In an era of accelerating climate change, biodiversity loss, and mounting pressure on natural resources, the need for cross-border cooperation and shared environmental learning has never been greater. Against this backdrop, Lebanon is taking meaningful steps to strengthen its engagement within the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme, positioning itself not only as a beneficiary of global environmental frameworks but also as an active contributor to international knowledge exchange.
At the heart of this growing engagement stands Assad Serhal, Director General of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL), whose leadership continues to bridge local conservation traditions with global environmental governance.
A First for West Asia: Joining the Swiss Biosphere Network
In a milestone achievement, Assad Serhal recently joined the Swiss Biosphere Reserve network as the first member from the West Asia region, marking a significant moment for Lebanon’s engagement within the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme. This step carries both symbolic and practical importance, positioning Lebanon not only as a participant but as a contributor to global biosphere governance.
As part of this engagement, Serhal visited the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve Entlebuch, one of Switzerland’s flagship biosphere reserves and a widely recognized international reference for integrated landscape management. During his visit to the Biosphäre Entlebuch coordination and visitor center, he was exposed to a mature governance model where conservation, community participation, sustainable financing, and science-based decision-making are embedded in daily practice.
Switzerland’s biosphere reserves, and Entlebuch in particular, are regarded as global benchmarks for translating UNESCO MAB principles into operational systems, linking municipalities, local economies, research institutions, and conservation objectives under a single territorial vision. Serhal’s visit provided concrete insights into how biosphere reserves function as living institutions, offering lessons directly relevant to Lebanon’s existing biosphere reserves and future initiatives, including the Beirut River Valley nomination.
This direct, on-the-ground engagement reinforces the value of South–North knowledge exchange, grounded in mutual learning and shared responsibility for sustainable development across regions.
From Dialogue to Design: Building Structured Cooperation
Serhal’s recent mission to Switzerland, his second official visit to Swiss biosphere reserves, went beyond ceremonial engagement. The visit marked the beginning of concrete discussions around a structured cooperation framework between Lebanese and Swiss biosphere initiatives.
These discussions focused on practical areas where shared experience can yield real impact, including:
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Governance models that balance conservation objectives with local economic realities
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Community engagement mechanisms that ensure local populations remain stewards, not spectators, of protected landscapes
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Sustainable financing approaches that reduce dependency on short-term project funding
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Adaptive environmental management, particularly in the face of climate variability and socio-economic stress
The exchanges highlighted how biosphere reserves function not as static protected areas, but as living laboratories, places where policies, livelihoods, and ecosystems evolve together.
Lebanon’s Added Value: The Hima Experience
Lebanon’s contribution to this dialogue is neither marginal nor symbolic. Through SPNL’s revival and modernization of the Hima system, Lebanon offers a conservation model deeply rooted in social norms, collective responsibility, and local governance. Unlike top-down protection regimes, Hima relies on community consensus, customary regulation, and shared benefits, principles that resonate strongly with UNESCO MAB’s people-centered approach.
Swiss partners expressed particular interest in how Hima sites maintain biodiversity while sustaining agriculture, pastoralism, and eco-tourism, especially in politically and economically fragile contexts. This positions Lebanon as a knowledge contributor, offering insights relevant to regions facing increasing social and environmental pressures.
Toward 2026: A Vision for Exchange and Capacity Building
Building on these exchanges, SPNL is now exploring the launch of a formal exchange programme in 2026, designed to translate dialogue into long-term collaboration. The proposed programme would include:
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Mutual learning visits between Lebanese and Swiss biosphere reserves
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Technical cooperation in spatial planning, monitoring, and governance
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Capacity-building initiatives for local authorities, reserve managers, and community representatives
Such a programme would allow practitioners on both sides to observe real-world challenges and solutions in context, strengthening institutional resilience and professional networks across regions.
The initiative is currently pending the mobilization of the necessary financial resources, with SPNL actively engaging donors and partners who recognize the strategic value of investing in knowledge exchange rather than isolated interventions.
Anchoring Lebanon in the Global MAB Learning Network
These developments come at a critical moment for Lebanon, as the country works to consolidate its existing biosphere reserves and advance new nominations, including the Beirut River Valley Biosphere Reserve. Strengthened international cooperation ensures that Lebanon’s biosphere efforts are not isolated but firmly embedded within the global MAB learning network, where experiences are shared, adapted, and scaled.
More broadly, this growing engagement signals a shift in how Lebanon is positioned internationally: not only as a country in crisis, but as a laboratory of resilience, innovation, and community-driven conservation.
As environmental challenges increasingly transcend borders, initiatives like these reaffirm a simple truth at the core of the UNESCO MAB Programme: protecting nature is inseparable from connecting people, across landscapes, cultures, and regions.
