Setting-up of a Lebanese Environment Observatory
05 March 2012
On the initiative of Mouin Hamzé, Secretary-General of the Lebanese CNRS, a meeting was held in Beirut on 27 February in order to launch the setting up of a Lebanese environment observatory. This meeting was attended by various French partners ( UM2, CNRS, IRD represented by Said Jabbouri, OSU-OREME) and Lebanese partners (CNRSL, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Lebanese University, American University of Beirut).
After the various participants expressed their interests in this initiative, debate focused on the themes to be developed, among which the following ones have been selected: Water; Biodiversity and Resources; and Waste Management.
Participants signed a document entitled Letter of Intent for a Lebanese-French Co-ordinated Action in the Field of Environment , which proposes the establishment of a Lebanese environment observatory. Participants discussed about two possible kinds of observatory without choosing between them: an observatory for collecting and storing data and / or an observatory also conducting research and training activities.
Subsequently, a meeting at the Ministry of Environment was held in the presence of various participants to expose the project to the Minister, who expressed his approval and support for the setting up of the observatory.
It was proposed that a meeting to sign a final contract between the different partners should be held at the time of the CNRSL's 50th anniversary which will be in June 2012.
It is important to mention that this project falls within the framework of the European MISTRALS programme, which brings together the main French research organizations in a joint effort to study the Mediterranean environment.
