SDG 13.3.5:Collaborating with NGOs on climate adaptation

Climate change is now affecting every country on every continent. It is disrupting national economies and affecting lives, costing people, communities and countries dearly today and even more tomorrow.

People are experiencing the significant impacts of climate change, which include changing weather patterns, rising sea level, and more extreme weather events. The greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are driving climate change and continue to rise. They are now at their highest levels in history. Without action, the world’s average surface temperature is projected to rise over the 21st century and is likely to surpass 3 degrees Celsius this century—with some areas of the world expected to warm even more. The poorest and most vulnerable people are being affected the most.

Climate change is the global phenomenon of climate transformation characterized by the changes in the usual climate of the planet (regarding temperature, precipitation, and wind) that are especially caused by human activities. As a result of unbalancing the weather of Earth, the sustainability of the planet’s ecosystems is under threat, as well as the future of humankind and the stability of the global economy.

Over the past two decades, Lebanon has actively worked on improving its capacity to adapt to and mitigate climate change. The country has actively participated in the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). Lebanon’s overall GHG (greenhouse gases) emissions are minimal compared to other countries due to the country’s size and relatively small industrial sector.

The university, through the strategy it adopted, has been working to reduce the effects of climate change through the adoption of several policies, including relying on green spaces outside and inside the university campus to reduce the percentage of carbon, interest in afforestation of the surrounding lands and motivate students to care about the environment by engaging them in multiple activities aimed to protect the environment and educate them environmentally through holding several seminars and workshops aimed at introducing them to the effects of climate change and the available means to reduce its negative effects on the environment and people.

13.3 Environmental Education Including Disaster Planning

The University strategy states the following “The promotion of sustainable and balanced development across Lebanese territory and the evolution toward global” and which is from the major social challenges that are tackled in the strategic plan of IUL. Also, it is mentioned in the letter of the President of the University which states that: “IUL has issued new specializations that are harmonized with the global change.

13.3.5 Does your university as a body collaborate with NGOs on climate adaptation?

“Conference on Environment and Sustainable Development, Challenges and Solutions”

The “Conference on Environment and Sustainable Development, Challenges and Solutions” concluded its two-day activities, which included scientific sessions and various workshops on renewable energies, geographic information systems and natural and human environment data. It was hosted by the Islamic University of Lebanon under the auspices of its president, Prof. Dr.. Dina Al-Mawla, represented by the Secretary General of the University, Prof. Hussein Badran, and at the invitation of the President of the International Peace Forum for Culture and Science, Prof. Saad Ajil Mubarak.

The President of the Forum in Lebanon, the Dean of the Faculty of Political and Diplomatic Sciences at the Islamic University, Prof. Ramez Ammar the following recommendations:

1- Legislation of a law to invest in renewable energies to increase the percentage of its contribution to the total energy total and to achieve a safe supply of it, as well as to contribute to protecting the environment and achieving sustainable development.

2- Activating the work of government procedures that contribute to the distribution of industries, in a way that enhances the protection of the environment and does not deplete its resources.

3- Increasing environmental awareness among community members to preserve the environment and instill a love of nature and agriculture to secure food security requirements as an important goal of sustainable development.

4- The existence of a national will capable of carrying out integrated economic reforms and eliminating corruption of all kinds as a step to achieve financial sustainability.

5- Activating the economic policies that encourage eco-tourism in the marshlands in order to diversify the sources of income in Iraq.

6- The need to work on exploiting the potential available in the production of renewable energy by encouraging research and scientific studies that are concerned with this field.

7- Adopt a comprehensive strategy to reduce environmental pollution in the long term and benefit from the experiences of successful countries in this field to achieve sustainable development goals.

8- Adopting remote sensing and all information systems in building integrated databases through twinning between universities, starting with researchers in Iraq and the Islamic University in Lebanon.

9- The need for the laws related to combating terrorism to include penal provisions that are capable of dealing with terrorism that has occurred in the environment and that target citizens in an indirect way.

At the conclusion of the conference, Dr. Mubarak and Dr. Ammar, Secretary General of the Islamic University d. Badran, a certificate of participation in the conference, and the President of the International Peace Forum for Culture and Science, Dr. Mubarak presented honorary shields and necklaces of creativity in the name of the forum to each of the gentlemen: the sponsor of the conference, the president of the university, Dr. Mawla, representative of the head of the Supreme Shiite Islamic Council, Imam Sheikh Abdul Amir Qabalan, Secretary General of the Council, Mr. Nazih Jammoul, Secretary General of the University. Dr.. Hussein Badran, representative of the Iraqi Ambassador Ali Al-Amiri Amjad Muhammad, the Iraqi cultural attaché Suhail Najm Abdullah, representative of the Director General of Public Security, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, Brigadier General Salah Halawi, and representative of the Army Commander, General Joseph Aoun, Brigadier General Marwan Al-Khatib, representative of the Director General of State Security, Major General Tony Saliba, Colonel Areej Karzab.

The Forum decided that its conference next year would be entitled “Sustainable Development Policies and their Modern Trends in the Amidst of Contemporary Challenges.”

