Behold Baabda, a hill overlooking Beirut and its airport,
crowned by this authentic old Serail that goes back
to the nineteenth century! This was the administrative
center for all Mount Lebanon during the time of the
Mutassarifs (governors) until the First World War
and the French Mandate. A once cultivated coastal
plain stretches from the seashore up to the hilltop
where the Serail palace stands like a citadel or some
castle tower left from the middle ages.
But in fact this plain has now been transformed into
a second Beirut, more extensive than the capital itself,
almost a shantytown. The hills here are crowned not
only by the Serail but also by monasteries, convents
and churches with red-tiled roofs and belfries. Also
there is a large green area belonging to the Anthonine
Fathers still known as Baabda Forest under the shade
of which is to be found a great variety of fauna and
flora. One may still see there jackals, foxes, shrews,
field mice, bats, lizards, chameleons and a little
over 180 species of birds, that is to say one half
of the different kinds living in Lebanon or passing
over it.
In particular there are cuckoos, and these are birds
which are very important for the destruction of the
caterpillars which are the scourge of the pine trees
in Lebanon. There are also harriers, hawks, swallows,
nightingales, robins and even occasional eagles. As
for flora, there are many kinds of trees, of both
the coast and the mountains: pines, oaks, pistachios,
olive trees, arbutus, azalea and plane, to mention
only a few. There are many kinds of wild flower and
also plants of medicinal value.
A park was rearranged starting in 1995, thanks to
cooperation between the Beirut City Council, the Région
Ile-de-France and particularly the Association Terre-Liban,
which has been active for several years to preserve
this Baabda Forest green area and to protect it from
going up in smoke, as is so often the case, given
the risk of fires affecting the region. The Association
has launched an awareness campaign for the protection
of this forest and has trained more than fifty people
nearby to defend the forest against outbreaks of fire.
Everybody should be ready protect this site, and the
pilot product for forest neighborhoods should be copied
all over the country.
The Association Terre-Liban has already acquired equipment
in the form of tanks, hoses, transportation, tankers
and extinguishers, so as to be able to act even before
the arrival of the Civil Defense. The Swiss Development
Agency, the World Environment Fund (G.E.F.) and the
United Nations program P.N.U.D. have participated
and supported the Association.
The Forest of Baabda is a veritable haven in the middle
of the concrete wilderness, picturesque and welcoming,
open to all nature-lovers, a place for dreaming, relaxation
and walks “to get away from it all”. It was inaugurated
in November 2006 by Jean-Paul Huchon, President of
the Région Ile-de-France. The Lebanese are
waking up to the need to preserve their natural resources.
Terre-Liban is urging the public and private sectors
to adopt sustainable development in order to protect
the environment. Active since 1994, this non-profit
organization has made itself known in most of the
schools and in various social circles. It is made
up of volunteers and has the support of many experts
specialized in environment, biology, and agriculture.
Baabda Forest is well worth a visit and deserves our
attention for the preservation of green spaces in
the interior of our cities. At Besançon in
France, for example, over 70% of the town area has
become a surrounding green space.
- The Baabda Forest: >> View
Movie << (2009-07-01)
