A preserved beach, Kfar Abida, one of the few that remains public and environmentally protected thanks to the work of activists and residents. (Credit: Angela Khalife/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Terre-Liban, an environmental NGO active for 30 years, issued an "urgent" call to Minister of Public Works Fayez Rasamny for him to intervene in an unprecedented surge in violations of public coastline property.
"Terre-Liban is no longer able to handle the considerable number of complaints received daily from citizens across various Lebanese regions about encroachments on public maritime property," the association explained in a statement issued Thursday.
"From the beach of Chekka to Hamat, Thoum, Amchit, Jbeil, Rmeileh, and even Sour, the violations continue to devastate the marine environment, ravage what remains of natural beaches, disrupt the natural continuity of the beach, hinder free access to it, and cause significant damage to marine and coastal habitats through filling, construction, installation of fences, and other actions that violate environmental protection law No. 444/2002," the organization warns.
Encroachments on Lebanon's maritime front are not new, but no government has managed to put an end to them. Beaches that retain their natural environment and remain open to the public are becoming exceedingly rare along a coast dotted with closed-off, costly, and exclusive private beaches.
The entirety of Lebanon's coastline is supposed to be open to the public, according to a law that has been in place since 1925 that prohibits any permanent construction on and the sectioning of the Lebanese coast. A 2012 report by the Public Works Ministry found that at least 80 percent of Lebanon’s 220 kilometers of shoreline had become privatized.
Terre-Liban also made reference to an environmental protection law that stipulates, in Article 29, "the protection of coasts against all forms of pollution and violation," and explicitly prohibits, in its Article 33, "any action that hinders free access to beaches, leads to their erosion and degradation, or threatens their environmental integrity."
The NGO is addressing Rasamny in his capacity as the minister responsible for the protection of public maritime property, requesting that he "take immediate and strict measures, in accordance with international conventions and existing Lebanese laws, to stop these encroachments in cooperation with the competent judicial authorities and the concerned ministries."
Some campaigns against privatization in recent years have been successful. Notably, the construction of a large villa along Abou Ali public beach in Kfar Abida, Batroun, was permanently halted, and another project above a natural cave in Amsheet — the habitat for an endangered monk seal — was suspended, pending an environment management plan requested from the Environment Ministry.
