Lebanon
The sixth international “Fascination of Plants Day” will be launched by plant scientists across the world under the umbrella of the European Plant Science Organisation (EPSO).
The goal of this activity is to get as many people as possible around the world fascinated by plants and enthused about the importance of plant science for agriculture and sustainable production of nutritious food, as well as for horticulture, forestry and the production of plant-based non-food products such as paper, timber, chemicals, energy and pharmaceuticals. The role of plants in environmental conservation is also a key message.
Be the director, leading actor/actress, camerman & producer of your own movie and win one of our cash prizes!
The ERA- Net SusCrop is launching a video contest to actively involve EVERYBODY from across the world to reflect, communicate and inspire on ‘what sustainable crop production means to you?’.
The competition is open to EVERYBODY and is supposed to activate multiple groups: school children, students, scientists, farmers/farmer-groups, and any person/group of random enthusiasts, artists (film, circus, music, digital/installation art, …), architects, social media/communication workers, etc.
KEYWORDS to inspire: sustainability, resilience, agriculture, forestry, ecology, crop production, crops, plants, science, nature, climate change, the future
However, we invite any kind of video: be original, think out-of-the-box! What does sustainability in the area of crop production mean to you? How should agriculture look like in the future? Do you practice sustainability procedures in growing crops or ornamental plants in your environment (e.g. your garden or balcony)?
More information on the different categories, prizes, eligibility conditions and selection criteria can be found on: https://www.suscrop.eu/video-contest-2022
We look forward to receiving your video!
Dr. Nisrine Machaka-Houry organized a guided tour On May 8th, 2022 for the girl scout leaders and Ibad Al Rahman association’s volunteers to the association’s Scouting village in Burjein. Scouts were introduced to the wild trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants of the area. They got to know the rich diversity of the Lebanese flora and its importance and they appreciated the beauty of biodiversity. In addition, they learned to identify some edible, medicinal, and toxic plants.
Under the supervision of Dr. Nisrine Machaka-Houry, Students of “Développement des organismes animaux et végétaux” course, first year biochemistry at USJ-CLN, collected around 20 wild plants of different families to make a mini personal herbarium. While collecting the plants to be pressed in the herbarium, the students were exposed to wildflowers of Lebanon which they never noticed before they took the course; visited natural green areas to collect plants from, and learned how to identify plants to family, genus, and species level. The collected plants were presented in class on April 28, 2022, on herbarium sheets. This activity made the students notice and appreciate the high diversity and beauty of wild plants in Lebanon.
Under the supervision of Dr. Nisrine Machaka-Houry, Sudents of “Développement des organismes animaux et végétaux” course, first year biochemistry at USJ-CLN, prepared and gave presentations about the most common families of Angiosperms in Lebanon such as Apiaceae, Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, Rosaceae, Orchidaceae and others. Through this exercise, they learned the different characteristics of these families including stem, leaves, flowers, and fruits that differentiate them from each other. Moreover, they learned about the edible species and industrial products from these families in addition to examples of wild species in Lebanon from each plant family.
Dr. Hamdan Hamdan from the Lebanese American University (LAU) gave a webinar aimed at raising awareness about the importance of individual environmental efforts, even if minimal, in achieving a significant positive outcome that leads to major improvements in the environmental performance of any country. The webinar highlighted how a small contribution to the Environmental Science Class at LAU resulted in planting more than 500 native trees and fruit trees across Lebanon, within a few months, and ultimately led to multiple reforestation initiatives across the country, totaling hundreds of trees to date. Several students from multiple universities contributed to the seminar as guest speakers, during which they shared their stories about engaging with nature, talking about their experience of planting trees, and highlighting how such a simple activity changed their thoughts about protecting and restoring the environment.
Dr. Lara Awad Tarabay from the Lebanese American University and the Environment Club at the university participated in the International Fascination of Plants Day 2022 by organizing an event that aimed at raising awareness about the importance of biodiversity with a special focus on the medicinal and aromatic plants of Lebanon. The country is renowned for its richness in medicinal and aromatic plants, many of which are subject to severe anthropogenic pressures, suffering mainly from illegal harvesting. Students profited from a live exhibition of some Lebanese organic products as well as some specimens of endemic medicinal plants. A poster depicting some important wild medicinal and aromatic plants of Lebanon was prepared for the event, as well as an informative list of their main traditional uses by local communities, especially with regard to the treatment of ailments.
