Cedars of Lebanon at risk due to climate change

In the area the temperatures have increased by two degrees in the last 30 years. The visible damage in the Tannourine forest in the north of the country. Many skeletons of dead trees. The government has promoted a program of grafting, but proceeds slowly. Hopeful environmentalists: Cedars will be able to adapt.

Beirut (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Climate change and rising temperatures on the planet put the symbol of Lebanon, the cedar tree, at risk. This tree is stamped on both the national currency and the flag; the French poet Alphonse de Lamartine paid homage to it in a famous composition.

The extent of the devastation clearly emerges in the centuries-old Tannourine forest in the north; in the area there are now many skeletons of dead trees. They are not dying from fire, but climate change.

The increase in temperatures [two degrees in the last 30 years] and the collapse in rain and snow levels since the late 1990s has led to the proliferation an insect that feeds on the needles of the "God’s cedars", as they are called in Lebanon. The Cephalcia tannourinensis has devastated the forests, located at 1800 meters in height, as well as in other forests of the north.

Nabil Nemer, French entomologist and environmentalist responsible for the treatment of Tannourine, explains: "It is as if a fire had swept away the forest" and only last year "at least 170 trees have completely dried up". And the fault is not attributable to the insect, which lives in the area and in contact with the cedars for centuries. In this area, adds scientist Wolfgang Cramer, "climate change is more intense" than the world average.

Usually the larva, which loves cold and humidity, sleeps up to three or four years under the ground in some "ravines". However, the dry climate has "disturbed" the micro-climate the insect was used to. To counter this, since 1999 the authorities have started to use insecticides scattered by helicopters. However, in the last four years the larvae have grown and this type of intervention is no longer used due to the heavy repercussions on the environment and pollution.

In 2012, the Beirut government and the Ministry of Agriculture launched an ambitious reforestation program that involves the grafting of 40 million shrubs "all native of Lebanon", covering an area of ​​70 thousand hectares. To date, less than three million have been planted and the program is already lagging behind the deadline set for 2030, in a real battle against the clock.

"The cedars have survived for millions of years - says Magda Bou Dagher Kharrat, co-founder of the Nong environmentalist Jouzour Lubnan - and will be able to overcome climate change, by adapting".

• Lebanon
• cedars
• climate change
• trees
• ecology
• development
• nature
• ancient plants