Lebanese Coastal Zone

Tony AssafMinistry of Public Works & Transport

Directorate General of Land & Maritime Transport

Marseille, June 2009

Introduction• The Lebanese coastal zone extends

about 225 km, covering 162000 hectares of coastal plains and hills (16% of Lebanon's surface area) where 2.6 millions inhabitants live (70% of the Lebanese population).

• Lebanon's economic activities are concentrated in this zone which contributes about three quarters of national income.

Lebanese coastal zone situation

• Urban areas stretch over 50 km of the coastline (21%)

• Beaches and dunes cover a total length of about 49 km (20%)

• Bare rocky outcrops about 11km (4.7%)• Fruit trees on wet soil (primarily citrus groves)

border the coastline over 34 km • Large industrial or commercial units occupy

about 24 km (10%) • Tourism resorts about 18 km (7.5%) • Ports about 13 km (5.3%)

• The town of "Jbeil" (Byblos) classified since 1983 on UNESCO's world heritage list, with its sea castle harbor, temples and alleys

• "Saida" or old "Sidon" is the first city on southern Lebanon, with its majestic sea castle and remains of an ancient harbor, besides an important sea port.

• "Sour" (Tyr), a great Phoenician city state that established colonies in the Mediterranean basin like "Cartage" and resisted bravely the desirous kings of "Assyria", "Persia" and "Greece"

So far, we have seen the shining side of the picture as the Coastal Lebanon contains:

– The most intense settlements of population and urban various activities.

– Public Ports open to international trade.– Private Ports destined to industrial activities

(cement, chemicals...).– Recreational Ports (Marinas).– Fishing and Leisure Ports built by the Ministry of

Public Works and transport- Directorate General of Land and Maritime Transport

A critical picture as well, both environmentally, and aesthetically, as long as it is threatened by pollution problems and disfigurement of sites.

• Taking trip back from south to north, the "Nakoura" beach has lost huge quantities of its sand during the last two decades, same as the beach of "Tyr"

• In "Saida", the solid waste dump on the shore has grown into a mountain, dozens of meters high and transporting its garbage to neighboring shores.

• Between "Saida" and "Beirut“, private commercial developments and industrial establishments, most of them built illegally

• Illegal slums were also built between "Khaldeh" and "Ouzaï", just in the vicinity of Beirut International Airport

• Reaching Beirut, we notice an area of 60 hectares, equivalent to 1/3 of the city center, to be reclaimed from the sea.

• A development plan launched in 1983 to create a new town along the "Antelias-Dbayeh" shoreline, after reclaiming 1.4 million square meters from the sea.

• Between "Jounieh" and "Jbeil", many private recreation projects have appeared arbitrarily

• Much pollution may diffuse from industrial plants along the "Batroun-Koura" coast, contaminating vast area in sea and on land

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Ministries involved with coastal zone

management issues

A- Ministry of Public Works & Transport – Directorate General of Land & Maritime Transport (DGLMT) involved in:

– All affairs of maritime public domain including: control, occupation, exploitation.

– Territorial waters including: Navigation, occupation, exploitation, marine pollution.

In addition to the higher urban council in the above mentioned ministry

B- Partly involved, Ministries of: – Agriculture, with respect to preservation of the

fish richness, living resources and its developments at sea.

– Environment as concerns marine and sea shore pollution, exploitation of maritime public domain.

– Interior-coast guards as relates to controlling on penal matters.

– National defense (army-marine forces) as connected to illegal acts to penal code smuggling threats of state security.

– Power and water (petrol) when projects consist of exploiting sea lines for discharging oil from the tankers to structures built on private lands.

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C- Council of Development and Reconstruction (CDR) once asked by the government to study and issue master plans, or to execute some projects on the coastal zone.

Regulations under control of the DGLMT

• Lebanon already has laws and regulations, some dating back to the 1925s, and which require a lot of updating and integration . Generally speaking, these laws and regulations deal indirectly with coastal zone management:

1- Decree law No 144/S, 10/6/1925 (Definition of the maritime public domain)

2- Decree No 4810, 24/6/1966 (Conditional use of the maritime

public domain) and revision decree no 1300 dated 1978

3- Proposal of a draft law on regularization of illegal status (contraventions committed on the coast line during the civil war till 1992) which has been recently transmitted to the parliament for approval.

Maritime Public domain: Entities and Occupation

Definition (Decree law N` 144/S, 10/6/1925) :• The maritime public domain consists of seashore

till the farthest distance that the wave could reach in winter and sand shores and pebbles… and then, those coastal ground, and waters connected to the sea and do not form part of the natural cadastred land of the country.

