A Jewel in Southern Lebanon

"What in your life is calling you? When all the noise is silenced, the meetings adjourned, the lists laid aside, and the wild Iris blooms by itself in the dark forest, what still pulls on your soul?" (Rumi)

In the highest mountains of Jezzine, one of the Royal Irises reigns over the rocks. Iris westii has chosen to leave all the beautiful places on earth, to only bloom in "Tawmat Jezzine," and in my master's end of the study project.

After the southern Lebanon liberation from the Israeli Occupation, the Lebanese Mine Action Center gradually removed the site's landmines. Meanwhile, the biodiversity began to conquer the area, assessed during Jouzour Loubnan's reforestation project and the Biodiversity Conservation Initiative team efforts.

Now, the site is home to more than 150 plant species, counting 77 endemic species, and more than 20 observed fauna species living there, even though the forest hasn't yet finished growing.

Iris westii was on the brink of extinction.

The protection of the Jezzine population is detrimental to conserve it. This is the main reason to classify "Tawmat Jezzine" as a "Nature Reserve," due to the site's important biodiversity and high level of endemism.
The local municipality will also preserve the site from overgrazing the 53,000 planted trees. Not only "Tawmat Jezzine" is rich in biodiversity, but the natural and cultural heritage is also distributed to most surrounding villages: Bkassine pine forest, Sfaray crusader fortress, Jezzine waterfall, Bisri valley, roman sarcophagi... All of this richness deserves to be preserved and sustainably employed.

This calls for a more effective protection form covering all the regions: "The UNESCO Biosphere Reserve."

It contains three zones:

the core zone(s) –legally protected area–, the buffer zone(s) –research and sustainable practices area–, and the external transition zone –home for settlements, researches, and sustainable practices.
Since Lebanese law doesn't cover the Biosphere Reserve, but a very similar protection form: the "Natural Park".
The union of Jezzine municipalities agreed to begin implementing it, helped by two current Ph.D. theses, to develop and valorize this jewel in southern Lebanon.

Author: Marie-Claire Andraos, Ph.D.
Biodiversity Conservation Initiative – Lebanon