Under MAVA M6 “Cultural Landscape” programme and as part of the efforts to restore West Bakaa landscape multi-functionality and its associated cultural practices, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon -SPNL developed a management and restoration plan for degraded high mountain pastures in the Himas of West Bekaa in collaboration with the Environment and Sustainable Development Unit at the American University of Beirut and jointly has started to implement it with local municipalities and shepherds. The design restoration plan covered mountain areas between Saghbine and Ain Zebdeh mountains, and more specifically a 15-hectare demo-plot. The rehabilitation plan includes rotational grazing, water management, and re-seeding of native legumes.
On September 21, 2020, the project manager Jamal Hamzeh along with Mr. Pierre Farhat, a municipal member in Saghbine municipality distributed 1,150 vaccines and medical tablets to shepherds as an incentive to encourage them to respect the grazing plan and motivate them to take care of natural pastures and not to graze in newly-afforested areas where grazing is not permitted.
