Geography of Lebanon
Template:Short description Template:Infobox country geography
Lebanon is a small country in the Levant region of the Eastern Mediterranean, located at approximately 34˚N, 35˚E. It stretches along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and its length is almost three times its width. From north to south, the width of its terrain becomes narrower. Lebanon's mountainous terrain, proximity to the sea, and strategic location at a crossroads of the world were decisive factors in shaping its history.<ref name=":0">Template:Citation-attribution</ref>
The country's role in the region, as indeed in the world at large, was shaped by trade.<ref name=":0" /> It serves as a link between the Mediterranean world and India and East Asia.<ref name=":0" /> The merchants of the region exported oil, grain, textiles, metal work, and pottery through the port cities to Western markets.<ref name=":0" />
Physical geography and regionsEdit
The area of Lebanon is Template:Convert.<ref name=":0" /> The country is roughly rectangular in shape, becoming narrower toward the south and the farthest north.<ref name=":0" /> Its widest point is Template:Convert, and its narrowest is Template:Convert; the average width is about Template:Convert.<ref name=":0" /> Because Lebanon straddles the northwest of the Arabian Plate, it is sometimes geopolitically grouped together with nations with adjacent tectonic proximations such as Syria, Yemen, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the Egyptian Sinai, Palestine, Israel and the UAE.<ref>Egyptian Journal of Geology – Volume 42, Issue 1 – Page 263, 1998</ref>
The physical geography of Lebanon is influenced by natural systems that extend outside the country.<ref name=":0" /> Thus, the Beqaa Valley is part of the Great Rift system, which stretches from southern Turkey to Mozambique in Africa.<ref name=":0" /> Like any mountainous country, Lebanon's physical geography is complex.<ref name=":0" /> Land forms, climate, soils, and vegetation differ markedly within short distances.<ref name=":0" /> There are also sharp changes in other elements of the environment, from good to poor soils, as one moves through the Lebanese mountains.<ref name=":0" />
A major feature of Lebanese topography is the alternation of lowland and highland that runs generally parallel with a north-to-south orientation.<ref name=":0" /> There are four such longitudinal strips between the Mediterranean Sea and Syria: the coastal strip (or the maritime plain), western Lebanon, the central plateau, and eastern Lebanon.<ref name=":0" />
The extremely narrow coastal strip stretches along the shore of the eastern Mediterranean.<ref name=":0" /> Hemmed in between sea and mountain, the sahil, as it is called in Lebanon, is widest in the north near Tripoli, where it is only Template:Convert wide.<ref name=":0" /> A few kilometers south at Juniyah the approximately 1.5-kilometer-wide plain is succeeded by foothills that rise steeply to Template:Convert within Template:Convert from the sea.<ref name=":0" /> For the most part, the coast is abrupt and rocky.<ref name=":0" /> The shoreline is regular with no deep estuary, gulf, or natural harbor.<ref name=":0" /> The maritime plain is especially productive of fruits and vegetables.<ref name=":0" />
The western range, the second major region, is the Lebanon Mountains, sometimes called Mount Lebanon, or Lebanon proper before 1920.<ref name=":0" /> Since Roman days the term Mount Lebanon has encompassed this area.<ref name=":0" /> Antilibanos (Anti-Lebanon) was used to designate the eastern range.<ref name=":0" /> Geologists believe that the twin mountains once formed one range.<ref name=":0" /> The Lebanon Mountains are the highest, most rugged, and most imposing of the whole maritime range of mountains and plateaus that start with the Nur Mountains in northern Syria and end with the towering massif of Sinai.<ref name=":0" /> The mountain structure forms the first barrier to communication between the Mediterranean and Lebanon's eastern hinterland.<ref name=":0" /> The mountain range is a clearly defined unit having natural boundaries on all four sides.