Bringing Beirut River Back to Life

By Layale Abi Esber, environmental and water resources engineer, Climate Change Project Coordinator, UN-Habitat Lebanon Country Programme

The alarming degradation and pollution levels of Beirut River – running for 29 km across several towns – are well known for many people in Lebanon, particularly those living in close proximity to it. However, what most are unaware of is that Beirut River watershed once constituted a significantly rich ecosystem and is still offering a few recreational services particularly in its upper green part. Despite the pollution challenges, the river and its basin are reportedly home to a large number of species of resident and visitor/breeder birds, molluscs, amphibians, mammals and reptiles. Also, it continues to be a major migratory pathway for birds, with over 70,000 soaring birds observed to be flying through its valley, based on a 2006 study by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL). Observed species include among others the European Honey Buzard, the Sparrow Hawk, the Spotted Eagle, the White Stork and the White Pelikan. The degradation of the river’s surrounding green corridors coupled with water pollution and water availability challenges are critical factors that need to be tackled in any ecosystem restoration effort within the river’s watershed.

With the ambitious vision of reinstating the green cover and water infiltration cycles around the urban part of the river, in 2015, the UN-Habitat Lebanon Country Programme, together with TheOtherDada and the Lebanese Center for Energy Conservation (LCEC), engaged in a project aimed at developing a strategy for bringing back to life the urban part of the river and replacing the existing deficient and grey infrastructure in the adjacent urban area with blue and green, environment-friendly infrastructure. In line with the developed strategy, a range of guidelines and associated interventions were developed for a pilot area extending over parts of Bourj Hammoud and Badawi towns, which are located northeast of Beirut, using a people-centered approach, whereby relevant stakeholders were closely engaged in planning efforts. The project’s aim was to holistically address the variable needs of the local urban populations, including aspects related to environment, mobility, as well as governance and economy.

Besides biodiversity regeneration using native species, the strategy proposed a number of other measures, including establishing public parks, blue green streets, green roofs as well as a range of greening interventions within parkings, median strips and sidewalks, primarily aimed at tapping rainwater and improving its infiltration. Although a few unused open urban spaces are still available in Beirut, when well-planned and –managed, they can act as spatial opportunities for biodiversity preservation and community interaction. Those spaces can be transformed into integrated biodiverse green parks, for example, including self-sustaining ecostructures, such as information panels and solar power systems. On the other hand, blue green streets are networks of connected park-like streets that manage water and land in a way that mimics natural systems and functions. By capturing, treating and storing water runoff, these streets allow for the natural water cycle to be restored, and for groundwater recharge to be sustained. Such streets also provide cooling microclimates in the city and increase neighbourhood livability. Associated greening activities through tree plantation, and the development of swales and planters within parkings, median strips and sidewalks create urban green corridors that enhance landscape connectivity for faunal species’ movement, support biodiversity conservation, and enhance natural ecosystem functions. Blue green streets can also be designed in a way that promotes accessibility and green mobility, by developing pedestrian bridges and providing more space for alternative modes of transportation, such as walking, public buses and bicycles. Building rooftops are also favourable spaces for green interventions. For instance, they could act as rainwater harvesting collectors, support solar energy production, and host gardens that can be used as recreational areas or as spaces for vegetable farming. The resources obtained from the rooftops through such interventions allow building residents / owners to be less dependent on external sources of energy, water and food.

Inspired by the above-mentioned strategy developed in 2015 and in line with its vision that is focused on sustainable urbanization and human settlements, UN-Habitat Lebanon initiated the implementation of a range of relevant projects in the target area of the above-described project. With funding from the Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development (AICS), a green public park was developed in 2018 in Bourj Hammoud (in Nabaa neighbourhood). Three green rooftops followed in 2019 for urban farming use, in addition to equipping the roofs of the municipality and civil defense buildings of Bourj Hammoud with solar power systems. In addition, through the same funding source, 80 km of sewer and stormwater networks were cleaned in 2019 in Bourj Hammoud in a much-needed intervention, which was particularly welcomed by the local authorities and communities, as it solved the problem of flooding of raw wastewater across the streets.

Also in 2019, five different streets were upgraded in Bourj Hammoud, with funding from the governments of Poland and Japan. The intervention was designed in close consultation with the local communities and included, among others, the upgrading of the water and wastewater networks on the five streets, in addition to transforming their road flooring using a design that maximizes rainwater seepage.

At present (2024), through additional funding from AICS, a 670-metre linear park is under development along the old railway in Badawi. It will include several botanical gardens, in addition to bike lanes, planters, seating areas as well natural drainage channels to prevent water ponding. Installations will be made from natural materials, such as recycled plastic and hardwood, and will be designed to maximize water infiltration during the wet season.

In parallel, with continued efforts towards the fulfillment of the 2015 strategy developed for the urban part of Beirut River, UN-Habitat Lebanon is currently working on mobilizing resources for the development and implementation of an integrated, climate-change-sensitive management plan for the Beirut River watershed. Since much of the river pollution and water withdrawals originate from activities taking place in the upper greener part of the river, it is increasingly becoming clear that a watershed approach for the management of the river is needed, whereby natural/biophysical and socioeconomic connections and interrelationships between its upper and downstream areas are taken into consideration in intervention planning. Balancing human and environmental needs in the watershed should be sought while simultaneously ensuring sustainable water resources, whereby water withdrawals and losses do not exceed freshwater replenishment rates. Such an approach is crucial in the face of ever-increasing climate-related water challenges, which are exacerbated by multidimensional vulnerabilities in Beirut River watershed in particular and in the country as a whole.

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