The Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon, celebrated the “World Migratory Bird Day” this year, in the West Bekaa Country Club, with new visions, old hopes and genuine desire for a brand new Lebanon through providing a safe sky for the yearly migration route of the birds.
The event held in collaboration with the municipality of Kherbet Kanafar, under the patronage and the presence of Mrs. Claudine Aoun Roukoz, special advisor of the president of the Republic of Lebanon General Michel AOUN, and the Swiss Ambassador to Lebanon H.E François Barras.
When birds migrate between nesting and wintering sites, they don’t just stop anywhere; they rely on a handful of resource-rich and strategically located sites where they may double their body weight as they acquire the energy-rich fat stores needed to fly thousands of kilometers across continents and oceans. These places are known as stopover sites. Some stopover sites are well known, in Lebanon, such as the inland Hima Ebel Saki in the south and Hima Anjar wetlands in the east.
In 2017, SPNL invited all stakeholders and partners to join our celebration of the importance of Himas and the role of Homat Al Hima in protecting the birds. All the activities organized for World Migratory Bird Day are united by a common theme. With the 2017 theme “Their Future is our Future”, WMBD throw light on the topic of “Sustainable Development for Wildlife and People”. WMBD 2017 highlighted the interdependence of people and nature, and more especially people and migratory birds, as they share the same planet and thus the same limited resources. The 2017 campaign aim at raising awareness on the need for a sustainable management of our natural resources, demonstrating that birds conservation is also crucial for the future of humankind.
The event held in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and active participation of Ministry of Environment , Alshouf Biosphere Reserve , Ammiq Wetlands , and Hima KfarZabad Wetlands.
This awareness-raising event ,funded by the Embassy of Switzerland, MAVA Foundation, BirdFair and Homat Al Hima International, highlighted the need for the conservation of migratory birds and their habitats, involving a wide spectrum of stakeholders related to responsible hunting.
The event held in parallel to a national conference titled “Homat Al-Hima ( HH ), The Way of Life, for Sustainable Development”. The aim of the conference was to highlight role of Homat Al-Hima in the proposed Himas for Responsible Hunting Areas (RHAs) with the respected municipalities on municipal lands; in order to put an end to the IKBs, and operate the selected RHAs in the Bekaa region and other regions of Lebanon as models for Responsible Hunting and ecotourism/nature based tourism; hence rehabilitating sites for game and non-game wildlife. RHAs allow game hunting with bag limit under the control of the local community that is represented by the local authority, the municipality.
Management within RHAs draws on disciplines such as mathematics, chemistry, biology, ecology, climatology and geography to gain the best results. RHAs contribute to reduce the loss in the earth’s biodiversity by taking into consideration ecological principles such as carrying capacity, disturbance and succession and environmental conditions such as physical geography, pedology and hydrology with the aim of balancing the needs of wildlife with the needs of people.