<ref name=":0" /> On the north it is separated from the Al-Ansariyah mountains of Syria by Nahr al-Kabir ("the great river"); on the south it is bounded by Al Qasimiyah River, giving it a length of 169 kilometers.<ref name=":0" /> Its width varies from about Template:Convert near Tripoli to Template:Convert on the southern end.<ref name=":0" /> It rises to alpine heights southeast of Tripoli.<ref name=":0" /> Qurnat as Sawda' ("the black nook") reaches Template:Convert<ref name=":0" /> and is the highest mountain of Lebanon.Template:Citation needed Of the other peaks that rise east of Beirut, Mount Sannine (Template:Convert) is the highest.<ref name=":0" /> Ahl al Jabal ("people of the mountain"), or simply jabaliyyun, has referred traditionally to the inhabitants of western Lebanon. Near its southern end, the Lebanon Mountains branch off to the west to form the Shuf Mountains.<ref name=":0" />
The third geographical region is the Beqaa Valley.<ref name=":0" /> This central highland between the Lebanon Mountains and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains is about Template:Convert in length and 9.6 to 16 kilometers wide and has an average elevation of Template:Convert.<ref name=":0" /> Its middle section spreads out more than its two extremities. Geologically, the Beqaa is the medial part of a depression that extends north to the western bend of the Orontes River in Syria and south to Jordan through Arabah to Aqaba, the eastern arm of the Red Sea.<ref name=":0" /> The Beqaa is the country's chief agricultural area and served as a granary of Roman Syria.<ref name=":0" /> Beqaa is the Arabic plural of buqaah, meaning a place with stagnant water.<ref name=":0" />
Emerging from a base south of Homs in Syria, the eastern mountain range, or Anti-Lebanon (Lubnan ash Sharqi), is almost equal in length and height to the Lebanon Mountains.<ref name=":0" /> This fourth geographical region falls swiftly from Mount Hermon to the Hawran Plateau, whence it continues through Jordan south to the Dead Sea.<ref name=":0" /> The Barada Gorge divides Anti-Lebanon.<ref name=":0" /> In the northern section, few villages are on the western slopes, but in the southern section, featuring Mount Hermon (2860 meters), the western slopes have many villages. Anti-Lebanon is more arid, especially in its northern parts, than Mount Lebanon and is consequently less productive and more thinly populated.<ref name=":0" />
- Jayroun, Lebanon - panoramio.jpg
Jayroun
- White mule in the Dunnieh Mountains, North Lebanon.jpg
White mule in the Dunnieh Mountains
- Jabal Moussa Biosphere Reserve 03.jpg
Jabal Moussa Biosphere Rerserve
- View of the Kadisha Valley, Lebanon.jpg
Kadisha valley
- Lebanese coastline, Oct 2012.jpg
Lebanese coastline
- Bteghrine from Haret Ali.JPG
Mount Lebanon
- Mount Sannine.jpg
Mount Sannine
ClimateEdit
Lebanon has a Mediterranean climate characterized by a long, hot, and dry summer, and a cool, rainy winter.<ref name=":0" /> Fall is a transitional season with a lowering of temperature and little rain; spring occurs when the winter rains cause the vegetation to revive.<ref name=":0" /> Topographical variation creates local modifications of the basic climatic pattern.<ref name=":0" /> Along the coast, summers are warm and humid, with little or no rain.<ref name=":0" /> Heavy dews form, which are beneficial to agriculture. The daily range of temperature is not wide.<ref name=":0" /> A west wind provides relief during the afternoon and evening; at night the wind direction is reversed, blowing from the land out to sea.<ref name=":0" />
Winter is the rainy season, with major precipitation falling after December.<ref name=":0" /> Rainfall is generous but is concentrated during only a few days of the rainy season, falling in heavy cloudbursts.<ref name=":0" /> The amount of rainfall varies greatly from one year to another.<ref name=":0" /> A hot wind blowing from the Egyptian desert called the khamsin (Arabic for "fifty"), may provide a warming trend during the fall but more often occurs during the spring.<ref name=":0" /> Bitterly cold winds may come from Southern Europe.<ref name=":0" /> Along the coast the proximity to the sea provides a moderating influence on the climate, making the range of temperatures narrower than it is inland, but the temperatures are cooler in the northern parts of the coast where there is also more rain.<ref name=":0" />
