The waste crisis in Lebanon needs to be addressed without being further delay because the contracts of the companies that manage the waste will expire in a year. President of El Ard NGO Paul Abi Rached claims that an old waste plan proposed in 2010 did not reduce adverse environmental impact because the plan was based on “burn first” rather than reuse.
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As part of its plan to increase green spaces in Beirut, the Beirut Municipality has been purchasing property in residential areas to build parks and other green spaces. One of these parks will be located in Lebanon Street in Achrafiyeh and will be named after the Beirut Bishop Elias Audi. In an interview the Vice President of the Municipal Council, Nadim Abu Rizk stated “The proposed design is consistent with the urban fabric of this neighborhood.”
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The lack of Snow in Kfardebian this winter has had an adverse economic impact on the town. The low number of tourists has affected local businesses and the local labor market. Many locals were normally employed by the hotel and ski resort, but this was not the case this year; about 700 families in the area are reliant on this employment.
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Environment Minister called on Monday for the immediate halt of work in illegal and stone quarries. He urged actions to be carried out prevent such activities. It is believed that there are about 80 illegal stone and sand quarries in Lebanon that are causing severe environmental damage.
Save Energy Plant Trees (SEPT) organized a tree planting event which resulted in the plantation of about 550 tree saplings. Species planted were junipers, cedars, and abies. Some experts claim that the juniper can offset as much as 50 tons of carbon dioxide per year. The SEPT president Pierre Haddad puts this figure at only 5 tons per year
An official dump site caught on fire in the City in Baalbek. The location of the fire was near the Baalbeck Citadel and a mosque. There have been attempts to clean the area before and the municipalities built a fence to try prevent the littering.
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The information office of the Ministry of Energy and Water declared that they have not received the request to stop working on the Jennah Dam project from the Minister of Environment Mohammed Mashnouk. The information office also declared that the environmental studies conducted by the Ministry of Environment have been refuted by other technical studies. In addition other studies have concluded the dam will be beneficial with mostly positive impacts.
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The town El Qaa in Bekaa has had very limited water lately: 2 hours every few days. Their water resources have been under pressure from an increase of population (Over 8,000 Syrian refugees are registered there) and lack of rain and snow. In addition to these factors are allegations of corruption from the municipality’s water committee. The acting president of Al Qaa’s water committee has been accused with corruption and mismanagement and other illegal activities
The Minister of Environment Mohammad Machnouk will present a new broad environmental plan to the cabinet of ministers this week. The plan includes the shutdown of the controversial landfill site in Naame and includes waste sorting by municipalities, selling recyclables to local industry and composting organic material for use as fertilizer. These actions will contribute to the closure of the Naameh landfill by January 2015.
During a meeting with a World Bank delegations and representatives of the Food and Agricultural Organizations the ministry of agriculture Akram Chehayeb called for the development of agriculture infrastructure and solutions that will help deal with draught. The minister also called for an increase in reforestation projects.
Ecocentra 