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| Noura Jumblatt receives Kyoto Prize for ecological efforts Daily Star |
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November 17, 2006 BEIRUT : Noura Jumblatt has been awarded the Forest for Kyoto Prize by the Italian Environment Ministry for her extensive ecological efforts in the Chouf. The prize, named after the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and improvement, entitles Jumblatt to select an area in Lebanon where the Italian government will plant a new forest. " To be honest, the prize should be made out to Walid Jumblatt, who has dedicated a lot of time and effort to the preservation of the Chouf Cedar Reserve," the MP' s wife said in an exclusive interview with The Daily Star. " I was only his partner in this, whereas it was all his idea to preserve this region, with him protecting the area during the Civil War."
The Chouf Cedar Reserve was declared a nature reserve in 1996. It is not only Lebanon' s largest protected environment, but also the country' s only biosphere reserve. It contains its own independent ecosystem, with indigenous flora and fauna elements. Covering some 500 square kilometers, the reserve is home to 500 different plant species, of which 50 are endemic to Lebanon. It contains 2 million trees of 24 species, with the re-serve being the southernmost limit of the growth of Cedrus Li-bani - the Lebanese cedar tree. There are also 200 species of birds, 32 species of mammals and 27 species of reptile, two of which - the Mount Lebanon rock lizard and the green lizard - are also endemic to Lebanon. " In order to ensure the conservation of the reserve, there is constant research going on, and the area is continually monitored to make sure that all the natural elements within are always protected," Jumblatt said. The reserve also has a positive socioeconomic impact on the Chouf. " The people that live around it also benefit as they develop their own honey harvests, jam and herbs from the reserve, and on average there are about 25,000 tourists that visit it a year," she added. Jumblatt says Lebanon is rich in bio-diversity, more should be done to preserve and expand its natural environments. " Only 13 percent of Lebanon is covered with forestry, which is bad for the greenhouse effect and for the environmental condition of the country," she said. " We have to work harder to make forestry cover a minimum of 20 percent of Lebanon in order for us to maintain a balanced and healthy ecosystem." Jumblatt stressed the importance of increasing environmental awareness in Lebanon , saying there are many misconceptions about what acceptable behavior is and what is not. " We are a very small country, and we should be able to preserve what we have, but unfortunately we are losing it," she said, adding: " The future generations are lending us the land now, so the least we can do is to respect it for what it is and not destroy it for them; instead we should be making it better."
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