Conserving the Swifts of Bethlehem

The project was implemented in Bethlehem, in the most sacred place for Christians, the Nativity Church, which for many centuries served as a perfect nesting site for migratory birds called swifts. Countless swifts have been using the cracks in the ancient wall of the church to nest, and would return to it almost on the same day every year. These birds are very special, they eat, drink and mate while flying. And, a pair of them can eat up to 10,000 insects per day, thereby providing an environmental and health service to humans. Unfortunately, all these cracks were completely sealed in the last renovation of the church.

As a replacement, the Hanns Seidel Foundation, with its Palestinian partners, made a project in 2019 that installed 73 nesting boxes just 500 meters away from the holy place, on a wall of a nearby school called Terra Sancta. Through the project, the students of the school and the scouts are involved in trainings about nature conservation. Each year they make a welcome back ceremony for the returning swifts, and the students maintain the nesting site year round.

The project is a glowing success, and has become an educational site for other students from all over Palestine to come and learn about it. The site continues to grow as a bird watching point. It is also an attractive ecotourism destination for domestic or inbound tourism, and therefore it also contributes to the local economic development of Bethlehem.

The stakeholders are involved, and gain knowledge about the importance of developing ecotourism sites economically and environmentally. In 2020, we implemented the first biodiversity exhibition in the Nativity Church Square to raise environmental awareness of the community with our partner the Environment Quality Authority and under the patronage of the Prime Minister, Dr. Mohammad Shtayyeh.

Project Partners: The Palestine Society for Environment and Sustainble Development, the Environment Quality Authority, Terra Sancta School and  the scouts.