Lebanon’s forests cover about 13 percent of the country’s surface area and other wooded lands account for an additional 11 percent. However, despite their importance,  forests and wooded lands are subject to intense human pressure that puts their survival at stake.

The above figures were obtained as a result of the first National Forest and Tree Assessment conducted in 2003 by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Currently,  the MoA and FAO are conducting a new assessment in order to update the information and monitor any changes in the land use/land cover since 2003.

Every five years, FAO issues the Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) with reports and contributions from all the countries.

Upon request from the Ministry of Agriculture, the FAO project “Smart Adaptation of Forest Landscapes in Mountain Areas” (SALMA), funded by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF),is supporting this assessment in Lebanon. The assessment is bringing additional information such as soil analysis, basic assessment of fauna, insect pests and diseases, particular ecosystems/forests, forest-based jobs and products and other socio-economic concerns. The project is also working on identifying and mapping community and state-owned forests, other wooded-lands and grasslands.

To stay updated on the development of the plots and tracks in the Lebanese forests, the SALMA project is also providing the FRA teams with photography training sessions in the field. The teams are using the simplest and most affordable techniques for taking pictures.

“On a larger level, the results of the national assessment will constitute the back-bone of the forest monitoring system to be put in place. In order to be able to monitor, we need to draw a baseline to be used for future comparisons” says Fady El-Asmar, SALMA project Manager.