Washington Report On Middle East Affairs – October 2018

THEY HAVE capped Lebanon’s

mountaintops for thousands of

years. The Phoenicians used

their wood to build merchant

ships and Egyptians used their

resin to mummify the dead.

Now the emblematic cedars of

Lebanon (Cedrus Libani) are

facing their biggest challenge—

climate change.

Cedar forests covered 1,900

sq. miles. of Lebanon’s high-

lands in ancient times. They

have outlived invaders, empires

and modern wars, but centuries

of deforestation have reduced

the forests to 7.7 sq. miles.

The trees, some 3,000 years

old, thrive on moisture and cool

temperatures and their seeds

need a minimum amount of

snow and rain for regeneration.

However, with climate change,

winters are shorter and there is

less snow, a change that affects

the cedar forests’ ecosystem.

“The effect of climate change

is there,” acknowledged Nizar

Hani, director of the Cedar

Biosphere in the Chouf Mountains.

“Thenaturalregenerationconditionsofthecedarforestare

changing,”hesaid.“Theseedlings,whichnormallyshouldstay

buriedinthesnowfor2to3months,aregerminatinginFebruary

insteadofAprilbecausethesnowismeltingveryearly.Thatearly

germinationputsthemataveryhighriskofdyingincoldsnaps.”

Because of climate change, cedar forests, which now are at a

minimum of three-fourths of a mile above sea level, need to be

located at higher altitudes where more suitable conditions exist,

he said.

“This is a kind of mitigation in which trees will be growing in

the right conditions to live and to regenerate,” Hani said. “Cur-

rently, the range of the cedar for-

est is 4,000-5,900 feet. For the

past two years, we have been

able to do reforestation at higher

altitudes, up to 6,200 feet. The

treeline is different now.

“We are replanting trees on

the higher slopes to make the

ecosystem more resilient to cli-

mate change. We are enlarging

the surface of the cedar forest

because the bigger it is, the bet-

ter it will be able to adapt to

change.”

Still, Hani said hope is not lost

for trees at lower altitudes. “The

cedar tree is a very resilient

tree,” he said. “Those existing at

lower altitudes will survive be-

cause the trees can adapt.”

But altitude is not the only

problem. The most lethal ene-

mies of the cedars are insects

that are present in the forests’

ecosystem and have been de-

veloping at an increased rate be-

cause of climate change, said

Nabil Nemer, of the agricultural

sciences department at the Holy

Spirit University of Kaslik.

“In the Tannourine and Ehden cedar forests, a type of insect

(Cephalcia tannourinensis) has been developing at a fast rate.

The insects’ life cycle has changed. In the past, they used to hi-

bernate between 3 to 7 years. They are now waking up every

year because of warm and dry weather and causing harm to the

trees. Such stress over three consecutive years leads to the

death of the tree,” Nemer said.

The Tannourine Cedar Forest Natural Reserve has lost tens

of trees to insect infestations unknown before the 1990s.

Nemer has been breeding the predator of the insects, a type

of fungi that exist naturally in the forest and can kill the larvae.

A national strategy for the preservation of green areas began

four years ago and envisioned the planting of 30 million trees,

including cedars, to increase the area of the forests in Lebanon.

“The strategy is primarily focused on reforestation, but the so-

Some of the last remaining cedar trees in a forest near the town of

Bcharre in northern Lebanon.

STAFF PHOTO DALE SPRUSANSKY

Samar Kadi is the Arab Weekly society and travel section editor.

Copyright ©2018 The Arab Weekly. Distributed by Agence Global.

Reprinted with permission.

42 WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS OCTOBER 2018

Climate Change Takes its Toll on Lebanon’s

Millennia Cedars

By Samar Kadi

Special Report

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