"John Hough" <john.hough@undp.org> 

Subject: FW: [Bioplan_AS] Lebanon News:New environment standards in pipeline

Of interest from the Arab States group of bioplanners.

John

Dr. John L Hough
Principal Technical Advisor
UNDP-GEF
304 East 45th Street. New York. NY 10017
Tel. 212-906-5560
Fax. 212-906-6690
em. john.hough@undp.org
http://www.undp.org/gef/ 
-----Original Message-----
From: elsa sattout [mailto:esattout@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2001 7:59 AM
To: bioplan_as@indaba.iucn.org
Subject: [Bioplan_AS] Lebanon News:New environment standards in pipeline 
 
 

Dear Bioplanners,

Hope you are all fine.  Enclosed and article on new enviornment standards which will be set for Lebanon.  EIA on industry: An important step towards the protection of our enviornment!

Happy Readings!
Elsa

***********************************************************************
New environmental standards in pipeline 
Government prepares to launch EIA on Industry

Samar Kanafani 
Daily Star staff 
Patrons of industry and urban development may soon have to comply with tight environmental standards and undergo close monitoring from the Environment Ministry to obtain project licenses. 
The ministry has taken the first step to shield the environment from chaotic planning by adopting Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as one of its main functions. 
Environment Minister Michel Musa submitted a draft decree last week which, if passed, will set the ministry’s EIA mechanism in motion, allowing it to introduce new standards and inspect their implementation. 
“There’s a dire need to meet international standards of environment protection and the time has come for us to live up to this,” Musa said Tuesday at the Order of Engineers and Architects, where the ministry held a lecture to outline EIA’s benefits. 
The Mediterranean Environmental Technical Assistance Program has granted the ministry $100,000 to begin EIA under the World Bank’s supervi! sion. 
The grant will be used to raise awareness about the EIA, which first appeared in the 1970s, and train private and public sectors to evaluate projects based on environmental criteria. 
Jacques Sarraf, head of the Lebanese Industrialists’ Association, said Tuesday that industries would implement environment-friendly methods, since they are a prerequisite for export and profitable in the long run. 
“Let accusing fingers be lifted from us,” he said. “We’ll be the first to protect the environment.” 
However, according to Mutasem Fadel, an engineer at the American University of Beirut, industries in Selaata and Chekka are some of the worst sources of environmental hazards. 
Fadel, who has trained NGOs, industry employees and civil servants on EIA methods, outlined at Tuesday’s lecture the concept’s benefits and mode of implementation. 
“In principle, (those trained) will later make sure that all (environmental) impacts have been correctly addressed by the ! ministry’s studies,” Ramez Kayal, manager of the ministry’s Unit of Planning and Programming, told The Daily Star. 
The EIA draft decree proposes making the studies of all urban or industrial projects available to the public through the ministry’s library, said Kayal. 
“Local residents must be consulted because they can draw planners’ attention to environmental impacts, which they might overlook,” he said. 
Heading Fadel’s list of projects having need of EIA was Normandy Bay, where he claimed Solidere continues to use untreated garbage in landfills. 
Other problems include Beirut River, which carries untreated sewage instead of fresh water, Sicomo, a paper factory that spills waste into the Litani River, and the fumes from vehicles that run on industrial diesel fuel. 
Fadel presented studies conducted in 1998, which showed that the public could save about $35.9 million a year in health costs if unleaded gasoline was the fuel made available on the market. 
“! This is just the tip of the iceberg,” he continued, referring to the benefits of EIA, which he said will require the cooperation of investors and the public alike. 
Greenpeace Lebanon campaigner Zeina al-Hajj told The Daily Star that EIA is a valid way to protect the environment, but stressed the importance of allowing people to participate on various levels. 
According to Hajj, all projects bear a risk of negatively impacting the environment. Although EIA minimizes this, decision-makers must eventually accept some degree of risk. “When the slightest amount of danger to lives is involved, people need to know,” she said. 
*********************************************************************************
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elsa J. Sattout
Consultant - Assistant Coordinator
IUCN Thematic Biodiversity Centre
Lebanon
E-mail:elsa@arabpsp.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
 

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