The fire-fighters of Lebanon

After centuries of deforestation, however, few such trees remain; and even these are vulnerable. Each year thousands of fires ravage Lebanon, posing a huge threat to forests. Fortunately, help has come from youthful volunteers and a conservation organization, both supported by the WWF

Botanical treasures

Mount Lebanon, running through the centre of Lebanon, is the mountain chain where the country's botanical wealth and biodiversity is concentrated. Higher slopes are dominated by Lebanese cedar, while lower areas support pine, a range of other conifer species, as well as a variety of flowering plants and shrubs. Overall, Lebanon has some 2,600 plant species, of which 12% are endemic.

Apart from wood, Lebanese forests provide food e.g. pine nuts and honey. They are a buffer against desertification and are important for freshwater supplies. Cedar forests are also a tourist attraction.

Mount Lebanon's forests are included in WWF's Global 200 that represent the most biologically outstanding habitats and regions in the world. They are part of the wider Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands and Scrub Ecoregion, which fringes the Mediterranean Sea from Southern Europe to the Western Near East and Asia Minor.

Fire menace

Today these forests are mostly fragmented and degraded. Outside of two nature reserves to protect the Lebanese cedar, large areas remain unprotected. Current threats result from changing landuse, urbanization, logging, over grazing, unregulated tourism and frequent fires that burn out of control.

Yearly fires are a huge threat. In 2003 alone there were 15,000 fires that burnt out of control. Most fires start from those set by farmers to clear their orchards and fields of grasses and stubble.

'Too often these get out of control, causing enormous amounts of damage. Each year, an area the size of Corsica goes up in smoke in the region. This is causing biodiversity loss, water scarcity and soil erosion in extensive areas, and has negative economic consequences as well,' explains Pedro Regato, Head of the Mediterranean Forest Programme at WWF.

A pine and oak forest around the small village of Ramlieh in Mount Lebanon was one which disappeared in a few short blazing hours. But the blaze fueled a community response.

The rescue effort

Determined to do something about the tragic loss of their village forest, five university students swung into action. They decided to replant the destroyed forest of Ramlieh. And ended up planting trees throughout Lebanon! These volunteers who, in 1993, came together as the Association for Forest Development and Conservation (AFDC) have, over a decade, planted some 250,000 trees throughout the country.

'Our reforestation programme has been very successful,' says Monir Bu Ghanem, the student who started the volunteer effort. 'But very early on I realized that we needed to do more than just this. The bigger issue was the fires themselves.'

AFDC has developed a clear system of roles and responsibilities for the different groups involved in extinguishing forest fires. They have also trained villagers to spot fires, mobilize themselves, and extinguish fires. Groups of young student volunteers are taught by experts to work as village units. These tackle fires alone; but in case of a big blaze, call in the civil defense.

AFDC and the WWF

WWF has been supporting the AFDC since 1996 ensuring, among other measures, that the young volunteers have access to proper equipment for spraying water, the right uniforms, boots…

The volunteers have hugely reduced the area of forest that is burnt each year. In Ramlieh, the village that started it all, just 7 of the 30 fires in 2003, became big fires.

However, fighting fires is not a long term solution. It would be much better if there were no fires to begin with! So AFDC is teaching farmers better fire management practices such as burning in winter of spring when vegetation is green and moist rather than in autumn, when it's drier.

The approach is paying off

In all, it is a tremendous success for five university students whose original dream was only to restore their village forest. AFDC is now a well-recognised national conservation organization active in advocacy, education and capacity building. There are some 400 volunteers and 15 full time staff split between head quarters in Beirut and nine offices in different villages throughout Lebanon.

In addition to the tree planting, fire fighting and education work, the original centre at Ramlieh has been extended to include a centre for ecotourism and environmental meetings.