The Minister of Information in the caretaker government Ziad Makari, received an environmental media delegation, which included: the Chairman of the National Committee of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Fadi Ghanem, director general of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL), Asaad Serhal who is also an honorary member of the IUCN, the Director of Green Community NGO, Sana Antoun, Vice President of the Ghadi Association Michel Hassoun, environmental media coordinator at Ghadi News, Antoine Boutros, the deputy mayor of Kaifoun, and a number of environmental activists.
Ghanem spoke and informed the minister about the national plan that had been launched and handed him a copy of it, saying “Green media is one of our priorities.” He called for “the launch of official green media, especially specialized media such as Ghadi News, which celebrates its twentieth anniversary today.”
Serhal presented the “works and projects carried out by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon,” speaking about “hima and protected areas, and the necessity of including hima protectors in the green media program, especially for university students, to prepare journalists who care about the environment and specialize in green media, in cooperation with the Ghadi Association.” He called on the Minister of Information to “participate in launching green media.”
Minister Makari, in turn, thanked the delegation for their visit, stating that “this meeting is one of the most beautiful meetings he has held,” expressing “all support for the members,” praising “their work and efforts,” and said: “Green meetings are amongst the things I love the most.”
He affirmed “his desire to increase future cooperation and extend a hand to cooperate with all those present, especially to activate the green media,” calling on “everyone to participate with him next summer in the activities dedicated to protecting nature in Ehden.”
And he declared, “his readiness to sign a cooperation agreement with Ghadi News in order to launch and activate green media in Lebanon.”
He pointed out that he had agreed with the Minister of Environment in the caretaker government, Nasser Yassin, to sign a cooperation agreement between the two ministries in order to promote green media, at the heart of the declaration: Beirut is the capital of Arab media.At the conclusion of the meeting, the delegation presented Makari with a set of books on the environment.
This event was supported by (C4C) project. In line with the European Green Deal agenda and the Paris Agreement, the Climate for Cities (C4C) project aims to promote the transition towards greener and climate-resilient municipalities in the Southern Neighborhood, in line with countries’ commitments under the Paris Agreement.
C4C Lebanon will lead to (1) Implementing resource efficient and low carbon initiatives in the target municipalities, (2) Promoting green technology and behavioral changes at local level through hands-on awareness campaigns with schools, NGOs, youth, women, and households, (3) Capacity building of relevant stakeholders on green cities and natural resource management, and (4) Ensuring replication through strengthening the national framework for sub-national climate action and dissemination of lessons learned from the project and linking outcomes to Nationally Determined Contributions