In the Lebanon Mountains the gradual increase in altitudes produces extremely cold winters with more precipitation and snow.<ref name=":0" /> The summers have a wider daily range of temperatures and less humidity.<ref name=":0" /> In the winter, frosts are frequent and snows heavy; in fact, snow covers the highest peaks for much of the year.<ref name=":0" /> In the summer, temperatures may rise as high during the daytime as they do along the coast, but they fall far lower at night.<ref name=":0" /> Inhabitants of the coastal cities, as well as visitors, seek refuge from the oppressive humidity of the coast by spending much of the summer in the mountains, where numerous summer resorts are located.<ref name=":0" /> The influence of the Mediterranean Sea is abated by the altitude and, although the precipitation is even higher than it is along the coast, the range of temperatures is wider and the winters are more severe.<ref name=":0" />
The Beqaa Valley and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains are shielded from the influence of the sea by the Lebanon Mountains.<ref name=":0" /> The result is considerably less precipitation and humidity and a wider variation in daily and yearly temperatures.<ref name=":0" /> The khamsin does not occur in the Beqaa Valley, but the north winter wind is so severe that the inhabitants say it can "break nails".<ref name=":0" /> Despite the relatively low altitude of the Beqaa Valley (the highest point of which, near Baalbek, is only Template:Convert) more snow falls there than at comparable altitudes west of the Lebanon Mountains.<ref name=":0" />
Because of their altitudes, the Anti-Lebanon Mountains receive more precipitation than the Beqaa Valley, despite their remoteness from maritime influences.<ref name=":0" /> Much of this precipitation appears as snow, and the peaks of the Anti-Lebanon, like those of the Lebanon Mountains, are snow-covered for much of the year.<ref name=":0" /> Temperatures are cooler than in the Beqaa Valley.<ref name=":0" />
The Beqaa Valley is watered by two rivers that rise in the watershed near Baalbek: the Orontes flowing north (in Arabic it is called Nahr al-Asi, "the Rebel River", because this direction is unusual), and the Litani flowing south into the hill region of the southern Biqa Valley,<ref name=":0" /> where it makes an abrupt turn to the west in southern Lebanon. The river’s lower course is known as Qāsimiyyah.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Orontes continues to flow north into Syria and eventually reaches the Mediterranean in Turkey.<ref name=":0" /> Its waters, for much of its course, flow through a channel considerably lower than the surface of the ground.<ref name=":0" /> The Nahr Barada, which waters Damascus, has as its source a spring in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains.<ref name=":0" />
Smaller springs and streams serve as tributaries to the principal rivers.<ref name=":0" /> Because the rivers and streams have such steep gradients and are so fast moving, they are erosive instead of depository in nature.<ref name=":0" /> This process is aided by the soft character of the limestone that composes much of the mountains, the steep slopes of the mountains, and the heavy rainstorms.<ref name=":0" /> The only permanent lake is Lake Qaraoun, about ten kilometers east of Jezzine.<ref name=":0" /> There is one seasonal lake, fed by springs, on the eastern slopes of the Lebanon Mountains near Yammunah, about Template:Convert southeast of Tripoli.<ref name=":0" />
Temperatures are rising in Lebanon as a part of global warming.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Lebanon is considered to be part of the Fertile Crescent, yet in the meantime with the severe climate changes, it might lose fertility.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Danniyeh.jpg
Snow-covered karstic formations in the Danniyeh mountains.
- March 2011 Snow in Lebanon.jpg
Snow in Lebanon's two mountain ranges, Jebel Liban and Jabal ash Sharqi in March 2011.
