Project funded by Novib
HISTORY & ACHIEVEMENTS:
Ramlet el Baida
Since its establishment Green Line has been active
in the field of preserving the Lebanese coast. The coast of Lebanon
is around 225 km in length, and 70 percent of the Lebanese population
live in this narrow area. This intensive density puts our coast
under a heavy pressure, and results in the degradation of it.
However, one of the major problems that the Lebanese coast is suffering from
is the privatization of this coast, thus making the access to public beaches
very difficult. For example, Beirut , the capital of Lebanon , has only one
public beach called the Ramlet El-Baida beach.
In the year 1998, Green Line was able to get a map showing the plans to transfer
this beach into a private touristic resort, thus depriving the Citizens of
Beirut from their last public beach. After thorough investigation, Green Line
discovered that the beach has became a private property to two companies connected
in one way or another to one of
the powerful political figures in the country. Green Line formed a committee
to follow up on this issue. The committee met and put a plan to:
- Make the plans of privatizing the beach public as the owners were trying to keep everything secret in order to avoid public pressure
- Make the Lebanese more aware of the beauties of their beach, and the different activities that it can be used for.
- Try to lobby as much as possible Beiruti NGO's
to pressure the municipality of Beirut to re-buy this beach and
transform it again into a public beach.
The committee planned for an environmental day on September
22, 2002 to publicize the plans to privatize this beach by
showing the map we received earlier.
This day included many activities for all the family members. It included
a play to show that the public beach is going to be privatized, a workshop
to teach Street music, a workshop for the children to teach them how to
draw, a competition for the nicest sand sculptures, volleyball games, and
games for children. On this day, which was attended by the representative
to the Prime minister, Green Line gave a speech to show the Lebanese the
dangers that are threatening their last public beach. The activity date
received good media coverage, and was welcomed much by the public.
After this event the Ramlet El-Baida beach committee
started working on lobbying people to pressure the municipality of Beirut
and the government to stop any plans to continue in the plans to build
a private beach resort in Ramlet El-Baida. Green Line hold tens of meetings
with different Beiruti NGO's in order to prepare for a new public workshop.
The main aim of this workshop was to give a strong message for the private
companies that want to deprive the Lebanese from their last public beach
that Green Line is continuing its efforts in order to lobby against this
plan.
Also, this same message was intended to reach the citizens of Beirut ,
that Green Line is a serious NGO, and that it will not retreat under any
pressure.
Also, a third objective was to get a set of recommendations from the NGOs
to back up the campaign. The main recommendation Green Line was looking
for was that the Beiruti NGOs are asking their municipality to establish
a public beach in Ramlet El-Baida.
The workshop faced huge political pressure to prevent people from attending
it, and to a great extent these pressures succeeded; however, the workshop
received huge media attention and it was attended by the head of the parliamentary
committee for environment.
Also, Green Line took the case to the parliamentary committee for environment.
Finally, the campaign reached a partial success when it was announced that
the beach at Ramlet El-Baida will be open for the public, after being rehabilitated
and equipped properly for the public. This is a partial success because
the public beach is still built on a private land based on a special arrangement
with the owning company, thus not making it a permanent public beach.
In its continuous efforts to make the Lebanese more aware about the importance
of their public beaches, Green Line is planning to organize a series of environmental,
cultural, and sport activities on the public beach of Tyre .
The activities are planned to take place in the second half of August 2004.
The objectives of these days are:
- Give a chance for new artists to expose their talents in a friendly environment.
- Distribute useful information about how to protect the environment.
- Expose the beauty of the historical city of Tyre .
- Highlight the efforts of Tyre municipality in preserving their public beach.
If you believe in the objectives of this campaign, or if you have a talent that you want to expose, or just a person who wants to extend a helping hand, please contact us: greenline@greenline.org.lb