Ecologia Mediterranea
Ecologia Mediterranea
Ecologia Mediterranea
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Introduction<br />
The structural complexity of <strong>Mediterranea</strong>n<br />
forests, resulting from anthropogenic factors<br />
and past management practices, has rendered<br />
the development of conservation strategy a<br />
critical task, especially since these plant communities<br />
are remnants of old vegetation. The<br />
management of <strong>Mediterranea</strong>n forests has<br />
become a key component of many national<br />
and regional conservation strategies.<br />
Although the majority of programs followed in<br />
managing and sustaining the biodiversity of<br />
forests have focused on establishing protected<br />
areas, these alone are insufficient to adequately<br />
conserve species or ecosystems (Lindenmayer<br />
et al. 2006), seeing that the majority of biodiversity<br />
remains outside protected areas. The<br />
establishment of strict nature reserves, nevertheless,<br />
has played a fundamental role in the<br />
majority of global and regional strategies to<br />
mitigate the ongoing loss of natural resources<br />
and biodiversity. The growing recognition that<br />
the dedication of strict reserves cannot solely<br />
achieve conservation objectives, however,<br />
means that these reserves are today often perceived<br />
as forming the core of a broader network<br />
of protected sites. This network includes<br />
a range of measures, including multiple-use<br />
management zones, conservation incentives,<br />
and controls on private land (Ferrier 2002).<br />
Conversely, in the early stages, biodiversity<br />
protection and management approaches<br />
adopted strict conservation principles. A “cosmovision”<br />
approach (Rios Osorio et al. 2005)<br />
to sustainability through a decades-old evolutionary<br />
progression has replaced these principles.<br />
The approach takes into account the<br />
involvement of communities in environmental<br />
protection and management as well as the concept<br />
of cultural landscapes given that human<br />
beings are classified as regular members and<br />
citizens of natural ecosystems. This model is a<br />
crucial one since the significance of the longterm<br />
interaction between humans and nature in<br />
Western and Eastern <strong>Mediterranea</strong>n cannot be<br />
ignored; the human-nature relationship has<br />
shaped land use and management plans, and<br />
created spaces in which the built and natural<br />
environment interact. The establishment of<br />
national parks, incorporating various land conservation<br />
values, land use, and management<br />
types, therefore, could play a significant role<br />
in conserving biodiversity and protecting the<br />
social dynamics and cultural identities of<br />
indigenous communities.<br />
ecologia mediterranea – Vol. 38 (2) – 2012<br />
Towards the establishment of a natural park in Eastern <strong>Mediterranea</strong>n forests in Mount Makmel:<br />
Botanical assessment and communities participation practices<br />
Given its unique location at the crossroads<br />
between Europe, Asia, and Africa, most scholars<br />
consider the <strong>Mediterranea</strong>n Basin as the<br />
cradle of many civilizations, which supported<br />
intensive anthropogenic activities. These activities<br />
have left an imprint on the biological and<br />
physical environment, including species richness,<br />
plant communities, terracing and landscape,<br />
and forest structure and composition (Di<br />
Pasquale et al. 2004; Blondel & Aronson 2005;<br />
Blondel et al. 2010). The region has been<br />
shown to be a melting pot for species of various<br />
origins, and a critical habitat of global<br />
importance for genetic resources (Zohary<br />
1973; Quézel 1985; Heywood 1995; Myers<br />
2000; Blondel & Aronson 2005). It is recognized<br />
for its remarkable speciation: more than<br />
half of its plant species are endemics (Medail<br />
& Quézel 1997; Blondel et al. 2010). The percentage<br />
of endemic species is especially high,<br />
albeit variable in the Eastern <strong>Mediterranea</strong>n<br />
continental mountain ranges such as Taurus<br />
and Lebanon (Blondel & Aronson 2005).<br />
Lebanon is located on the eastern coastline of<br />
the <strong>Mediterranea</strong>n Sea, and recognized as one<br />
of the region’s mini-hotspots that shelters high<br />
biodiversity richness (Medail & Quezel<br />
1999). Two major climatic zones have been<br />
identified: the <strong>Mediterranea</strong>n zone and the<br />
pre-steppe areas (Zohary 1973; Abi Saleh et<br />
al. 1996). The floristic richness estimates<br />
2,600 plant species with a high percentage of<br />
endemic plant species (12%). This includes<br />
221 broad endemics and 90 narrow endemics<br />
(Khouzami et al. 1996). Lebanon is a geographically<br />
complex and mountainous country<br />
with 73% of its total area consisting of two<br />
mountain ranges: Mount Lebanon and the<br />
Anti-Lebanon mountain chain (De Vaumas<br />
1954). The nature of its highlands in terms of<br />
inaccessibility and the hostile conditions of<br />
the environment at such altitudes has resulted<br />
in the relative restriction of human intervention.<br />
In remote mountainous areas, providing<br />
conditions that favor human settlements, one<br />
can find sporadic villages that mostly rely on<br />
agro-pastoral systems while simultaneously<br />
complementing their sources of sustenance by<br />
being highly dependent on biodiversity. In<br />
more extreme cases, agriculture has fully<br />
exploited mountainous areas and man-made<br />
terraces have become part of the natural landscape<br />
(Sattout & Abboud 2007). According to<br />
estimates, 74% of Lebanon’s surface area was<br />
historically covered with forests (Makdisi<br />
2007); however, today with a deforestation<br />
rate of 0.4% per annum (MOA 2005), recent<br />
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