 

Environment and Sustainable Development – Challenges and Solutions.

 

Bekaa water crisis “problems and solutions” at the Islamic university table in Baalbek

The Islamic University of Lebanon- Baalbek Branch organized a seminar on the “Water Crisis in the Bekaa”, in cooperation with the Bekaa Water Foundation and the Italian Civil Volunteering Association, in the presence of the patron of the Diocese of Baalbek for the Roman Catholic Royals Bishop Elias Rahal, Mufti Sheikh Abdou Qataya, President of the Baalbek Municipal Union Nasri Osman, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director General of the Bekaa Water Foundation Engineer Rizk Rizk, member of the presidency of the Movement of Amal Brig. Gen. Abbas Nasrallah, head of the Center for Civil Organization in Baalbek Engineer Jihad Haidar, Joanna von Gutenberg, Director of Water Projects in Lebanon at GVC, Mayor of Baalbek, Brigadier General Hussein al-Laqis, represented by Captain Mohamed Taha, head of the movement’s municipal affairs office in the Bekaa, Abbas Morteza, deputy official of Hezbollah’s municipal work in the Bekaa, Hani Fakhreddin, and academic, educational and social activities.
Dr. Zain al-Abidin Haidar, addressing the Islamic University of Lebanon, said: “When it comes to the issue of water and its preservation, who is more keen than the state of Speaker Nabih Berri, aware of its life and economic importance, he spares no effort to support all relevant studies and work, from his daily insistence on resolving the issue of Litani, to the establishment of the Assi Dam, not ending with the support of our meeting.”
“FAO’s climate and hydrological studies, leading up to the Dublin Conference on Water and Sustainable Development in 1992 and the Rio de Janeiro Summit in the same year, have all come to several conclusions, including that freshwater sources are very limited and weak, necessary for the preservation of life and the environment, that water management must be based on a participatory rather than exclusive approach, and that household consumption and community education play an important role in water conservation and consumption, and most importantly, “Water has great economic value in all its uses and must be recognized as an economic commodity, and these conferences have stressed the importance of collecting the right information and accurate climate data, so that decision makers can rely on clear indicators to know treatment methods such as dam construction, well drilling, network development, etc.”
“The National Center for The Quality of Medicine, Food, Water and Chemicals at the Lebanese University published the results of the analysis of water samples in a number of bekaa areas, which showed that bacterial contamination affects surface and groundwater and distribution networks, so lip water in the Bekaa is almost undrinkable. “If this indicates anything, it shows that the health of the citizen is in great danger, so what do we leave to our children and to future generations of water, least of which is to drink.”
“Many unfavourable conditions have led to a decrease in the amount of water available in the Bekaa, including climate change, decreased rainfall, Syrian displacement, life development that has led to an upward increase in water consumption, contamination of surface and groundwater sources, and the drilling of random wells that have drained groundwater,” Rizk said.
“No one thinks that the Bekaa Water Corporation, which began operation in 2002, is solely responsible for water, but every citizen is responsible for water conservation and quality,” he said.
“The foundation is suffering from a shortage of human resources, with 190 employees, in addition to 180 out of demand, and a shortage of about 500 people according to regulations that have not noticed any sanitation user, and under the suspension of employment,” he said. “We are facing a major challenge, and without the support of the Ministry of Energy and donors, the foundation would not have collapsed, and we would not have been able to provide water in the Bekaa.”
He announced that the company’s debt amounts to 161 billion lire, of which 89 billion lire for the Lebanese Electricity Corporation, 5 billion for Zahle electricity, 11 billion for municipalities and 11 billion for guarantees.”
“We have lip water and sanitation plans, and studies and plans for irrigation water are being prepared, with the support of the Ministry of Energy and Water and donors.”
“We are a humanitarian non-profit organization, we have been working since 2006 in Lebanon, and today we are celebrating World Water Day with you, to send a message that everyone has the right to water,” von Gothenburg said.
“The most important obstacles and problems in Lebanon are that not everyone in Lebanon has proper access to water,” she said, adding that “we are working on water projects in Lebanon in two areas, to provide additional water sources to meet the needs of displaced Syrians, and to ensure the needs of host communities, which in turn suffer from water shortages.”
Dr. Talal Darwish pointed to a shortage of water resources in the Bekaa, and said: “Statistics confirm that the overall path of the amount of water available is a downward path, knowing that the largest agricultural holdings and the largest use of groundwater we find in Baalbek Hermel, Lebanon among the Arab countries threatened by water shortages and scarcity, and what is needed is to improve water management so that we can make greater use of our water.”

Cooperation with the Bekaa Water Foundation and the Italian Civil Voluntary Work Association
After climate change in Lebanon took a negative turn and caused a national water crisis, it had a negative impact on all sectors, especially the agricultural sector. The Islamic University in Lebanon played a prominent role in addressing the phenomenon of water scarcity through its cooperation with non-governmental organizations in order to rationalize water consumption. For this purpose, it organized a symposium on water crisis to present problems and solutions. In cooperation with the Bekaa Water Foundation and the Italian Civil Voluntary Work Association.