In the hills above Beirut, where pine trees sway gently and the earth holds memory in every stone, the village of Hammana is experiencing a quiet renaissance.
Once emptied by migration, crisis, and disconnection, these lands are welcoming life once again. With the support of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL), and under the time-honored Hima model, a new generation is returning—reclaiming, restoring, and reimagining what rural living can be.
Among them is the Elias-Nasrallah family, a young Lebanese intellectual and artistic couple—Patricia Elias and Joe Nasrallah—who were displaced from Beirut by the 2020 port explosion. Rather than seeking comfort abroad, they chose a different path: one of return, resilience, and rootedness.
Refuge to the Ancestral Land
Their project, Refuge to the Ancestral Land, is more than a personal retreat. It is a vision. In Hammana, Patricia and Joe have found not only healing but purpose. They are turning their ancestral home into a beacon of eco-tourism, sustainability, and cultural revival.
Old footpaths, once overgrown, are being reopened to walkers and storytellers. Abandoned homes are becoming guesthouses and community spaces. With SPNL’s guidance, they’re helping revive the Hima ethos—a model that balances environmental protection with human presence and tradition.
Through guided nature walks, locally sourced meals, and cultural events, they are creating new livelihoods while safeguarding old landscapes. The aim isn’t to preserve Hammana in amber, but to let it breathe and evolve, in harmony with its people and its past.
Anchored in Community
Patricia and Joe aren’t working alone. They are collaborating closely with local youth, farmers, and environmental groups—including long-time SPNL partner Joe Nasrallah, who has helped facilitate grassroots engagement and ecological restoration in the area.
The result is not a top-down project, but a community-led renewal, one stone, one seed, one story at a time.
This collective effort is rekindling not only the environment but a sense of belonging—especially among the youth. Jobs in ecotourism, sustainable agriculture, and hospitality are helping shift the narrative around rural living in Lebanon from one of abandonment to one of opportunity.
More Than a Return — A Model of Hope
“This is not just a return,” as the new AMNC video episode on Hammana says. “It is a renewal, carefully built one step at a time.” In a country often caught between collapse and survival, Hammana stands as proof that another path is possible—grounded in dignity, tradition, and care.
It’s a story of place, but also of people: young families like Patricia and Joe’s, who are choosing to stay and build, to transform crisis into commons, and to re-anchor themselves in the landscapes that raised their grandparents.
#AMNC #MedNatureCulture #OurCommonsStory #SPNL #Lebanon #Hima #Ecotourism #CulturalLandscapes #NatureAndCulture #YouthRevival #Commons
OUR COMMON(S) STORY
An Impact Journey 2022-2027
Collaboration Partners: AMNC & IUCN
Media Content Producer: KarmMotion
Media Platforms: Key Conservation & Youtube & Habitat TV
OUR COMMON(S) STORY
Film Details: 117 Mins / 8 Episodes / 2025 / 6:09 Ratio / HD 1080dpi
Directed & Filmed by: Eda Elif Tibet & İnanç Tekgüç
Storytelling , Narrative & Editing: Eda Elif Tibet
First and Second Cameras: Eda Elif Tibet & Inanç Tekgüç
Third and Fourth Cameras: Sami (in Tunisia) & Senol Sen (in Morocco)
Post Production & Translations: Inanç Tekgüç
Poster Design for each episode: Eda Elif Tibet
Music: Mama Muzikotek (Songs: Magical Spirit, The Weeping Cedar, Wings over Greece, Finding Power, Turkish Delight, Tout Tombe, Cedar, The Old Cedar,Red City, Red City(short), Red City (Sting), Catalan Landscape,Road to Sahara, Truth is Out There).
Scientific Community & Advisors: AMNC Co-Produced by: Karma Motion & AMNC Funded by: MAVA Foundation
Languages: Greek, Turkish, Arabic, Catalan, Spanish with English Subtitles
About: Our Common(s)’ Story is an environmental documentary episodic series on commoning practices of hope, resilience and transformation set within the cultural landscapes of the Mediterranean Basin. Each episode features changemakers from frontline communities, amplifying their voices, antidotes, and solutions to the planetary crisis, which bolster the climate movement and sustain our earth.
Sites of Coverage:
- Mobile Pastoralism in Turkey
- Mandra System of Lemnos Island, Greece
- Strengthening the ecological and socio-economic resilience of West Bekaa and Mount Lebanon Hima Sites through sustaining its cultural practice
- Menorca Virtuous mosaic, Spain
- Building the ecological and socio‐economic resilience of the Shouf Mountain Landscape, Lebanon
- Enhancement of cork oak cultural landscape values in favor of local community development in Kroumirie Mogod, Tunisia
- Maintaining Cultural Landscapes for Biodiversity and Wellbeing in the Moroccan High Atlas
