Lebanon's forests: introduction

Prized throughout antiquity

The forests of Mount Lebanon are the stuff of legend. Described by Homer, Plato, and the Old Testament, these once-richly forested mountains - and their most famous inhabitant, the Lebanese cedar (Cedrus libani) - have inspired writers and poets throughout the centuries. Indeed, the 4,000-year-old Epic of Gilgamesh from Mesopotamia, the world's oldest written epic, revolves around the Lebanese cedar.

The basis of an ancient civilization
Forests have played a central role in Lebanon's history. The first to exploit this valuable natural resource on a large scale were the Phoenicians, who settled in the area around 2,500 BC.

The Phoenicians cleared coastal areas for agriculture, and used the cedar of Mount Lebanon to build their famous merchant boats, becoming the first major sea-going trading nation in the world.

Cedar, together with other forest trees such as pine, cyprus, and juniper, became an important basis of their economy. For centuries, the Phoenicians supplied these valuable timber resources around the Mediterranean.

Cedar: the king of trees
Prized for its colour, fragrance, commercial value, and utility in building, cedar was considered the king of trees by the ancient world. Its wood was used by the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Israelites, and, later, the Greeks and Romans for everything from warships to homes, furniture, palaces, temples, and sarcophagi.

One of the most famous examples is King Solomon's temple and palace, built in Jerusalem in the 10th centruy BC. Cedar resin was equally valued for its preservative and medicinal properties. It was used for preserving wooden equipment on ships, papyrus scrolls, and the insides of earthenware wine jars, as well as for embalming Egyptian mummies and in various medicines.

Important source of fuel
Cedar and other trees were also used as fuel for other industries, from ancient times through to last century. The ancient Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon manufactured bronze and glass, both of which needed large quantities of wood for fuel.

In Roman times, Lebanon's trees were used extensively for lime-burning kilns. In the Middle Ages, mountain villagers cleared forests for farmland, using the wood for domestic fuel and construction. And in the early 1900s, the Ottoman empire cleared much of the remaining cedar forests for use as fuel in steam trains.

Early attempts at conservation
This heavy exploitation of Lebanon's forests quickly took its toll, with many areas becoming deforested. Two early attempts were made to preserve what was left.

The Roman Emperor Hadrian, who lived in the second century AD, tried to save the remaining cedar forests by delimiting an area of preservation. And the Mamluk dynasty, which ruled from 1250 to 1517, controlled Lebanon's forest land and regulated the use of its timber.

Succumbing to millennia of exploitation
But these conservation measures were too short lived to save Lebanon's forests. After 4,500 years of human exploitation, the country's forest cover has declined from nearly 100 per cent to just 5 per cent. And the Lebanese cedar, symbol of the country, only survives in 12 fragmented patches in the heights of Mount Lebanon.

Important ecological role
The forests of Mount Lebanon are not just important for cedar and other timber trees. They are home to a variety of aromatic and medicinal plants, as well as rare and threatened oak species. The area is a stop-over for birds, such as the white stork and honey buzzard, during their annual migrations between Africa and Europe.

These forests are also some of the last remaining refuges in the country for large mammals such as wolf and wild boar. In addition, the forests act as a buffer against desertification and soil degradation.

Still under pressure
In recent years, measures have been taken to protect Lebanon's last-remaining forests. However new threats have arisen, such as overgrazing, unregulated tourism, and a high occurrence of forest fires. Without proactive measures to halt these threats, Lebanon's forests, and the legendary cedar of Mount Lebanon, may not survive. WWF and Lebanese conservation group AFDC are working to counter these threats.

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