Kids in Halba wait outside their school for the Bio kids program to begin. ©Simba Russeau
By: Simba Russeau
Akkar, Northern Lebanon - It’s not an easy task to convince local villages of the benefits of biodiversity and native tree planting. Traditionally trees have come to symbolize an emotion related to Lebanon’s cedar tree or as a form of generating income. To challenge this view, the American University of Beirut’s Nature Conservation Center for Sustainable Futures (IBSAR) gathered for a day of community tree planting and educational activities as a means of promoting the importance of nature conservation and biodiversity.
It was a cold sunny Saturday morning as the bus pulled up to the school in the village of Halba. Youthful and smiling faces immediately rushed to meet the volunteers, mainly out of curiosity. The event was located in the elevated hilly and mountainous region of Akkar in Northern Lebanon.
“Okay those that are staying for the Biokids please get the materials out of the bus and go inside and set up,” Samer Toutoungy, said to a group of around twenty volunteers who sacrificed their day off to plant native Lebanese trees and facilitate educational games with the eager kids who were patiently waiting at the door.
Toutoungy is the coordinator of IBSAR’s Biokids program. This program was designed to introduce the concept of biodiversity through various activities like painting on clay pots, which were later used to plant seeds.
Kids paint the Lebanese flag with their own native Lebanese trees. ©Simba Russeau.
Another activity enjoyed by the participants was painting the Lebanese flag where the kids were able to paint their own trees instead of the Cedar tree, which according to Toutoungy was as a way highlighting Lebanon’s feelings of biodiversity.
The Biokids program runs in parallel with IBSAR’s ‘Seeds of Hope, Trees for Tomorrow’ Campaign, a decentralized and sustainable, community-based tree planting program with a short-term goal of planting 50,000 native trees from thirty different species in around 100 villages in Lebanon by 2010. In the long-term, IBSAR hopes to assist these communities in planting up to 1 million trees by 2020.
One of IBSAR’s main objectives is to educate the local community of the importance of maintaining nature’s cycles. According to IBSAR using native trees in reforestation projects enhances the forests’ survival rate because trees and animals depend on one another for their survival, which is referred to as species interdependence.
“IBSAR is not interested in just planting trees,” adds Toutoungy. “It’s through our educational games that we are able to plant a seed in the younger generation so that they grow up learning the importance of nature conservation.”
Myra Al-Assad, 18, is a second year public relations student at the Lebanese American University (LAU). Al-Assad, like many of the volunteers who donated their time today, is not a student at AUB but was eager to volunteer with IBSAR because of the good things she heard about the center’s various outreach projects and to also seize an opportunity to interact with the community.
“Today I was responsible with helping the kids paint clay pots, which were later filled with soil and seeds,” says Al-Assad. “I enjoy working with kids and painting. As a volunteer I was granted the opportunity of sharing with the kids the importance of social activities and teamwork.”
Several months ago, Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud had to declare the village of Dibbiyeh a “disaster area” after fires raging in the Chouf Mountains left three soldiers and a firefighter injured.
According to the Association for Forests, Development and Conversation (AFDC), Lebanon is particularly vulnerable to the impact of forest fires because its woodlands are not adapted to full regeneration after being burned. It estimates that forests covered about 13 percent of Lebanese territory in 2007 – in 1965, 35 percent of the surface was covered with forests.
In October 2008, the Ministry of Environment, the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the AFDC launched their Integrated Forest Fires Management Project in the North Lebanese village of Andkit. It aims is to bring NGOs, municipalities and the government together in fighting fires.
“There really is a lot to do in forestation in Lebanon,” said FAO representative, Ali Moumen. “One of the essential things is education,” he added. “People are aware that there is a problem but they do not know what to do. In case of a fire, for instance, it is so extremely difficult to have access to the necessary education.”
Kids hold up the different native Lebanese trees during the identification workshop. ©Simba Russeau.
What differentiates IBSAR’s ‘Seeds of Hope, Trees for Tomorrow’ Campaign from other reforestation initiatives is that the campaign is community integrated and aimed at planting trees within towns, with the objective of planting the largest variety of native Lebanese trees throughout Lebanon.
Reforestation efforts by non-governmental organizations mainly focus on large nature reserves that rarely involve community stakeholders directly. IBSAR is interested in projects designed to utilize practical areas for growth like parks, private yards, and other community green areas. This approach places the responsibility in the hands of the local villages so that they can create self-sustainable communities.
At the site of the tree planting in the village of Kwashra Deputy Mayor Pierre Khoury was also in attendance to welcome IBSAR and the Economic Social Fund for Development (ESFD), who sponsored the day’s activities.
“Tcharafna ESFD and IBSAR!” says Mr. Khoury. “It’s important that we preserve our heritage and our connection to the land.”
“People here don’t have the money or government funding to reform the lands; otherwise you would see more trees or gardens,” says Hakkam Hassan, Mayor of Kwashra. “It was only in the last fives years that we have been able to plant olive trees again.”
The Economic Social Fund for Development (ESFD) works with municipalities throughout Lebanon on development projects that are community based.
“Today we have a project in collaboration with AUB’s IBSAR planting 1,300 trees and we also organized an entire day of bio activities with the kids where they were able to learn about biodiversity,” says Zeina Zouain, Community Development officer with EFSD.
“Unfortunately, the local media fails to understand the importance of reporting issues related to the environment,” she adds. “Educating the community on the essentials of developing a relationship with the environment will not only raise awareness of Lebanon’s diverse trees but also stimulate communities to become guardians of biodiversity in their villages and region.”
In the future, IBSAR plans to use native trees as seed stock for developing micro-nurseries, which would allow villagers to produce trees for reforesting the lands affected by continuous forest fires as well as using trees to monitor climate change in the region.
Forest fires are a constant problem in reforestation programs but this can be resolved by building firebreaks with non native species such as paulownia which has an ignition temperature of 425 degrees centigrade. “It doesn’t burn”
Known as the fastest growing hardwood tree in the world, it rapidly establishes itself and has excellent regenerative ability for the environment.
You may read more about paulownia at http://www.paulownianow.org