Dr. Lara Awad Tarabay from the Lebanese American University and the Environment Club at the university participated in the International Fascination of Plants Day 2022 by organizing an event that aimed at raising awareness about the importance of biodiversity with a special focus on the medicinal and aromatic plants of Lebanon. The country is renowned for its richness in medicinal and aromatic plants, many of which are subject to severe anthropogenic pressures, suffering mainly from illegal harvesting. Students profited from a live exhibition of some Lebanese organic products as well as some specimens of endemic medicinal plants.
Dr. Amale Mcheik from the Lebanese American University organized an event of April 29, 2022 for the environmental sciences students on the occasion of FoPD 2022. The event focused on raising awareness and knowledge about the importance of consuming more organic food in view on its benefits. Buying certified organic food was stressed, as most of the organic food present in the Lebanese markets is not controlled and not certified and may be contaminated with pesticides.
In an attempt to explore and introduce better the unknown and hidden paths in the Lebanese villages, Dr. Victoria Dawalibi from the Department of Landscape and Territory Planning at the Lebanese University, organized two days of green ways discovery on 22-23 of May 2022. The students identified the sequences of the trails stressing the characteristics of each part. They also unraveled the historical use and background of the trails, the importance of landscape character, and the plant diversity.
Dr. Marc Beyrouthy and a Team of Agricultural Engineers conducting a series of workshops and events at Nature by Marc Beyrouthy center during the month of May 2022 as follows :
• Kids Gardening Event
• Lebanese Wild Native Orchids Youtube Episode
• Iris sofarana the endemic beauty of Lebanon
• Botanical and Foraging Hiking Trip
The goal of the above events is to raise awareness of the importance of plant biodiversity
Joelle Breidy from the Lebanese Agriculture Research Institute organized a guided tour of Ammiq wetlands and Ammiq nature reserve in the Beqaa valley. Young environmental activists and volunteers explored the plants in the area and were introduced to their in situ and ex situ conservation.
Dr. Tanos G. Hage gave a seminar entitled “Discovering the trees of Lebanon” at Notre Dame University-Louaize to a large group of University students and faculty members. The seminar profiled native trees of Lebanon including their morphological characteristics, distribution and ecology. Lively discussion followed the seminar on the importance of conserving the rich biodiversity of the Lebanese flora.
A guided tour to university students was organized by Dr. Tanos G. Hage to explore the extent of plant Biodiversity at EXOTICA nursery, Zouk-Mobseh, Lebanon. Students toured the facility and were introduced to the different operations of a typical nursery including the plant propagation unit. In addition, students explored and identified plants belonging to different families.
Webinar: Plant a Tree, Reforest a Country: Individual Efforts Matter
Monday, May 30th, at 5.00 pm; online via WebEx (https://lau.webex.com/meet/environment.club)
Deforestation is a serious environmental issue facing many countries, including Lebanon, where it leads to significant loss of forest resources every year. The goal of this webinar is to raise awareness about the importance of individual environmental efforts, even if minimal, in achieving a significant positive outcome that leads to major improvements in the environmental performance of any country.
The webinar will highlight how, over the past two years, the small contribution of students from the Environmental Sciences class at LAU’s Department of Natural Sciences resulted in planting hundreds of native and fruit trees across Lebanon, and led to multiple reforestation initiatives across the country. As a part of their contribution to the sixth international “Fascination of Plants Day” event (FoPD), many of these students will appear as guest speakers during the webinar, during which they will share their stories about engaging with nature, talk about their experience of planting trees, and highlight how such a simple activity changed the way they think towards protecting and restoring the environment.
Shedding light on greenways as important trails to valorize and conserve in Lebanese villages.
Natural protection that balances both conservation and growth is crucial to create a livable environment and maintain open spaces. Greenways are the passages that provide linking the spaces that have the specialty of high natural resource or are of cultural aspects. Those greenways which need less open space than conventional parks make possible various recreational activities while preserving the cultural identity of the space.
In this view, The Department of the Landscape and Territory Planning at the Lebanese University will organize two breathtaking days in the wild lost and hidden greenways in Kfardebiane, Jezzine and Ferzol villages. The aim of this activity is to explore and valorize more these paths as a tribute and identity to our Lebanese villages. Greenways characteristics, history, cultural identity, scenic importance, functionality and plant diversity will be unraveled.
