Refugees plant new trees for Lebanon
Lebanon hosts more refugees per capita than any other country — they now account for around a fifth of the population. And according to the UNHCR, 90% of Lebanon's 1.5 million Syrian refugees live below the poverty line.
NGO Salam LADC offers refugee women an income for helping to restore the country's forests. They are employed to make "seed bombs" and use them to reseed cedar forests.
Lebanon suffers from frequent forest fires, unregulated deforestation and soil erosion. Some 85% percent of the country's remaining forests are considered severely degraded. The Trees for Lebanon project focuses mainly on the fertile plateau of the Bekaa Valley, which was once famous for its lush cedar forests that are now all but vanished.
Employing refugees on the project provides them with essential income. The project also employs locals, empowering them to care for their environment and fostering dialogue between different cultures.
A film by Florian Nusch and Fatma Racha Shehadeh
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Information
Language
English
Length
6.03 min
Date of publication
2022
Country
Lebanon
Global Ideas
