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Friday, June 18, 2004
Green Line highlights environmental violations
'Officials raise anti-pollution campaigns just to serve their own interests'
Campaigner says government is not providing alternative means of transport
By Nada Raad
Daily Star staff
BEIRUT : The environmental association Green Line highlighted Thursday several environmental violations and political scandals that are harming the public interest in the absence of any official monitoring.
While the association addressed the problem of some privately owned beaches that are now managed by private associations to serve officials' interests, it also went over the corruption in the transportation sector and an absence of any monitoring of the increasing large investment projects in the country.
"Some officials are raising environmental awareness campaigns concerning our polluted sea just to cover or pass decisions serving their own interests and that are more dangerous than pollution itself," said Green Line President Salman Abbas during a news conference at the Press Federation.
Currently, non-governmental organizations are undertaking several public awareness campaigns to protect the sea, which Green Line considers a cover for officials here to protect their personal interests.
"Ramlet al-Baida beach in Beirut is still privately owned as Beirut municipality did not yet respond to the public's calls to transform it into a public beach," Abbas said.
According to the Environmental Law 444 issued in 2002, "projects that prohibit the free access to the seashore could not be established on public beaches and rivers."
Moreover, Abbas said that not only is it privately owned, but also the beach is now managed by an environmental organization, Cedars.
"A public beach should be managed by the Transportation and Public Works Ministry and never by an association," Abbas said. "Such an action only proves that Ramlet al-Baida is now a private beach."
In addition to the rising crisis of privately owned beaches, Abbas referred during the conference to a transportation crisis.
"Although the Transportation and Public Works Ministry allocated a huge budget for a national transportation plan, it did not consult non-governmental organizations, the Union of Taxi Drivers or any other transportation union," he said.
He added that the Transportation and Public Works Ministry's Railway and Transportation Authority is bankrupt following a deliberate attempt by the government to profit from privately owned bus companies.
"There are 922 employees at the Railway Authority, when only 400 are needed," he said.
Green Line campaigner Firas Abi Ghanem says the country also suffers from a high number of vehicles - 1.2 million - because the government neither provides alternative means of transport nor enforces punitive measures against car owners.
The environment is also threatened by large investment projects, such as the Sannine Project, which are granted permits without any official social and environmental long-run assessment of the projects.
"If owners say they would abide by environmental restrictions when building the project, there is no proof of such statements as the government has no institutions capable of monitoring such huge projects," Green Line member Karim Jisr said.
Activists question water minister's assessment of cleanliness of Lebanon 's sea
Energy and Water Minister Ayoub Humayed announced two weeks ago that water pollution in Lebanon is not as dangerous as some would like to claim. "The pollution here is organic and easy to be treated and there is no chemical and nuclear pollution. We can safely say that the Lebanese sea is much cleaner than the seas of other countries," he said.
The statement grabbed the attention of environmental activists who were surprised about the minister's announcement, which they say has "nothing to do with reality."
"On what studies is the minister basing his statement?" asked Greenpeace campaigner in Lebanon Wael Hmaidan. "There are no studies conducted by the government to assess the pollution of the sea, except one done by Greenpeace in 1997, which shows that our sea suffers from serious pollution coming from heavy metals and chemicals thrown by the industries in the rivers, which flow into the sea."
"Let the minister go swim in the Ouzai and then tell us if the sea is cleaner than other countries," said Green Line campaigner Firas Abi Ghanem.
Last year's collapse of the Sidon dump, which lies on the coast, was a catastrophe due the existence of chemicals.
"We do not separate our waste but throw them all in the same dump without any treatment. We surely have a lot of chemicals and toxic materials in the six dumps located on the seacoast and these end up seeping into the sea, polluting it," Abi Ghanem said.