OLITREVA · Capacity Building for Sustainable Treatment and Valorization of Olive Mill Waste in Palestine

As for the whole Mediterranean, for thousands of years, the olive tree has been an integral part of the Palestinian landscape: a symbol of Palestinian identity, culture and tradition. Nowadays, around 100.000 families in the West Bank depend on olive cultivation as their main source of income and during harvest season, this sector creates thousand of additional jobs. Despite the significant contributions of the olive oil sector in the economic and social development of the Palestine, it is becoming a source of serious environmental problems to which urgent solutions have to be addressed. OLITREVA project aims to strengthen RTD and cooperation capacities of Palestinian research centres and thus, to enhance their response to the environmental threats posed by olive oil production residues in the country. Our target would be to enhance S&T capacities of local research performers devoted to the field of Olive Mill Waste Treatment, by increasing networking and cooperation with European centres of top-level research and scientific excellence working in the same field. Through this path, local researcher centres and researchers will develop the necessary capacities to respond to the environmental challenges result from incorrect OMW disposal. By engaging one of the country's leading research institutions, The Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem, awareness among local peer organizations on this research field will be raised. Moreover, several activities within the work plan are meant to be a platform to increase international awareness about the work performed by Palestinian research institutions and to promote networking activities and transfer of knowledge and best practices.