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Lebanon

In the current study the Lebanese team worked with IUCN, Plantlife and WWF to define twenty IPAs in Lebanon using published literature and consultations with national experts.

Located in the east Mediterranean, at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the fringes of Arabia, Lebanon is bordered by Syria to the north and east, and Israel to the south. The country’s surface area is 10,452 sq km (4,036 sq mi) and it has a coastline 225 km (140 mi) on the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Lebanon is divided into four distinct physiographic regions: the coastal plain, the Lebanon mountain range, the Bekaa valley and the Anti-Lebanon mountains

Due to the variety of topography, habitats and climate, Lebanon hosts a rich variety of wildlife including many rare and endemic plant species. Around 2,790 species of vascular plants comprise the Lebanese flora, including approximately 92 national endemic species. Two floristic ensembles are recognised in the country; Mediterranean and Presteppic Mediterranean and they are represented in almost all of their vegetation levels.

Lebanon has been designating protected areas since the 1930s. These currently include 8 nature reserves, 16 natural sites protected by decision of the Minister of Environment, 17 Hima and forests declared by the Minister of Agriculture, 14 tourism sites declared by the Ministry of Tourism, 8 natural sites & monuments declared by decrees and sites of natural and/or ecological importance in need of protection.

To manage its biodiversity, Lebanon, a signatory of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), has set up management teams consisting of a consortium of private and public groups including local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and municipalities. The management teams have subsequently contracted national and international scientists to produce species inventories in order to elaborate management approaches. These efforts remain hindered by the absence of baseline data identifying ecosystems, habitats, assemblages and populations, as well as the absence of species maps and a formal threat status for species (provided for example by a red-listing process).

The Lebanese team worked in bilateral cooperation with IUCN, Plantlife and WWF to define 20 IPAs in Lebanon using published literature and consultations with national experts. The IPAs of Lebanon are distributed throughout the country and are representative of its major ecosystems and habitats. Although, as expected, the majority of the IPA sites lie on the western slopes of the Lebanon mountain range and include Qornet Es-Sawda (the highest peak in the country at 3088m), IPAs are also found on the eastern Mediterranean shore, the Anti-Lebanon mountain range, the semi arid areas of the Bekaa valley and the marshes of West Bekaa.

Endemic and/or threatened species are found in almost every designated IPA, most of them contain more than 10 nationally endemic species and some sites are exceptionally rich in endemics: Bcharreh-Ehden (50 species), Chouf (32), Makmel (25) and Keserwan (25).

They include threatened endemics represented in a single IPA: a vetch Vicia canescens Labill (in Mount Makmel IPA), a chervil Chaerophyllum aurantiacum Post (Tannourine IPA), a knapweed Centaurea mouterdii Wagenitz. (Rihane) and a tulip Tulipa lownei Baker (Chouf) or within more than one IPA for example: a stock Matthiola crassifolia Boiss. et Gaill., Melissa inodora Boiss., the Lebanon Violet Viola libanotica Bornm. and Saofar Iris Iris sofarana Foster. In addition to endemics, the designated IPAs include some species that are at the edge of their distribution range such as Cilicia Fir Abies cilicica (Antoine & Kotschy) Carr found in Bcharreh-Ehden IPA and Hop Hornbeam Ostrya carpinifolia Scop. in Jabal Moussa (Wadi Jannah IPA). Although all identified IPAs contain species with trans-boundary distributions, many contain (very local) steno-endemics.

Qammouaa-Dinnyeh-Jurd Hermel, Palm Islands, Bcharreh-Ehden, Tannourine and Tyre-Naqoura IPAs include entire nature reserves or parts thereof. Aamiq, Palm Islands, Ras Chekka and Tyre Naquora include Ramsar sites. Qadisha valley is a natural heritage site, Wadi Jannah, Chouf and Rihane are bioreserves and Qammouaa-Dinnyeh- Jurd Hermel is under consideration for some kind of protection.

Threats to IPAs in Lebanon

Almost every type of habitat in Lebanon is threatened; urban expansion is invading every mountain, coast, plain, and valley. Examples of IPAs facing anthropomorphic threats include the coast (Beirut–Jiyyeh Coast and Tyre-Naqoura), dry plains (Hermel Plain), wetlands (Aammiq), riparian ecosystems (Wadi Jannah and Nahr Ed-Damour), as well as mountains and valleys in most of the IPAs of Mount Lebanon. The expansion and intensification of agriculture, deforestation and climate change are also frequent threats to IPAs.

Coordinating organisation:

• American University of Beirut

Contact:

• Salma Talhouk