The Daily Star - Villages compete in award aimed at encouraging local biodiversity - June 10, 2011

By Sarah Yaseen
The Daily Star

BEIRUT: Twenty-one villages and towns from across the country will compete for the Biodiversity Village Award, the top prize in an environmentally themed contest launched Thursday by the American University of Beirut’s Ibsar center, with support from the Ministry of the Interior and the Coca-Cola Foundation.
The competition aims to increase the biodiversity in the country by encourage the planting of trees and plants specific to each village.
This is the first year for the competition and Ibsar, which works to promote nature conservation, hopes to make it an annual event.
Ibsar will judge villages on their efforts to preserve and encourage the planting of native species, while taking into consideration differences in financial means among the competitors.
The main goal of the Biodiversity Village Award, explained Ibsar’s director Dr. Najat Saliba, is “to draw attention to the efforts of municipalities that have actively engaged in biodiversity conservation through native tree planting and other related community activities, and to promote further participation in Lebanon.”

The competing municipalities were selected based on their participation in Ibsar’s Power of Planting, a two-year program of planting activities in over 50 municipalities.
They include towns such as Jezzine in South Lebanon and Hammana in Mount Lebanon, as well as smaller sites such as Meshmesh in Akkar, Aita Fakhar in Rashaya and Niha in the Chouf.
Competitors will work closely with Ibsar, caring for already planted seedlings as well as planting new seedlings and preparing an environmental portfolio.
The portfolio will include the records of progress made over the last two years, as well as map biological landscape and natural heritage of the villages, creating a road map for current and future environmental initiatives.

According to Ibsar, this information will offer a clearer picture of the villages and will help generate new ideas to bring greater awareness of biodiversity and greater participation from village residents.
Ibsar also hopes that the municipalities will use the information in the portfolios to create environmentally friendly projects like bicycles paths and fishing areas, which could be a draw for tourism.
At the ceremony to mark the launch, some municipality officials expressed concern about the future of the biodiversity efforts once the competition is over, and suggested than an environmental expert be provided to each village and town.
Other municipality heads said that the Ministry of Environment should be involved and provide funds for the program. Funding for the competition will be provided mainly by the municipalities, which can seek additional funding from the Coca-Cola Foundation and other private sponsors.
Judges for the competition will be drawn from AUB’s faculty and the winner will be announced in a ceremony in September and the winning village will be thrown a festival in November.