Market Readiness Analysis

concern in itself. Fifteen years of civil war have aggravated the environmental conditions
and increased the social disparities in the country, through chaotic urbanization and
encroachment on coastal plains, land abandonment and degradation of agricultural land,
forest destruction and fires, unplanned digging of water wells leading to saline water
intrusion into aquifers, dumping of solid and liquid wastes in land and in coastal waters,
and neglect of cultural heritage and natural scenery sites. Great reconstruction efforts
have been deployed since 1992, unfortunately without paying much attention to the
environmental and social constraints. Therefore the major challenge facing Lebanon is
the transformation from emergency reconstruction to sustainable long-term
development.
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