Lebanon, a small country with an outsized ecological role, sits at the heart of one of the world’s most important migratory bird routes. Every spring and autumn, nearly 200 species of birds pass through Lebanese skies as part of their long journeys between Eurasia and Africa. Yet for millions of them, Lebanon has become not a passageway, but a killing ground.
According to an in-depth commentary “Blood in the Sky: Lebanon’s Slaughter of Migratory Birds”, 27 December 2025 by journalist Jonathan Cole, published by Badil – The Alternative Policy Institute, an estimated 2.6 million migratory birds are illegally killed in Lebanon each year, placing the country fourth among Mediterranean states for illegal bird killing, despite its limited land area and population.
A deadly bottleneck
Lebanon lies along the Eastern Mediterranean Flyway, a global migration corridor of critical importance. In northern Lebanon, particularly along the Koura–Zgharta–Dannieh–Minieh–Akkar line, geography and wind patterns force birds to fly at low altitude. This natural bottleneck makes them especially vulnerable to poachers, who shoot, trap, and kill tens of thousands of birds every year.
Species affected include storks, pelicans, raptors, cranes, vultures, kestrels, and buzzards. While a small number are hunted for food, conservationists emphasize that most are killed for sport, with images of mass shootings widely shared on social media.
Commitments versus reality
Lebanon is a signatory to the Convention on Migratory Species and has committed, under the Rome Strategic Plan 2020–2030, to halving illegal bird killing by the end of the decade. However, decades of weak enforcement and limited political prioritization have allowed poaching to become deeply entrenched.
Past government responses have often followed international pressure rather than sustained national policy. In the absence of effective state action, civil society organizations, including Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon and the Middle East Sustainable Hunting Center, have played a central role in monitoring, awareness-raising, and field-based interventions.
Recent steps, persistent gaps
In mid-2025, the government announced the recruitment of 106 new forest, hunting, and fisheries guards, granting them judicial police powers. While this move signals a change in tone, conservation practitioners warn that it remains insufficient given the scale of illegal hunting and the limited presence of enforcement on the ground.
At the same time, outdated fines, weakened further by Lebanon’s economic collapse, fail to deter poachers. Environmental advocates continue to call for stronger penalties, including firearm confiscation and the criminalization of large-scale poaching, measures that have proven effective in other Mediterranean countries.
The road ahead
As millions of birds prepare to cross Lebanese skies once again, the gap between international commitments and realities on the ground remains stark. Without stronger enforcement, legal reform, and a broader shift in public attitudes toward wildlife, Lebanon risks remaining one of the most dangerous passages on a journey meant to sustain life across continents.
For organizations like SPNL, the message is clear: protecting migratory birds is not only a conservation imperative, but a test of environmental governance, community responsibility, and Lebanon’s commitment to its natural heritage.
