Lebanon

MSB staff and Najib Alhindi from LARI checking the quality of recent seed collections at the LARI headquarters in Tal Amara, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon

Lebanon is in many ways a seed collector's paradise: about the size of Wales, it harbours an estimated 2,600 species, a flora twice the size of the United Kingdom's. Most precious among these are over 300 endemics. The annual rainfall, varying from 150 mm/year in the arid east to over 1000 mm in the high mountains, explains a lot of this wealth, as does the altitudinal variation between sea level and 2,700 m. With population pressure, urbanisation and the aftermath of the civil war being the main threats to the biodiversity, ex situ conservation of a flora under siege is timely.

Simon Khairallah collecting Hyoscyamus albus growing on ruins, Ainjar, Lebanon

The Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute (LARI) and Kew's seed bank have been jointly collecting in Lebanon since 1996, before the MSB Project was formally established. An Access and Benefit Sharing Agreement (ABSA) between LARI and RBG Kew was signed in July 2000, placing future work, as well as the collections from 1996, 1997 and 1998, under its terms and conditions. This Agreement initially covered a 5-year period, but was renewed in 2005 to cover the full time of the MSB Project, i.e. till 2010. The purpose of the joint project is to complement existing in situ conservation in Lebanon by supporting the collection, study and ex situ conservation of the Lebanese flora. The key outputs that are addressing this purpose are: (1) establishment of a facility to maintain a secure, vouchered, long-term seed collection of Lebanese endemic, threatened and otherwise significant plant species that is available and utilised for research and possible species recovery activities (this is now available at LARI); the project aims to collect around 50 species new to the MSB per year; (2) increased knowledge and capacity to collect and conserve seed within staff of LARI. This has been aided by the production in 2005 of a Collection Guide to rare and endangered species of Lebanon by Kew's GIS unit. And (3) to bring about an understanding within government and the broader community in Lebanon of the critical role of seed collections in an integrated approach to species and community conservation and restoration. Examples of this are the fact that conserved materials have been used in PhD research at local Lebanese universities, and that the joint Kew-LARI project features at LARI "open days" for the wider public.

Overview of Bekaa Valley

During the remaining time of the MSB Project collecting will be increasingly targeted for endemic, threatened and economic species. Orchids and endemic species of Iris and Cyclamen are among the main targets.

The picture on the right shows a view over the southern Bekaa Valley: natural, somewhat degraded, dry scrub vegetation in the foreground, dominated by Sarcopoterium spinosum and with many annual species. The remaining trees visible are mainly Amygdalus species. Further in the background agriculture (grape cultivation, both for direct consumption and for wine production) dominates the central part of the Valley, which is at ± 950 m alt.; the dry eastern mountains that form the border between Lebanon and Syria are in the background.

See also FAO Global plan of action