Ecologia Mediterranea

projects should abide strictly by the environmental
standards. EIA and SEA are required
prior to these activities. This category covered
agricultural lands and terraces in Michmich
and Qammoua.
(e) Urban Development: Adoption of defined
standards for construction and development
projects. Buffer zones will be defined and
delineated between forests and villages.
Framework for an integrated
monitoring program
The integrated monitoring program was
designed taking into account the land conservation
and management map, botanical
assessment, and forest structure and composition,
as well as the technical capacity of
local communities. It sets the basis for monitoring
forest structure and composition. The
program defined a number of selected species
for monitoring such as Cepahalanthera rubra
(L.) Rich., Cephalanthera longiflora (Huds.)
Frisch, Orchis simia Lam., S. mouterdeii, and
Tulipa aleppensis Regel. The manual of the
monitoring program was developed for use as
both a reference document and a tool for local
practitioners (Sattout 2008). A belief in the
local communities’ capacity in parataxonomy
was the starting point for success in this challenging
approach. Local sources who have
built up a non-tangible database of local
names and the natural history of plants and
animals were identified during this study. It is
believed that local sources can be employed
as efficient collectors. The manual introduced
the basic techniques of plant classification and
identification. It provided a general overview
on the plant kingdom, identification criteria,
techniques, and collection of plant specimens.
This manual presented the monitoring concept
and adaptive management approach to
help draw a clear picture of future activities
and to seed a sense of ownership over
resources and partnership for future management
activities in the national park. It integrated
detailed information on techniques and
methodologies for data collection on species
richness and forest composition and structure
over a period of 10 years.
ecologia mediterranea – Vol. 38 (2) – 2012
Towards the establishment of a natural park in Eastern Mediterranean forests in Mount Makmel:
Botanical assessment and communities participation practices
Conclusion
Exemplified as an ecoregion, the Akkar-Dunniyeh
area shelters a geographically distinct
assemblage of Eastern Mediterranean forest
types, land use categories, and landscapes
shared by a substantial percentage of the
entire flora found in Lebanon as well as a significant
portion of endemics. The high-value
biological component of this site is rooted in
the critical interactions of its natural and seminatural
habitats (typical to Lebanon) and
incrusted in the marked topographical relief,
which are essential for the long-term survival
of these species. The variations in human land
use patterns and site-specific histories of
resource management, which often resulted in
overexploitation and resource depletion, have
had a profound impact on living systems. The
revealed ecological diversity in the region
may have contributed to various aspects of
ecosystem stability. These include long-term
stability of productivity and resilience to disturbances,
resulting from anthropogenic activities
(Lavorel 1999). Collaborative management
of natural resources has proven to be the
best way to achieve good practices of biodiversity
conservation, performed in partnership
with local communities and other relevant
stakeholders. In order to ensure development
of strong technical skills, the adopted
approach paved the way for future implementation
of collaborative management
strategies.
The database built during the first phase of the
project now constitutes the first updated background
information on the ecological profile
of the designated national park of the Akkar-
Dunniyeh area. The botanical assessments on
forest composition and structure have set the
basis for management guidelines and the
development of the integrated monitoring program.
Nevertheless, keeping up the momentum
toward the establishment of the Akkar-
Dunniyeh national park will not be an easy
task in a volatile Lebanese context where the
culture of either local communities or government
agencies must be dealt with, bridges
built between various stakeholders, and the
administrative and management framework
for such in-situ conservation systems established
and strengthened.
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