Olib

Elsa Sattout, expert in the conservation and management of biodiversity and consultant in the field, said that Lebanon is located in a particularly rich region of the Mediterranean, one of 25 areas in the world where biodiversity is most remarkable. Lebanon itself has a particularly diverse flora.

"This is due to several factors” states Elsa Sattout. “There is namely the climatic factor: we have four seasons, with temperatures that rise in summer and are rather low in winter added to a significant pluviometry. Topography is also a determining factor due to our two mountain ranges that divide the territory into a Mediterranean region and a steppes area in the anti-Lebanon assembly line. A third factor is related to civilizations that have succeeded and to anthropogenic activities (importation of plants, for example). "

Today, there are eight natural reserves amongst the country’s preserved zones, the majority of which - five to be precise - are coniferous forests i.e. the cedars. Elsa Sattout reiterates the importance of protecting such sites and other remarkable areas also. “These forests are ancient, they contain an irreplaceable biodiversity and practically act like natural genes banks, she underlines. If they suddenly disappear, many species would be lost forever. They are invaluable witnesses of the past. ”

These “invaluable witnesses of the past” have an importance which we could describe as global: Horch Ehden (caza of Zghorta, heights of North Lebanon) constitutes the southern limit of a very beautiful tree, the Fir Tree of Cilicie, whereas the Chouf reserve (south of Mount-Lebanon) is the southern limit of the famous Cedrus libani and the Tannourine reserve (North of Lebanon) is the largest remaining spot of this variety of cedars. The maritime reserve of Tyr (South of Lebanon), one of the last large sand beaches still preserved in Lebanon, comprises sand dunes containing ecosystems that have become rare in Lebanon as well as in the area (while the flora of other coastal areas is disappearing at an alarming rate).

The expert acknowledges a slight penchant for Horch Ehden. “It is a forest with a very high biodiversity which has sustained real dynamics and which presents combinations of remarkable plants, especially in a country where there were so many disturbances, she says. It contains in particular many orchid species and endemic tree species. ”