A guided tour of Ibad Al Rahman Scouting village in Burjein will introduce the girl scout leaders and association’s volunteers to the wild trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants of the area. They will get to know the rich diversity of the Lebanese flora and its importance. More over, they will learn to identify some edible, medicinal and toxic plants.
A guided tour to Ammuq wetlands and Ammiq reserve to explain the importance of wild plants and their in situ and ex situ conservation to a group of young environment activists volunteers
Trees native to Lebanon are profiled including their morphological characteristics, distribution and ecology.
For The Sixth international “Fascination of Plants Day 2022-FoPD 2022”, Dr. Marc Beyrouthy and a Team of Agricultural Engineers will be conducting a series of workshops and events as follows :
- Kids Gardening Event
- Lebanese Wild Native Orchids Youtube Episode
- Iris sofarana the endemic beauty of Lebanon
- Botanical and Foraging Hiking Trip
Goals
– Raise awareness!
– Spread Lebanese Plants fascination.
Hashtags Used : #plantday #naturebymarcbeyrouthy #madebynature
With increasing health and environmental awareness, organic farming has become an integral part of the agricultural policy in many countries.
The target of an organic farm is not the high quantity of production, but it is the improvement of the quality of the agricultural crops.
Unfortunately, most of our Lebanese agricultural organic food products in the markets are contaminated with pesticides.
Celebrating the Fascination Day of Plants, 2022, the students of Environmental Sciences course, Department of Natural Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences, Lebanese American University, will be participating through organizing an event on Beirut campus on April 29, 2022.
The event will focus on raising awareness and knowledge about the importance of consuming more organic food with focusing on its benefits, raising awareness also on buying certified organic food as most of the organic food present in the Lebanese markets is not controlled and not certified and showed to be contaminated with pesticides. During the event, the students will present a poster focusing on this problem and will distribute organic seedlings.
The Mediterranean Basin is a hotspot of biodiversity with high richness in both endemic as well as medicinal and aromatic plants. In particular, Lebanon hosts an important flora heritage that has witnessed a history of civilizations. The country is renowned for its richness in medicinal and aromatic plants which have long been used by local communities to heal diseases or ailments or to prepare traditional Lebanese recipes. However, those plants are subject to severe anthropogenic pressures, suffering mainly from illegal harvesting, and some of them are threatened or endangered.
The Department of Natural Sciences of the School of Arts and Sciences at the Lebanese American University and the Environment Club at the university will be participating in the International Fascination of Plants Day 2022, through organizing an event on Beirut campus on April 29, 2022. The event will focus on raising awareness on the importance of wild medicinal and aromatic plants of Lebanon, their ethnobotanical uses by local communities, as well as the threats they are facing from unsustainable harvesting, habitat fragmentation and climate change. Students will profit from a poster listing important wild medicinal and aromatic plants of Lebanon where they can pick a plant and see its traditional uses by local communities. Students will also profit from an exhibition of samples of some medicinal and aromatic plants, including the Syrian marjoram or oregano, Lebanon shrubby sage and carob as well as some products and traditional Lebanese recipes like Zaatar and Carob Molasses.
Students of “Développement des organismes animaux et végétaux” course, first year biochemistry at USJ-CLN, collected around 20 wild plants of differents families to make a mini personal herbarium. While collecting the plants to be pressed in the herbarium, the students were exposed to wild flowers of Lebanon which they never noticed before they took the course; visited natural green areas to collect plants from, learned how to identify plants to family, genus and species level. The collected plants will be presented in class on April 28, 2022. This activity will make the students notice and appreciate the high diversity and beauty of wild plants in Lebanon.
Students of “Développement des organismes animaux et végétaux” course, first year biochemistry at USJ-CLN, will present about the most common families of Angiosperms in Lebanon such as Apiaceae, Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, Rosaceae, Orchidaceae and others. They will learn the different characteristics of these families including stem, leaves, flowers and fruits that differentiate them from each other. Moreover, they will learn the edible species and industrial products from these families in addition to examples of wild species in Lebanon from each plant family.
This activity will teach the students about
1- the importance of plants to the survival of ecoysytems and mankind,
2- richness and diversity of angiosperms in general and in specifically in Lebanon
3- beauty of biodiversity
Students will explore the extent of plant Biodiversity in a real-world setting. Identification of example plants from different plant families will be profiled.