Middle East - Anthony Ham [91]
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Lebanon comes under the category of ‘trying hard, but could do better’. Most national parks have a ‘Friends Association’, offering both environmental and practical information for visitors. The most impressive site is undoubtedly the Chouf Cedar Reserve (Click here), which, at 50,000 hectares, covers an astonishing 5% of the country’s entire area and is home to 30 mammal species and six cedar forests, including three that contain old-growth cedars.
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See Sıfır Yok Oluş (www.sifiryokolus.org) for information on Turkey’s 266 Key Biodiversity Areas, outlined by Turkey’s wing of the international coalition, Alliance for Zero Extinction.
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In recent years, thanks to EU aspirations, Turkey has stepped up its environmental protection practices. The growing number of protected areas includes 33 national parks, 16 nature parks and 35 nature reserves. It also includes 58 curiously named ‘nature monuments’, which are mostly protected trees, some as old as 1500 years. Sometimes the parks’ regulations are carefully enforced, but at other times a blind eye is turned to such problems as litter-dropping picnickers. Visitor facilities are rare.
The Middle East’s star environmental performer is undoubtedly Israel due to its strong regulation of hunting and a system of nature reserves comprising some 25% of the land. However, the parks are not without their problems. Many are minuscule in size and isolated, providing only limited protection for local species. Moreover, many of the reserves in the south are also used as military firing zones. One of the best reserves to visit for wildlife in Israel is Ein Gedi (Click here), on the shores of the Dead Sea.
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Local Environmental Organisations
Middle Eastern governments may be lagging behind the rest of the world when it comes to environmental protection, but they’re being shown the way by others. There are a number of impressive NGOs with an environmental focus in the region, such as Friends of the Earth Middle East (www.foeme.org) with Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian offices, or one of the following organisations:
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Israel & the Palestinian Territories
For more information on Israeli environmental groups, see the boxed text, Click here.
Galilee Society (www.gal-soc.org) Israel’s leading Arab-Israeli environmental activism group.
House of Water & Environment (www.hwe.org.ps) An up-and-coming Ramallah-based NGO with strong professional staff and expertise in water.
Life & Environment (www.sviva.net) An umbrella group that’s a valuable portal for reaching dozens of Israel’s grassroots environmental groups.
Palestine Hydrology Group (www.phg.org) A very professional, water-oriented NGO that conducts research and projects, primarily in the West Bank.
Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI; www.aspni.org) The largest and oldest of Israel’s environmental organisations.
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Jordan
Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN; www.rscn.org.jo) The Jordanian environment’s best friend.
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Lebanon
Association for Forests, Development and Conservation (www.afdc.org.lb) Runs reforestation, fire-fighting and ecotourism programs.
Greenline (www.greenline.org.lb) One of Lebanon’s biggest volunteer-based environmental NGOs.
Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (www.spnlb.org) A dynamic organisation that’s committed to conserving Lebanon’s wildlife.
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ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Name an environmental issue and chances are that the Middle East is struggling with it.
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The Marsh Arabs, by Wilfred Thesiger, is a classic account of the marshlands of southern Iraq before Saddam ordered them drained in one of the worst environmental crimes of the 20th century.
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Water scarcity is undoubtedly the primary long-term environmental concern for most people in the Middle East; Click here