Criteria for the Identification of Public Hunting Areas in Lebanon

A roundtable meeting was held in SPNL on July 11^th 2013 in the presence of Dr. Salim Hamadeh, and Ms. Rana Tarhini – MSB Project Team, Mrs. Lara Smaha- Ministry of Environment, Dr. Ghassan Jaradi- Ornithologist, and SPNL’s Director General Assad Serhal and Assistant Director General Bassima Khatib. The meeting has set the basis for the criteria in identifying public hunting areas (PHAs) in Lebanon. The major criteria agreed upon during the meeting include the distribution of 1-2 PHAs per Mohafazat in Lebanon where each wouldhost/provide a habitat for at least 3-4 of the game bird species. The PHAs should also be at least 500,000 m² large on municipal or maybe on governmental land also, should be at least 500 m away from any private or public premises, and does not intercept with an Important Bird Area (IBA), Himas, public parks, leisure areas, and villages. The PHA must also be free of mines after gathering information from the relevant military forces. However, it was also recommended for the future to issue guidance material for the management of PHA, and to develop anapplication form to be submitted to the Ministry of Environment that include all the required documents for the municipalities that wish to apply to having a PHA in their legal territories. It is important to note that identification of the 10 PHAs will be done by SPNL within its contract with the UNDP MSB project.