The Minister of Environment, Tamara Elzein, and her predecessor, Nasser Yassine, on Feb. 13, 2025. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Newly appointed Environment Minister Tamara Elzein outlined her priorities on Thursday during a handover ceremony with her predecessor, proposing a name change for the ministry to better reflect its role in climate and reconstruction efforts.
Listing key points of her agenda, Elzein suggested renaming the institution to the "Ministry of Environment and Climate" or even the "Ministry of Environment, Climate and Reconstruction," emphasizing its crucial role in rebuilding the country.
Israeli environmental crimes
"We all share a common goal: the country’s best interest. Under the leadership of the president and the prime minister, it is clear that the environment should no longer be viewed as a secondary issue but as a key pillar of the nation," Elzein said, stressing the importance of continuity in public policy.
Among the key challenges she highlighted was addressing "the environmental crimes caused by the Israeli aggression," alongside waste management, air quality, natural resource preservation, climate change mitigation, and disaster risk reduction.
Before her appointment, Elzein served as secretary-general of Lebanon’s National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS-Liban), which assessed the environmental impact of Israeli strikes between October 2023 and November 2024. The report described the conflict’s toll on the environment as "ecocide," documenting 2,192 hectares of burned land — 12 completely destroyed, 248 affected by intense to moderate fires and 1,932 by moderate to weak fires.
On his part, Nasser Yassine reviewed his tenure at the head of the ministry, an institution that has 'long been considered marginal in the political and administrative landscape and relegated to the background', particularly due to a lack of resources. He notably indicated having worked on strengthening environmental standards in the quarry sector, updating the law on solid waste management, working on the de-pollution of the Litani River, and helping to reduce the number of burned areas.