The Mediterranean Consortium for Nature and Culture semi-annual workshop was held in Lebanon. SPNL hosted the workshop that took place in West Bekaa Country Club from January 23.2017 till January 25.2017. The workshop discussed the progress of the project at the different partner level, the major project outputs expected for the coming year, new project concepts and proposals, communication, and the Steering Committee Meeting which is now presided by Mr. Assad Serhal for the coming six months. The Steering Committee meeting included highlighting on the future of the MCNC and other important issues, in addition to, working on the Consortium’s internal regulations and aiming at producing the final document in the coming months.
SPNL was keen on keeping the workshop as efficient and fun as possible. The MCNC partners where welcomed at the West Bekaa Country Club by the presence of a Shepherd family who have prepared Arabic Coffee and traditional breakfast with some music for entertainment using “Mehbej” (Traditional Wooden Coffee Grinder). Mr. Marcel Nasr also joined the consortium at dinner to play Oud and sing old Lebanese and Arabic songs to add to the dinner a traditional spirit. The MCNC also had the chance to visit a winery near West Bekaa Country Club for Lebanese wine tasting. Last but not least, despite the weather conditions, a group of the MCNC was able to visit the Shouf Biosphere Reserve and enjoy its beautiful nature and landscapes.
MCNC is a consortium of national and international NGOs (Associacion Trashumancia y Naturaleza, DiversEarth, Yolda Initiative, Mediterranean Institute for Nature and Anthropos (Med-INA), Society for Protection of Nature in the Lebanon (SPNL), WWF and with advisory support from IUCN and FFI), joined forces to undertake a project to assess and support cultural conservation practices in the Mediterranean Basin.
We aim to reinforce traditional practices, techniques and ways of living harmoniously with nature as well as celebrating the ingenuity of people all across the Mediterranean to protect and manage their lands, waters and resources. We hope that this project will contribute to a real revival of such practices so that they remain – or become – robust enough to stand their ground in the 21st century.
Our overall aim is to provide support and recognition to important cultural practices all over the Mediterranean Basin that contribute directly or indirectly to the protection of nature and the sustainable use of natural resources. In the first phase we are researching a broad variety of practices in the following countries: Morocco, Tunisia, Greece and the Balkans, Spain, Portugal, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Turkey.
