أثر النمو السكاني على الأراضي الزراعية في محافظة غزة

Abstract EN

"The study dealt with the impact of the population growth on agricultural lands in the Gaza governorate, and aimed to study the evolution of the population in the governorate according to population censuses since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994.

The study also aimed to track changes in agricultural lands using aerial photos for the years (1975, 1985, 1995, 2005, 2015, 2018).

The study also aimed to build a model for projecting the area of agricultural land until 2030.

The study adopted the historical method to track the evolution of the population and the change in annual growth rates.

The study also relied on the analytical approach based on analyzing aerial images and extracting important data from them and employing them in the study.

The study results showed a decline in the area of agricultural land at the level of the Gaza Strip from 127.5 km2 in 1975 to 82.6 km2 in 2018, and it was also found that Gaza City forms the basis for the Gaza Governorate, which lost the largest percentage of its agricultural lands as a result of urban planning linked to population growth.

The study showed a strong inverse relationship between population growth and the area of agricultural land in the governorate.

The study also revealed an agricultural land decline in Gaza City by 4.5 km2 in 2030.

The study recommended the necessity of preserving agricultural lands and preventing individual urban encroachment towards them, and working on reclaiming more of them, especially the previous or frontier sand dunes.

It also recommended the necessity of relying on modern agriculture, especially greenhouses (vertical expansion) to compensate for the deficit in agricultural lands."