Protecting Jabal Moussa

Ministry of Environment bans quarries in Jabal Moussa Biosphere Reserve

The Ministry of Environment has named Jabal Moussa in Keserwan as a biosphere reserve in a decree issued on February 6.

The decree specified that the Ministry of Environment will determine the conditions for licensing projects or construction sites in the area of Jabal Moussa and its surrounding areas. According to the decree, the regulations prohibiting all quarrying activities in areas surrounding natural reserves will apply to the Jabal Moussa Biosphere Reserve.

Jabal Moussa received the designation of Protected Forest through a Ministry of Agriculture decision in 2008.
In 2009 UNESCO named Jabal Moussa as the third biosphere reserve in Lebanon.

The president of the Association for the Protection of Jabal Moussa, Pierre Doumit, said that maintaining the site as a natural reserve will promote ecotourism in Jabal Moussa and the surrounding villages. According to Doumit, around 1600 tourists visited Jabal Moussa this year, up from around 1260 in 2010, and 560 visitors in 2009.

Doumit said that the association is working on a project to financially empower women in the Jabal Moussa area through helping them market traditional foodstuffs and handicrafts.

The project, titled ‘Supporting Small Initiatives of Traditional Food Production and Handicrafts in Rural Areas of Jabal Moussa Biosphere Reserve’, is funded through the US Office of the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI).

The Association for the Protection of Jabal Moussa was founded in 2007 with the aim of conserving the biodiversity and preserving the cultural heritage of Jabal Moussa and its surrounding areas.