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Area and boundariesEdit
Area
Total: Template:Convert
Land: Template:Convert
Water: Template:Convert
Land boundaries:
Total: Template:Convert
Border countries:Israel Template:Convert, Syria Template:Convert
Coastline: Template:Convert
Maritime claims:
Territorial sea: Template:Convert
Exclusive Economic Zone: Template:Convert
Elevation extremes:
Lowest point: Mediterranean Sea Template:Convert (sea level)
Highest point: Qurnat as Sawda' Template:Convert
Resources and land useEdit
Limestone, iron ore, salt, water-surplus state in a water-deficit region, arable land
Land use:
arable land: 10.72%
permanent crops: 12.06%
other: 77.22% (2011)
Irrigated land: Template:Convert (2011)
Total renewable water resources: Template:Convert (2011)
Water in LebanonEdit
Water is becoming a scarce resource in Lebanon due to climate change, which leads to different rainfall patterns as well as to inefficient methods of distribution within the country. Most of Lebanon's rainfall is in the four months of winter, but over the last 45 years, the Ministry of Environment (Lebanon) estimates that rainfall has decreased overall between 5 and 20 percent.<ref name="Nisreen">Template:Cite journal</ref> The coastal strip of Lebanon gets approximately 2,000 mm of rain per year, while the Beqaa Valley to the east gets only one-tenth as much.<ref name="Brooks">Template:Cite book</ref> In 2004, only about 21% of households across Lebanon had constant access to water in the summer months, with most of those households concentrated in or near Beirut.<ref name="Nisreen" /> It is predicted that in future years, there will be higher temperatures, lower rainfall, and longer droughts, leading to even less access to water.<ref name = "Brooks" /> According to the Ministry of Environment, several factors that are putting stress on Lebanon's water resources are unsustainable water management practices, increasing water demand from all sectors, water pollution, and ineffective water governance.<ref name= "MOE">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Lebanon has struggled with inadequate water and sanitation services for many years.<ref name= "UN Refugees" /> The factors with the greatest effect on quality and quantity of water resources in Lebanon are population growth, urbanization (88% of the population now lives in urban areas), economic growth, and climate change.<ref name= "Climate Change Lebanon">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In recent years, population growth has been increased rapidly with the addition of many Syrian refugees.<ref name= "UN Refugees" /> Some new projects have been proposed to restructure the water sector. Currently, over 48 percent of water supplied by the public system is lost through seepage and wastewater networks are extremely poor, or even non-existent in some areas.<ref name= "UN Refugees">UNHCR. Refugees from Syria: Lebanon. UNHCR, March 2015. Print.</ref> One project that is currently being implemented by the Ministry of Environment in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) focusses on harvesting rainwater from agricultural greenhouse tops in order to increase water harvesting and reduce the pressure on pumping groundwater.<ref name= "Climate Change Lebanon" /> This project is expected to increase water availability during the especially critical months of late summer and early autumn when there is less precipitation, which would help to reduce the risk of salinity in both soil and water, and to increase the resilience of crops faced with prolonged drought.<ref name= "Climate Change Lebanon" /> There are also proposed projects that suggest the agricultural sector use recycled waste water to allow for more fresh and potable water for consumption.<ref name= "Climate Change Lebanon" /> This would be a huge improvement, as solid-waste treatment facilities are in short supply, and over 92 percent of Lebanon's sewage runs untreated directly into water-courses and the sea.<ref name= "UN Refugees" /> If Lebanon does not reform its water sector, it is likely that there will be chronic and critical water shortages by 2020, which would create needs the Ministry of Energy and Water (MEW) would be unable to meet.<ref name= "UNDP">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Water is becoming a scarce resource and if Lebanon instates reformed practices, the progression forward into future water scarcity can be slowed.
Environmental concernsEdit
Natural hazards include dust storms.
Current environmental degradation concerns include deforestation, soil erosion, desertification, air pollution in Beirut from vehicular traffic and the burning of industrial wastes, and pollution of coastal waters from raw sewage and oil spills.
Lebanon's rugged terrain historically helped isolate, protect, and develop numerous factional groups based on religion, clan, and ethnicity.
