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Lebanon
>> Regional Overview >>Lebanon Overview Program Data Sheet
268-005
USAID MISSION: Lebanon
PROGRAM TITLE: Improving the Environment and Preventing Landmine Injuries (Pillar: Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade)
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE AND NUMBER: Improved Environmental Practices, 268-005
STATUS: Continuing
PLANNED FY 2002 OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: $5,000,000 ESF; $600,000 DA
UNOBLIGATED PRIOR YEAR FUNDS AND FUNDING SOURCE: $6,000,000 ESF
PROPOSED FY 2003 OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: $5,000,000 ESF, $500,000 DA
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1998 ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2004Summary: USAID’s program to improve environmental practices and prevent mine injuries is helping:
- Rural communities create healthier, environmentally-friendly living conditions;
- The private sector and the Government of Lebanon (GOL) assess and manage water resources more efficiently;
- The American University of Beirut (AUB) creates an integrated environmental program supporting development and policy initiatives;
- Landmine survivors become active and productive members of their communities; and
- All Lebanese become more aware of landmine fields and mine clearance operations.
Inputs, Outputs, and Activities: FY 2002 Program: Improving the health, safety, and economic well-being of rural residents through appropriate environmental technology and mine action activities is the main thrust for FY 2002 investments. Ninety waste management, potable water, sewage treatment, and drainage activities will be built by NGOs, communities and municipalities
in about 20 Rural Community Development Clusters (RCDC) (see SO 268-001); 40 reforestation, environmental protection, and land reclamation activities geared toward value-added agriculture will also be established. Support to the American University of Beirut will expand the Core Environmental Lab’s (CEL) air, soil, and water testing program from 300 to 400 tests per month and begin integrating a multi-disciplinary group of faculty into 10-15 of USAID’s rural sustainable agriculture and water management activities. Initiatives in the water sector, aimed at better management of water resources, will provide technical assistance and training to strengthen field-level water management, local participation, and collaborative planning among water users; broaden private-sector participation in Lebanon’s water authorities; develop water pricing policies; and boost cost recovery. Mine action will continue nationwide support for the Landmine Awareness Campaign, focusing primarily on South Lebanon and the West Bekaa and information exchanges among NGOs, donors, UNIFIL, and the GOL on mine fields, victims, and priority areas for mine clearance. Leahy War Victims funds will enable USAID to expand economic opportunities for some 2,000 survivors of landmines and their families through an innovative "Resource Cooperative" in the district of Jezzine, the northernmost point of the formerly occupied security zone and home to Lebanon’s largest number of landmine deaths and injuries.
Constructing an additional 26 solid waste and wastewater management facilities, using effective, affordable, and low-maintenance technologies well-adapted to rural areas, will enable 14,000 families to live in cleaner, healthier, safer surroundings. Planned FY 2003 Program: Pending a strategy review, USAID will continue expanding environmental activities across the RCDC program, replicating the most appropriate and sustainable technologies, and providing technical assistance and training. To the extent possible, USAID will work with central authorities and non-RCDC municipalities to integrate these technologies more extensively into their environmental planning and management. Field-level water management activity will focus on domestic water-sharing issues in South Lebanon and the West Bekaa, recognizing that the more contentious transboundary ones will likely remain off-bounds. Further action on pricing policy and cost recovery will depend on FY 2002 progress and GOL political will to revamp the water utility. USAID plans to assist the American University of Beirut’s environmental program to expand its analytic, consulting, and RCDC-support services nationwide. Mine action will intensify its job-and-income-oriented victim assistance within and beyond Jezzine, given the extent of heavily mined areas, the slow pace of de-mining, and the growing number of mine accidents.
SUBMISSION OF THIS PROGRAM DATA SHEET CONSTITUTES FORMAL RENOTIFICATION OF USAID’S INTENT TO OBLIGATE FY 2002 RESOURCES FOR THE ACTIVITIES DESCRIBED ABOVE Performance and Results: USAID’s innovative RCDC environmental activities, now benefiting some 70,000 families in rural Lebanon, are emerging as a viable alternative to large-scale infrastructure schemes that are too costly, time-consuming, and technically inappropriate for most rural communities. Increasing local participation in environmental health and water management activities, coupled with new NGO-the American University of Beirut "technical excellence" partnerships, are changes that will ultimately enhance the capability of
communities to manage their environmental resources effectively. The American University of Beirut’s Core Environmental Lab is now attracting a wide range of clients from the public and private sectors—a record 101 private clients during the first-half of 2001—with plans to expand its and the Water Resource Center’s air, soil, and water pollution analytic services regionally by 2004. New policies and legislation on water pricing should also be in place by 2004, which would enable newly privatized water authorities to recoup their costs (estimated in the tens of millions of dollars), upgrade service delivery, and operate independently. On mine action, the Resource Cooperative in Jezzine—the first of its kind worldwide—should create jobs and income (i.e., $300-500 monthly per adherent) by the end of 2003. USAID’s pioneering 1999-2001 surveys on landmine victims and mined areas—the only comprehensive nationwide survey in Lebanon—is now fully integrated into Lebanon’s U.N.-certified Information Management System for Mine Action and will be used to support both military and civilian de-mining efforts. The ultimate and collective GOL-Donor goal: nationwide elimination of all landmines and unexploded ordnance by 2007.
USAID’s mine awareness campaigns have reached over a million people—a third of Lebanon—for whom landmines pose a daily threat. Authorities believe the current monthly average of eight injuries and one death from landmines would be far greater without these campaigns. Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: For FY 2002, rural community-based environmental activities will continue to be implemented through the five NGO RCDC partners (see SO 268-001), with support from the American University of Beirut Core Environmental Lab and Water Resources Center, and in coordination with the Ministry of Environment. A new partner under the USAID Water Indefinite Quantity Contract, previously contracted through ANE’s FORWARD project, will implement the water resource management activities, coordinating closely with the Ministries of Water and Energy, Environment, Agriculture, and Interior and Municipal Affairs, as well as with local municipalities. Humanitarian de-mining activities, specifically landmine awareness, information, and victims assistance, will be carried out by the World Rehabilitation Fund (prime), in collaboration with Balamand University (sub), the Ministry of Defense’s National De-mining Office, the Ministry of Health, and a consortium of local NGOs and community-based organizations. USAID expects several of these partners to continue under a new or updated strategy beginning in FY 2003.
US Financing in Thousands of Dollars
268-005 Improved environmental practices DA ESF Through September 30, 2000 Obligations 800 3,676 Expenditures 115 2,106 Unliquidated 685 1,570 Fiscal Year 2001 Obligations 600 478 Expenditures 493 1,376 Through September 30, 2001 Obligations 1,400 4,154 Expenditures 608 3,482 Unliquidated 792 672 Prior Year Unobligated Funds Obligations 0 6,000 Planned Fiscal Year 2002 NOA Obligations 600 5,000 Total Planned Fiscal Year 2002 Obligations 600 11,000 Proposed Fiscal Year 2003 NOA Obligations 500 5,000 Future Obligations 0 0 Est. Total Cost 2,500 20,154
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Last Updated on: May 29, 2002 |
