11 February 2002
About 25 volunteers and environmental activists headed to the formerly occupied southern town of Kfar Houne on Sunday to plant 400 pine trees.
Jointly organized by Green Line and the Association for Forest Development and Conservation, the project was funded by the German GTZ organization, which is running a project for combating desertification in Lebanon out of the Agriculture Ministry.
The trees were planted in a 10,000-hectare plot belonging to the Catholic monastery of Deir al-Mzeiraa, also a partner in the project.
“GTZ funded about 65 percent of the $10,000 project, while the church footed 15 percent of the bill and Green Line the remaining 20 percent,” said Ali Darwish, Green Line's president.
“Some areas are riskier than others, due to landmines,” said Darwish in his assessment of this two-year project.