Air quality in LebanonEdit
As a result of increasingly hot summers and its location within the Mediterranean region, which is often cited for having long episodes of pollution, Lebanon, Beirut in particular, is at high risk for air pollution.<ref name= "Saliba">Template:Cite journal</ref> Approximately 93 percent of Beirut's population is exposed to high levels of air pollution, which can most often be attributed to vehicle-induced emissions, whether it be long-range travel or short commuting traffic.<ref name= "Saliba" /><ref name="AUB">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The cost of air pollution to health may exceed ten million dollars a year.<ref name= "AUB" /> The levels of air pollution in Beirut are increasing annually, and were already above acceptable WHO (World Health Organization) standards by 2011.<ref name= "AUB" /> The most noted pollution in Beirut is particulate matter (street dust), chemicals in the air, and vehicle exhaust. Air pollution is exacerbated by city structure and inadequate urban management as indicated by high buildings on narrow streets, which contain air pollutants.<ref name= "AUB" /> Some recommendations for improvement of air quality include encouragement of carpooling and citywide biking, alternative fuels for vehicles, and a widened public transit sector.<ref name= "AUB" />
The question of air quality has received considerable attention and funding by Lebanon's foreign partners. Between 2013 and 2017, the Lebanese ministry of environment was granted a donation of over 10 million Euros by Greece and the European Union to establish a national air monitoring network, which included at its peak 25 stations.<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This network was launched in October 2017 at a major event bringing together 26 different institutions;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> it was to serve as the cornerstone of Lebanon's National Strategy for Air Quality Management, which was released at the end of the same year.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> By mid-2019, however, the ministry of environment ceased to maintain and operate this network, involving budgetary restrictions.<ref name=":1" /> Stations were subsequently looted, even in central Beirut.
Land pollution in LebanonEdit
Sukleen, Lebanon's largest waste disposal company has a waste management process that goes through several stages, including clean-up and collection, sorting and composting, and burial.<ref name= "Sukleen" /> However, many argue that Lebanon needs a much better system for disposal of waste to reduce pollution and environmental degradation. The Litani River is Lebanon's largest river and many farms use the river's water to irrigate land and crops.<ref name= "Litani">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Because of Lebanon's poor waste management system, a lot of waste and pollution ends up in the Litani and contaminates the crops, in turn endangering the health of consumers and farmers alike, contributing to environmental degradation, as well as hurting the agricultural reputation and economy.<ref name= "Litani" />
Trash protests of January 2014Edit
In January 2014, protests in the town of Naameh began to arise, effectively blocking disposal of garbage at the landfill for three days.<ref name= "Standoff">"Lebanon's Garbage Standoff." The Stream. Al Jazeera, 20 Jan. 2014. Web. http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201401202105-0023403 Template:Webarchive</ref> The protests were instated in response to the continued use of the landfill in Naameh beyond the date it was originally meant to close.<ref name="Daily 2015">Template:Cite news</ref> The landfill began as a six-year project in 1997, but has remained open for seventeen years as of 2015, and without a sufficient alternative location for garbage disposal, it is likely that it will remain open for the foreseeable future.<ref name="Daily 2015" /> In 1997, Naameh became the country's primary landfill and was initially supposed to hold two million tons of waste.<ref name= "Standoff" /> The landfill currently holds ten million tons of trash, and is still in use.<ref name= "Standoff" /> Residents of the area in 2014 did not want to extend the landfill agreement, and staged the protests to prevent future plans.<ref name= "Standoff" />
The company in charge of the majority of the area's collection and cleanup of trash is called Sukleen. It serves 364 towns and municipalities within Beirut and Mount Lebanon.<ref name= "Sukleen" /> The total waste collected by the company rose from 1,140 tons daily in 1994, to 3,100 tons in 2014.<ref name= "Sukleen">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Sukleen is the largest government-contracted private waste management company in Lebanon.<ref name= "Standoff" /> In response to the protests, which were asking the government for more efficient waste management systems along with the closure of the landfill in Naameh, Sukleen responded to environmentalists by halting service to Beirut and Mount Lebanon for three days.<ref name="Standoff" /> Because the Naameh landfills were closed and Sukleen was out of service, trash began to pile up in the streets of the city, affecting everyone citywide and drawing attention to the issue of city/region waste-management issues.<ref name="Daily 2015" />
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
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