In Lebanon, the project faces the country’s climatic, economic and political challenges

Hammana and Anjar, Lebanon, February 2024

The project involved planting 2,500 trees in the villages of Hammana and Anjar. The aim was to help restore biodiversity, protect animal and bird habitats, help local communities get closer to nature and encourage them to preserve their land in sustainable ways.

The project began in October 2021 with all the logistics and organisation on the ground, with local partner the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL).

In recent years, Lebanon has suffered from the effects of climate change, especially the erratic rainy season, which delayed the project planting by several weeks, and severe drought. These difficult conditions forced local teams to adapt and remain extremely vigilant.

Planting finally took place from February to April 2022, with the local communities of the two villages playing an active role. A total of 1,250 trees were planted in each Hima (protected area). The aim for 2023 was to maintain and monitor the trees planted in the two villages. These activities were to be carried out by the communes and local populations and supervised by local partner SPNL.

However, since the last article and the planting period, Lebanon has plunged into an economic and political crisis that has destabilised the whole country. The municipalities of Hammana and Anjar were to set up relay points (technicians to monitor the plantations) and irrigation systems for the trees. Given the economic crisis, the local authorities could no longer afford to manage these activities and the elected representatives of Hammana even resigned. To date, they have not been replaced. The teams from our local partner SPNL have done their utmost to do the maintenance themselves, but this has not been enough.

When it came to monitoring the young trees remaining, the findings were not so good. However, in Anjar an irrigation system has since been installed, and the local technicians here have undertaken to replace all the dead young trees.

In Hammana, there are still no new local councillors. Without the local authorities, the project cannot go ahead. Faced with this major setback, A Tree for You and local partner SPNL have decided to focus on the commune of Anjar and do everything possible to meet the village’s target of planting 1,250 permanent trees. In Hammana, SPNL teams will continue to work the locals to maintain the trees still growingbut this will not allow us to achieve our target of planting 1,250 permanent trees.

A Tree for You remains fully committed to its Lebanese partner SPNL. Together we hope to be able to save part of this wonderful project.