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June 14,
2005
New fire-fighting project blazes trail in test areas
EU-funded effort aims to train and equip volunteers to reduce Lebanon's forestry losses
By Rita Boustani
BEIRUT : More than 25 percent of Lebanese territory is threatened annually by forest fires due to the lack of a national action plan for their prevention or containment. The Association for the Protection and Development of Forests, in cooperation with Green Line and the Chouf Cedars Society, has implemented an EU-funded project to create permanent mechanisms allowing local communities to fight forest fires.
Completed in May, the project was implemented in five test areas: Qornayel, Ras al-Metn, Mtein, Dmeet and Rmeileh.
The project included creating local fire fighting units, providing volunteers with the basic machinery required for the task and the holding of national awareness campaigns.
Also, more than 20 hectares of land destroyed by past fires were reforested and a nursery in Rmeileh was the focus of a rehabilitation project.
According to a geographical data base on forest fires between 1983 and 2003, 1,200 hectares of forest burn each year, particularly in the Mount Lebanon area where 51 percent of the country's fires take place. Lebanon 's blazes occur mostly in August and September between the hours of 12 p.m. and 6 p.m.
On Monday, army and Civil Defense personnel extinguished several fires in the Bekaa, where some 105,000 square meters of wheat fields and land were destroyed.
According to a study conducted by the National Center for Scientific Research and Studies, each pine tree needs 25 years to bear fruit , while the monetary cost from lost wood sales due to fires are estimated at $6,750 per hectare in oak forests, $17,000 per hectare in wild pine tree forests and $20,000 per hectare for fruit pine forests.
Meanwhile, the Nature Without Borders association reported the presence of two locations where used tires are burned on the side of the main road leading to the Dahr al-Baidar quarries.
The association's president, Mahmoud Ahmadiyeh, said burning tires was harmful to the environment's soil, air and underground water, especially springs in the Ain Dara area. Ahmadiyeh added it was unlikely tires were being burned to extract metal "because the burnt quantity is very small."
Environment Hotline has also received several complaints concerning the burning of electrical cables to extract copper in the industrial area of Mkalles. The group was able to send a municipal policeman to the area after thick black smoke blanketed Hazmieh, with the smell of burnt plastic reaching all the way to Dekwaneh and Jisr al-Basha.
Authorities found that two workers claiming to be burning garbage were in fact burning cables, well aware the Mansourieh police had dedicated a nearby site for the burning of industrial waste.
The policeman said the municipality was facing difficulties in controlling the burning of waste due to the lack of compliance from residents and plant owners.
An initiative of Al-Bia Wal Tanmia (Environment and Development) magazine, the hotline was set up to receive complaints regarding environmental violations and attempts to find swift solutions to them.