The Public Affairs Officer of U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem, Mr. Frank Finver, Dr. Marwan Haddad, Director of the Water and Environmental Studies Institute (WESI) at An-Najah University, and Mrs. Sahar Akkob, Director of Education Directorate in Nablus participated in the closing ceremony of the environmental awareness course at An-Najah University which was funded by the Consulate. More than 180 teachers and headmasters from different schools in Nablus participated in the completion of a training course. Subjects of this course included: water quality, wastewater and toxic waste treatment, environmental health practices in schools, environmental health, air pollution, eco-tourism, protecting cultural heritage, as well as climate change.

Mr. Finver thanked Prof. Hamdallah and Dr. Haddad for their efforts in developing the skills of Palestinian teachers' stating that this program aims at building environmental awareness among people and the society as a whole. Dr. Haddad also mentioned that this course is important since it raises environmental awareness among school teachers and headmasters and called upon them to pass this awareness to their students. Moreover, American air pollution specialist, Dr. Randal Martin from Utah State University, conducted workshops on the reasons and impacts of climate change in cooperation with the Water and Environmental Studies Institute, the Chemical, Biological and Drugs Analysis Center and students from the Civil Engineering Department at the University.

These workshops aim at offering programs that connect local Palestinian students, teachers and environmentalists with American specialists to look for innovative methods regarding climate change. Finally, certificates were distributed among the participants.