Naim Baroud (Naʿīm Bārūd) ( نعيم سلمان محمد بارود ) was an active scholar and professor of Geography at the Islamic University of Gaza. He also served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts from 21 August 2021 until 18 March 2022. He was married and had several children. 

An engaged researcher, Professor Baroud has several publications on various topics in the discipline of Geography. Indeed, references to as many as 19 articles appear on a faculty list of publications on the Faculty of Arts pages of the Islamic University website. Most notable about his research and writing is the commitment to environmental protection in the Palestinian territories, with articles treating subjects such as waste and wastewater management, the use of pesticides and their impact on environmental and human health, the relationship between economic conditions and the incidence of disease in Gaza. 

Two co-authored publications with a colleague from the Islamic University of Gaza, employing their shared expertise in Geographical Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing Procedures (RS), are noteworthy for their important policy implications relative to environmental sustainability. The earlier article (2014), “Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing Technology to Evaluate the Morpho-Environmental Characteristics of the Red Sea-Dead Sea Canal Project,” documents the hydrological and morphological changes to the Dead Sea region over time and demonstrates that, on the basis of those changes, the building of a channel to connect the Dead Sea and the Red Sea would have catastrophic environmental consequences. 

The more recent study (2021), entitled “Applying environmental sustainability standards to reduce changes to the coastline of the Gaza Strip using RS-GIS,” tracks the environmental degradation of the Gaza coast across several governorates and proposes methods to limit negative effects. It was published in the Journal of Humanitarian Research of the Islamic University of Gaza. 

In addition to his academic pursuits, Naim Baroud was a member of the Board of Directors of the al Quds International Foundation, a philanthropic organization created in Lebanon in 2011 to support projects in the Palestinian territories. 

Naim Baroud was killed on 25 October 2023 in al-Shatti Refugee Camp where he lived in Gaza City Governorate. Five members of his family were killed with him when the Israeli airforce bombed his home without prior warning. He was 61 years old. 

Photo credit: IPS