PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Lebanon suffers from major environmental and development problems in a number of areas, including pollution control, waste management, quarrying, land use and coastal zone management. In an effort to address these problems, the Ministry of Environment has listed the following as its long-term objectives: a. Preparation of the appropriate legislative framework to enforce environmental practices; b. Initiation of work plans and programmes setting accurate indicators and standards in various environmentally affected public and private sectors, for more efficient decision-making and management; c. Launching public awareness campaigns through core academic curricula and through different audio-visual media; d. Imposition of environmental impact assessment on development projects; and e. Empowerment of local NGOs’ role in civil society and proper decision making. To be able to achieve such goals, Lebanon needs a system for observation, analysis, monitoring and evaluation of environmental information.
OBJECTIVES
The project’s objectives were to develop the Lebanese Environment and Development Observatory (LEDO), which would aim to: 1. Provide a better understanding of the environmental context in Lebanon and key environment-development linkages, including the economic costs of environmental degradation; 2. Reduce gaps and redundancies in environmental data collection and analysis efforts by various public and private sector entities; 3. Supply government and non-governmental officials and decision-makers with objective elements of information; and 4. Strengthen the capabilities of the Ministry of Environment to coordinate environmental activities by various public and private sector entities and to formulate realistic environmental policies. Once established, the LEDO’s activities would vary from simple collection and publication of existing environmental information to gathering, collection, analysis and publication of data, indicators and strategic studies.
RESULTS
The project has provided a clear basis for environmental information management for Lebanon; this has included identifying indicators through a participatory process and the centralisation of environmental information. The key achievements of this project include: 1. Identification of gaps in environmental information needs in Lebanon; 2. Development of a number of environment-development indicators for monitoring environmental issues; 3. Setting-up an information system to manage environmental data; and 4. Creation of a monitoring network made up of organisations engaged in gathering environmental information of all kinds in Lebanon. Key project outputs include: 1. A list of 90 environment and development indicators; 2. An Indicators Handbook, which was distributed to national partners plus the Blue Plan Office, and regional observatories in Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Algeria and Malta; 3. Accurate environmental information (e.g. updated State of the Environment Report 2001 for Lebanon, a land-use map for the whole of Lebanon, a GIS database of Lebanon’s topographic maps, and institutional analyses of who holds or collects environmental information in Lebanon); 4. An information system that is accessible through the web (www.moe.gov.lb/ledo/index.html); 5. Databases on consultants and candidates, accessible to all MoE staff; 6. Various training activities for MoE/LEDO staff on environmental indicators, GIS, etc.; and 7. A monitoring network and determination of conditions so that this will continue to function after the end of the project (Ministerial Decision, Memoranda of Understanding). The project has provided a clear basis for environmental information management for Lebanon; this has included identifying indicators through a participatory process and the centralisation of environmental information. The key achievements of this project include: 1. Identification of gaps in environmental information needs in Lebanon; 2. Development of a number of environment-development indicators for monitoring environmental issues; 3. Setting-up an information system to manage environmental data; and 4. Creation of a monitoring network made up of organisations engaged in gathering environmental information of all kinds in Lebanon. Key project outputs include: 1. A list of 90 environment and development indicators; 2. An Indicators Handbook, which was distributed to national partners plus the Blue Plan Office, and regional observatories in Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Algeria and Malta; 3. Accurate environmental information (e.g. updated State of the Environment Report 2001 for Lebanon, a land-use map for the whole of Lebanon, a GIS database of Lebanon’s topographic maps, and institutional analyses of who holds or collects environmental information in Lebanon); 4. An information system that is accessible through the web (www.moe.gov.lb/ledo/index.html); 5. Databases on consultants and candidates, accessible to all MoE staff; 6. Various training activities for MoE/LEDO staff on environmental indicators, GIS, etc.; and 7. A monitoring network and determination of conditions so that this will continue to function after the end of the project (Ministerial Decision, Memoranda of Understanding).