• It is annexed the territorial waters over a width of 12 miles as from the shore starting at the minimum level of low tide :

• It is not cadastred• It cannot be bought• Its ownership cannot be acquired by extinguished

delay

Occupation and exploitation

• The maritime public domain (land/sea) may be occupied temporarily by an authorization

• The temporary occupation:

– Is not for a public interest– Is granted with preservation of everybody rights, by a decree

from the president of the state for one year – The decree that grants authorization defines taxes to be paid

due to temporary occupations taking into consideration: areas, places, surfaces, kinds of investments (marinas, hotels, restaurants, café’s leisure parts, play grounds, theaters…)

• The authorization can be cancelled by a decree from the president of state, without compensation (Damage) at the first request from the administration and for public interests and purposes

Conditions for granting authorizations

(Decree No 4810, 24/6/1966) • By principle, the maritime public domain

remains for the use of everybody • The permission of intending parts of the

sea to be submitted to the following general bases – Large private lands adjacent to the maritime

public domain with appropriate dimensions: surfaces, length on sea front, depth … in order to be available for containing big projects.

– Projects to be executed, should have a public character tourist and industrial justification according to certificates issued by competent services (higher council of urban planning)

Conditions for granting authorizations

• Permanent structures and constructions on maritime public domain are not allowed, only movable ones are allowed when related to sports and equipments with the following restrictions:– Height above the maritime public domain

does not exceed 6 meters with a maximum exploitation of 0.075 (as factor), and a maximum surface of 5% of the portion occupied.

Irregularities Situation

• War has created an illegal status of some 1269 objects that were erected from 1975 to 1990 & were built along the coast without any permission

• Usage or exploitation of these projects are made without paying any dues or taxes.

• Only 64 projects were built legally with decrees.

• Projects for utilization and exploitation of coastal areas can be engaged by anyone under a basic condition: a minimum private land adjacent to the maritime public domain. Then the administration cannot refuse the approval if the requirements have been achieved. This will lead to additional coastal projects.

• All the hinterland of the maritime public

domain is cadastred while the coastline is not, which makes violations easier.

Analysis of the regulatory instruments

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• Lack of national planning authority– The Ex-Ministry of Planning, created in 1950`s, was not

able to prepare a national land use plan due to political difficulties. In 1977, the Council for Development and Reconstruction replaced the Ministry of Planning, with duties not widened enough to include land use and planning functions.

• The CDR was asked by the government to study and issue a master plan for the coastal sea defining the settlements, agricultural, industrial tourist and archeological zones. This plan is very important to restrict construction and bad utilization of the coast.– The study has not been completed due to lack of funding

Analysis of the regulatory instruments

• The draft law on regularization of illegal status has been sent to the parliament since 2006 but it is still pending although it is fundamental to remove the irregularities on the maritime public domain and to receive fees and taxes from those which their status will be settled.

Analysis of the regulatory instruments

Policies, Future Projects and Perspectives

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The Ministry of Public Works and Transport – DGLMT is carrying on executions of plans and programs along side the shore with respect to:

– Building up and equipping 27 fishing/leisure ports along for developing trade of fishing

– Establishing a database for the coastal zone and maps via the GIS system to monitor violations

– Establishing public beaches open freely for everybody, and by cooperation with municipalities of cities/towns on the coastal zone.

– Establishing recreational areas in forms of maritime cornices estimated at 7% of length of the Lebanese coast.

– Extending Beirut & Tripoli ports for meeting needs of transit movement between Lebanon and other Arab countries in the region.

– Proposal and pursuing the draft of law on regularization of illegal status (contraventions committed on the coast line during the civil war till 1992).

– Drafting a master plan for the shore showing where authorization of occupying parts of the maritime public domain is possible taking into consideration needs and requirements for protecting archeological ports and sites classified on the international heritage list. .

– Drafting laws/regulations for reviewing conditions related to:

• Granting occupation and exploitation of ports of maritime public domain and territorial waters for touristic, industrial, agricultural and private purposes.

• Taxes imposed on these occupation and exploitation

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– Implementing all international conventions which Lebanon has been adhered to, including those related to protect its marine environment like UNEP, Barcelona convention with its two protocols, MARPOL….

– Implementing provisions of the law of sea conventions 1982

– Prohibited zones in territorial waters as lines of circulation and arrangements of traffic separation, for the safety of navigation requirements.

Thank You.