Daily Star - Ecological Massacres

SIDON: Destructive sand quarries habe polluted underground water sources and mutilated natural landscapes over a period of 10 years in the area of the Al-Rihan Mountain in South Lebanon, local villagers, officials and enviornmental activists say. Sand quarries have been operating in the Al-Rihan village since the liberation of south Lebanon from the Israeli forces in the year 2000. While the profits of the companies have been on the increase, the village’s natural resources have been gradually disappearing.
The villagers have raised their voices in protest on several occasions, but local officials have yet to respond.
About 50 underground water springs are situated in the area where the quarries have been opened and many have been gravely affected. The main spring Ain al-Kabira provides potable water for the locals as well as water for domestic use and irrigation, but it has been drying out over the years. The springs of Miznir, Ain al-Hijal and many others are also on the verge of disappearing.
The quarries have also destroyed large part of the mountains and have eliminated a whole area known as Shqif Abu al-Ziker.
“Some of the most horrible ecological massacres have been committed against al-Rihan,” said Mohammad Hamzeh Faqih, the former mayor of the village and a member of its municipal council.
Faqih went on to criticize the owners of the companies and said they were digging tunnels inside the mountains and filling them with explosives to extract the sand. “This destroys trees, sand, water and other natural resources,” he said.
Faqih also referred to environmental violations made by some municipal employees, who he said were cutting down trees instead of collecting dry wood to be used for heat in the winter.
Sand taken out from the quarries is transported without any interference from the municipality because quarry owners are “armed with permits from the Interior Ministry,” one local said.
Faqih blamed municipality officials for letting the problem escalate and said investors at the quarry companies were linked to powerful figures.
But Rihan Mayor Faysal Zein claimed that the former municipality administration was also to blame. “The former mayor of Al-Rihan personally granted permits between 2001 and 2004 despite the opposition of the municipal council and the people,” he said. “He never once complained about the quarries.”
Zein went on to say that since 2004, the municipality has tried on several occasions to stop the quarries but that its efforts were faced with a lawsuit in 2008 when one of the companies demanded an indemnity of $1 million for blocking its work.
As officials trade blame for the problem, locals are growing increasingly frustrated, especially since quarries have been working nonstop day and night and have destroyed over 150 pine trees.
The head of the Development for People and Nature Association, Fadlallah Hassuna, said Lebanon’s natural resources would be better invested in tourism than in industry. “Quarries have violated their economic limits and are now threatening the biodiversity of the area,” he said.
Hassuna said companies have on several occasions violated the directions and warnings of the Environment Ministry and that the violations could be clearly seen by looking at aerial photographs of the sites.
He then reminded officials of the environmental dangers discussed during the Copenhagen summit in late 2009 and called on them to work toward an ecological balance.
“The sand being extracted is not only for us but for future generations,” he said.