Daily Star - Activist Warns Climate Change Will Take Heavy Toll

BEIRUT: For any Lebanese in doubt of how bad life could get if nothing is done about climate change, Uygar Ozesmi, Executive Director of Greenpeace Mediterranean, has as unambiguous message: “Climate change for Lebanon means nothing but hell.” Ozesmi, an environmental activist since 1985, is in Lebanon as part of his roving visits to monitor environmental situations in eastern Mediterranean countries. He has brought a warning.
He fires off a list of devastating effects to be wrought on Lebanon should the world continue to emit greenhouse gases at the current rate.
“This region and especially Lebanon is the highest risk and impact zone,” from projected temperature and sea level rises, he says.
Drought, desertification, reduction in agricultural production and extreme weather events will all wreak havoc on Lebanon’s economy and natural resources.
The bad news does not stop there. “Lebanon will have enormous numbers of environmental refugees if we continue the way we are today,” he goes on, citing a global figure of 250 million people by 2050, according to statistics from the World Bank.
“The problem with Lebanon is that people are not aware of what climate change means for this country. It means the end of this country,” Ozesmi says.
“In the climate that is going to come, the Cedar trees are all going to die. I don’t know what Lebanon would put on its flag then,” he adds.
Ozesmi, who has worked previously with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on environment and sustainability issues, believes the Lebanese government and its electorate aren’t doing enough to avert disaster.
“I haven’t seen any sort of environmental policy in action. Everything I have seen so far is about increasing consumption,” he says.
“Lebanon is the country with the highest potential [in the eastern Mediterranean] in terms of educated, creative and motivated people and in terms of natural resources. All that Lebanon needs to do is create the type of society where it can achieve peace with its land.
“Unfortunately, the steps Lebanon has taken are far behind those of other countries. It is still beautiful but it is eating its own natural capital. Now is the time to act quickly and achieve some results.”
Such action could take the form of harnessing renewable energy sources, reducing electricity and water wastage and investing in public transport networks across Lebanon, according to Ozesmi. He says that Beirut’s crippling traffic problem exemplifies the country’s current lack of environmental consideration.
“Wouldn’t it be great if you could just catch a tram and [cross town] in three minutes? Where are those policies? Climate change is about changing our lifestyles to be civilized.
“We need to become a civilized society once again. In every civilized country that you imagine there is a tramline, there is a metro-line.”
Greenpeace is currently in negotiations with officials from Byblos on the Lebanese coast to create a marine reserve, a project Ozesmi hopes will be the first of many.
The number of pending environmental problems facing Lebanon is, admits Ozesmi, daunting. Nevertheless, he is confident that small changes to infrastructure and development will benefit the country in the long run.
“Everyone has to start somewhere. Lebanon should start with a good public transport system,” he says.
“We have seen that both subsidies and penalties [have an effect]. There needs to be strong legislation in place. The penalties shouldn’t be too hard, but there should be strong enforcement.”
However, efforts from government and jurisprudence officials are not enough as it stands. More legislation is needed, according to Ozesmi, for example: “It should be a crime in Lebanon not to have a water heater on your building. It is unacceptable in this country.”
Ozesmi says the much-vaunted Environment Ministry target of Lebanon getting 12 percent of its energy from renewable sources is not as remarkable as marketing suggests.
“It’s not ambitious. I think a country like Lebanon that is so rich in sun, that has a lot of investment opportunities in energy, should use whatever it has to invest in renewable [energy],” he says.
Ozesmi believes that Lebanon in particular has a lot to learn from December’s COP15 climate change summit in Copenhagen, which was condemned following a failure by world governments to agree on binding carbon cuts.
He sees parallels between Lebanon and the tiny Pacific state of Tuvalu, should climate change continue unabated.
“Lebanon is not a small country; there are 4 million people,” says Ozesmi. “Tuvalu is a small country and it has come out very strongly in Copenhagen. It made a statement about what climate change means to that country.
“What’s going to happen to Tuvalu is going to happen to Lebanon. It has started to sink in that [tackling climate change] is a matter of justice.”