development (SD), with a particular emphasis on the olive sector in the OPT. Integrating these three dynamics (GEn, GEc, and SD) with the olive sector is a noble and unprecedented objective of this research. However, this approach is difficult to achieve given the numerous challenges and obstacles facing the Palestinian people in the OPT. These challenges mainly include: 1) The geopolitical conditions of the inhumane Israeli occupation since June 1967; and 2) The absence of planning within the Palestinian Authority, which has exercised nominal rule over the people without any real implementation on the ground since its establishment in September 1993. This research presents innovative ideas, initiatives, technologies, services, and products that simultaneously address the three dynamics (GEn, GEc, and SD) in relation to the olive sector. It also examines an innovation within a dynamic subset of GEn, GEc, and SD, focusing on seizing business opportunities that minimize negative environmental impacts while achieving social, economic, environmental, political, and human value. This research supports sustainable development by mitigating environmental risks, such as climate change, water scarcity, and the lack of food security policies. This can be achieved while preparing to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) by 2030. Although it is extremely difficult for the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory to achieve any of the 17 UNSDGs by 2030, simply taking them into account has positive implications for green entrepreneurship policies, the green economy, and sustainable development, and vice versa.
Wastewater from phosphate fertilizer industries is highly acidic and enriched in fluoride and phosphate, posing significant environmental and health risks. This study presents a long-term, side-by-side comparison of a conventional activated sludge reactor (CASR) and a two-stage anaerobic–aerobic enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) system, applied to lime-pretreated industrial effluent. Both reactors operated continuously for 160 days under identical conditions, with the organic loading rate gradually increased from 0.3 to 1.2 g chemical oxygen demand (COD)/L·d. Lime pre-treatment effectively reduced fluoride and phosphate concentrations, enabling stable downstream biological operation. Both systems achieved high COD removal (> 98
We model and select fin count and fin length for passive cooling of photovoltaic panels, using a finite-volume thermal workflow anchored to hottest-hour conditions in Khouribga with a no-fin baseline of 76.0 °C at the back surface and ambient 45.4 °C, the method first identifies a practical fin length from the saturation of cooling benefit, then performs spacing sweeps to capture two-fin interference and maps the chosen spacing to a module-width fin count. The analysis yields a short aluminum fin as sufficient, with a practical length near 0.205 m capturing essentially all available cooling, and an optimum spacing of about 0.060 m, close to one half of the fin length, which minimizes mid-gap temperature at roughly 57.3 °C and sets a realistic fin count across a 1.00 m module. Physically, the gain stems from stronger effective convection and added area, while diminishing returns beyond the practical length confirm a simple geometric rule set that is robust to small variations in wind and construction. Electrically, the configuration corresponds to an approximate midday power uplift of 30 W on a 400 W module and daily energy improvements around 7
Hydroclimatic pressure in Mediterranean coastal environments may intensify even without a persistent decline in annual precipitation because warming and atmospheric drying can increase evaporative demand. This study evaluates long-term hydroclimatic change at İskenderun, southern Türkiye, using monthly precipitation, mean air temperature, and relative humidity observations for 1955–2023. Vapour pressure deficit (VPD), the De Martonne aridity index, the Gaussen dry-month criterion, the Walsh–Lawler rainfall seasonality index, and a rainfall temporal centroid were combined with Mann–Kendall and Sen trend analysis, the Hamed–Rao correction for serial correlation, and Pettitt change-point detection. NASA POWER precipitation, temperature, and relative humidity were independently evaluated against station observations for 1981–2023. Mean annual precipitation showed no significant monotonic trend and was 3.18
Random, dumpsites have long been a major source of environmental pollution, particularly affecting downstream areas even after their closure. For decades, such dumpsites were the primary method of waste disposal in Palestine. Following the establishment of a regional sanitary engineered landfill in the southern West Bank, all existing dumpsites were closed and rehabilitated; however, the long-term risks to downstream areas and the fate of associated pollutants remain insufficiently studied. This paper investigates heavy metal contamination in seven former dumpsites and assesses the potential risks to downstream environments. A total of eleven soil-like material samples were collected from the dumpsites at a depth of 20–30 cm, along with seven samples from downstream areas located 50–100 m away. Samples were analyzed for pH, EC, and concentrations of Pb, Zn, Ni, Cr, Cd, and Cu. Results were compared against international maximum permissible limits for agricultural soils and local compost standards for dumpsite soils. Findings revealed that heavy metal concentrations in most downstream areas were within international limits, except for Cd, which exceeded the permissible threshold in two sites. Risk assessment indicated that despite most downstream concentrations falling below international agricultural standards, the SPI and ERI indices reflected varying degrees of contamination and risk, warranting targeted remediation measures. Within the dumpsites, heavy metal levels were generally below PSI compost standards, with the exception of Pb, Ni, and Cu, which exceeded upper limits at a single site. This suggests that compost mining remains a viable option for resource recovery in other dumpsites. Given that closure of dumpsites through conventional physical methods alone cannot fully eliminate environmental impacts, future strategies should emphasize (i) landfill mining for material recovery, and (ii) remediation of contaminated downstream areas to mitigate risks and promote sustainable resource use and environmental management.
