"Israel`s" war on Lebanon added many environmental problems

"Israel`s" war on Lebanon added many environmental problems
Jiyyeh oil spill stands out, but other threats lurk ahead
Source: Daily Star, 5-1-2007
BEIRUT: Three months after the summer 2006 war with "Israel", the Lebanese cannot swim in the sea, harvest crops, hike through the woods, drink water or breathe the air without worrying about the environmental impacts of the 34-day conflict. Many environmental concerns about the war`s damage have yet to be fully assessed, as their impacts need to be monitored with time.
Other concerns pose a further potential threat. Forest fires - an annual catastrophe for the country anyway - have now got an added ignition: Some 1 million cluster bombs of the 4 million dropped during "Israeli" bombardments have not exploded and are still a looming menace postwar.
Most of the bombs` victims since the cease-fire were involved in agricultural activities.
"It`s catastrophic, as even the oil spill didn`t kill any Lebanese. But since the cease-fire, land access has caused deaths," says Munir Bou Ghanem, general director of the Association for Forests, Development and Conservation.
Other environmental hazards continue to plague Lebanon, though they cannot be blamed on "Israel". In September 2005, the Sidon dump collapsed and 100 tons of garbage fell into the sea, some reaching the coast of Syria.
The dump was reopened during the war after being closed for six months. The site is still structurally insecure.
Also, Lebanon`s reconstruction efforts have been environmentally damaging.
"About 3.5 million cubic meters of destruction waste was dumped into the sea from Beirut`s southern suburbs and South Lebanese towns," Bou Ghanem said. "It was dumped into the sea near the airport. Of course this will have a major impact on marine life and biodiversity. The Higher Relief Committee [a government agency] provided the trucks and Hizbullah and [citizens] used the trucks to take rubble from the sites to the sea."
Houses, schools, bridges and other civilian infrastructure were hit by "Israeli" bombs and shells during the fighting.
"In Lebanon the concept of waste management is throw it anywhere, just not in my backyard," Bou Ghanem says.
Postwar reconstruction is further damaging the environment. Quarrying for sand and gravel - major construction materials - is done illegally and irresponsibly. Of over 1,000 quarries in Lebanon, only 10 are legal and environmentally considerate. Illegal gravel quarries destroy the bases of mountains, potentially damaging water resources. Sand quarries extract result in severe deforestation and soil erosion. With construction efforts booming in the wake of the war, the high demand for these materials are rapidly damaging Lebanon`s mountains, soil, forests and water supplies.
Another postwar dilemma is the lack of collaboration between ministries. Environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) accused the Energy and Water Ministry - responsible for the Jiyyeh power plant that was attacked by "Israeli" forces in the opening days of the war - of dumping rubble from the damaged plant into the sea. About 15,000 tons of oil from the facility`s storage tanks spilled into the sea.
"The contaminated rubble from [Jiyyeh] was thrown into the sea. I was told by experts that due to the intense fire at the plant, the rubble was contaminated with heavy metals as well as oil," said Mohammad al-Sarji, who works with the NGO Bahr Loubnan. "We complained to the Environment Ministry and they brought it up with the Energy and Water Ministry, who spoke to the power plant. Supposedly they stopped dumping into the sea and stored the rubble on the shore. But they keep pushing it into the sea."
Sarji blames the Energy and Water Ministry for the hazardous dumping.
The ministry, he said, "is in charge of all the work done on the power-plant premises ... All Lebanese power plants are located near the sea and we must be careful."
Failing to act on environmentally progressive solutions and a swollen bureaucracy have also been postwar problems. The cement company Holcim offered to take the rubble from the plant and the 15,000 tons of oil collected from the bottom of the sea, to treat and recycle as energy. Yet four months after the plan was proposed, Holcim still awaits a permit to collect the waste.
The oil spill was the largest environmental concern stemming from the war. But research from past global oil spills indicates that the sea is more durable than is thought. Though the slick spread 150 kilometers north of Jiyyeh, much of it has been cleaned.
The Environment Ministry`s chief spokesperson on the spill, Ghada Mitri, said that the impact of the spill on marine life cannot be assessed presently. Some forms of contamination can take about a year to detect, according to experts.
Mitri was positive about the beach and sea cleanup.
"It is safe to swim as long as there is no visible oil in the water," Mitri said. She asserted "there isn`t any floating oil [detected] anywhere in Lebanon. This was the first priority of the ministry: to clean floating oil before winter as it can move to other sites and contamination can spread."
The severest short-term impact of the "Israeli" bombardment of the Jiyyeh plant is the air pollution that was caused by 75,000 tons of oil burned over a three-week span. Toxic plumes resulting from the fire enveloped Jiyyeh and spread 30 kilometers to Beirut.
"Air and marine centers associated with the Barcelona Convention classified the toxicities of substances resulting from the fire as highly toxic," Bou Ghanem said.
The Barcelona Convention was created in 1975 to environmentally safeguard the Mediterranean. "In addition all the smoke and emissions from [bombed] factories may have a negative impact in the long term that may affect those living in [affected] areas" as carcinogens have been introduced into their systems.
Forests are another war casualty. "Israel" targeted Southern forests, claiming that Hizbullah fighters were launching rockets and seeking refuge in them. Due to war-strained resources, the fires were hard to extinguish. Also, forest fires spread more quickly during the dry summer months. And when fires erupted in the North, firefighting personnel were stationed in the South to help war relief efforts.
"This cost Lebanon $13 million in terms of timber and pine production," Bou Ghanem said.
The fires also set back reforestation projects.
Though many worry about the quality of water in the wake of the war, American University of Beirut professor May Jurdi says not to worry. Groundwater resources - Lebanon`s major drinking water source - were undamaged, she said.
Other speculative worries regard the possible use of depleted uranium by "Israeli" forces that might be affecting Lebanon`s soil and agriculture.
Chris Busby, the British secretary of the European Committee on Radiation Risk, and Mohammad Ali Qbayssi, a nuclear physicist based in Germany, say their tests have found traces of uranium. But the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the National Council for Scientific Researched disagreed. A full UNEP post-conflict assessment is to be released mid-January.
"In the South [farmers] are hesitant and worried about working in certain areas they fear are contaminated. Going to work the land is now a taboo in the South," Bou Ghanem says. "No one wants to take the responsibility of telling farmers there`s no uranium. We`re waiting for more in-depth research."
If uranium is found, there will be long-term soil and agricultural contamination, which may pose a health risk.