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Now Lebanon
27 July 2007
Talking To: Ali Darwish
NOW Lebanon: According to many activists, Green Line is one of the most
established environmental NGOs in Lebanon. Can you tell us about its
initial stages, development and priorities?
ALI DARWISH: Green Line was founded in 1991, when a group of
professionals, alumni and students from the American University of
Beirut (AUB) decided to translate into action their environmental
concerns during the post-war reconstruction phase. Our first action took
place in Tyre. It was a lecture about extracting sand from the sea – a
business operation conducted by some politicians like Nabih Berri.
The intention of the event was to raise public awareness of the
environmental risks of sand extraction. Although we received a number of
threats, we decided to go on with the lecture. The event, however, was
interrupted by a group of men who simply walked in, initiated a fight,
and beat us.
This event encouraged us to continue with our advocacy work, which
became a major part of the organization. We saw it as a challenge, and
the struggle made us well-known among other organizations and activists.
We then developed advocacy and lobbying goals. These now include:
exposing environmental threats, popularizing environmental awareness,
and contributing toward a scientific framework for a sustainable
environmental management policy.
In 1994, we started to work on projects like reforestation in
partnership with 56 local grassroots NGOs, forming a national
reforestation network that planted more than 100,000 trees all over
Lebanon. Then, we started getting funds from international
organizations, like Oxfam-UK and Novib, which is now our major donor, to
finance our projects.
We also partnered with Green Peace on the issue of toxic waste. We
thought then that bringing Green Peace to a Lebanese concern of that
sort of significance would attract better political and media coverage,
and we were right. Being involved in this campaign gave us more
publicity and we felt that we became more established as an advocacy
NGO. This gave us a boost, and we started to grow in terms of our
projects, funds and credibility. The public beach campaign, the
sustainable land transport campaign, the solid waste management
campaign, and lately the oil spill issue, all built our advocacy skills
and credibility locally and internationally.
At that stage, we did not have a clear organized strategy, but in 1998,
when Novib offered us framework funding instead of project funding, we
started to develop a program based on a 3 year proposal that would
include our projects and organize our priorities. Then, we realized that
our work started to equally range between advocacy and sustainable
development, especially that some members and staff were more political
than others.
We always stressed the scientific approach in our projects and
campaigns, with many contributions from academics and intellectuals, and
this gave us more credibility among our donors and partners. However, we
are suffering these days from a volunteer crisis. We are losing our
volunteers everyday because of the bad economic condition and the
political tensions. Many Lebanese are still committed to environmental
concerns on the personal level; however, we cannot lobby and organize
huge demonstrations anymore, although our demands are much more
important that the political issues that can attract hundreds of
thousands of demonstrators in less than a day.
Some volunteers prefer to concentrate on their careers, while others
have decided to avoid political categorization. When we are lobbying for
environmental issues, it is only normal to address and criticize the
government, which is naturally responsible. However, with the political
divisions in Lebanon, we end up being covered by the opposition media.
For example, when we learned that the Normandy waste is being tossed in
Sibline, with the backing of MP Walid Jumblatt and Solidere, we had to
talk about it. But, for political reasons, only the opposition media
covered our press conference. This is giving the wrong impression – that
we are on the opposition’s side; though in reality, we are just trying
to protect the environment in Lebanon. The problem in this country is
that most environmental problems are usually caused or ignored by
politicians, as long as their personal privileges are untouched.
NOW: Were you involved in the oil spill event of last summer? Can you
tell us more about your efforts, and the current state of this crisis?
AD: It seems no one knows anything about this crisis so far. The
government hasn’t made a public statement to explain the consequences of
the oil spill since it happened in the summer of 2006. We know that
around 15,000 tons of heavy fuel oil was spilled into the Mediterranean,
hitting more than 100 km of the Lebanese coast. It is the government’s
responsibility, not only that of the Ministry of Environment. Green Line
commissioned Professor Rick Steiner, the oil spill expert from the
University of Alaska, to assess the oil spill in Lebanon, and his work
showed that delaying cleanup efforts has increased the ecological damage
from the oil spill. He held Israel responsible for this oil spill and
requested 1 billion dollars in compensation for the damage.
We believe that developing a preliminary Oil Spill Contingency Plan (OSCP)
can help minimize this type of environmental damage in the future. It is
better than just not doing anything. Green Line is following up and
monitoring all cleanup activities undergone by different local and
international organizations along the seafront. Also, Green Line is
currently preparing a legal report on the oil spill compensation fund,
holding Israel responsible for all the economic and ecological damage.
Green Line is also initiating a scientific study of the impact of the
oil spill on marine life and the impact of the oil droplets fallout in
Jiyeh on human health.
Although “Bahr Lubnan” organization, headed by Nazek Hariri, has taken
an initiative to treat the oil spill predicament, in coordination with
the French government, I do not think that this initiative has led
anywhere so far. It totally ignored the role of the Lebanese government,
plus we haven’t seen any concrete or scientific results so far. They are
not even coordinating with potential local partners to give the campaign
a national expression.
This problem should be the responsibility of the Lebanese government,
not that of an NGO, especially if it is a politicized one. We still do
not know what happened to the remaining 8,000 tons of oil that hasn’t
been removed. It seems that the land beneath the spill is full of rocks,
which can cause the oil to leak inside the rocks, leading to a huge
environmental disaster.
We believe that the government should spend more money on research and
equipment to treat the spill and avoid disastrous consequences in the
near future.
NOW: If you had a blank check from the Lebanese government to implement
measures to protect the environment, how would you spend it?
AD: To make a difference, I would hire qualified judges with credible
power to enforce the law and hold criminals responsible. Also, I would
fight the privatization of the Lebanese coast with proper law
enforcement. We have the laws, but the problem is that no one is
implementing them correctly.
However, without jurisdiction, power and money cannot do anything. I
could only create gardens, parks and natural reserves. If I have enough
money, I would probably buy the whole Lebanese coast, protect it and
open it to the public. I would also buy forests and land to preserve
with strict measures.
These ideas are implemented in other parts of the world. For example,
there are foundations in the US that receive large individual donations
to buy and protect forests. However, Lebanese people have a different
mentality, and they wouldn’t invest in the protection of their own
environment.
.