litani

The Litani: Our Natural Heritage and the People’s River

The Litani River is Lebanon’s largest and most important river, one of its vital lifelines. Its course stretches about 170 km, with an estimated annual flow of around 750 million m³, of which nearly 265 million m³ are used to irrigate the South. However, mismanagement of water resources has deprived the river of essential natural flows, leading to the drying up of long sections of its course—especially south of the Qaraoun Dam and near its mouth in Qasmiyeh—in clear violation of the globally recognized principle of environmental flows.

The river basin also forms an extremely rich ecosystem, hosting wide plant and animal diversity. It shelters species of fish and aquatic plants, along with frogs and reptiles such as freshwater turtles. It is also a primary habitat for small mammals like hedgehogs, rock hyrax, and the Eurasian badger. The basin is especially important as a stopover and breeding ground for many migratory waterbirds—such as wild ducks, storks, and herons—along with raptors that cross Lebanon’s skies during their migration between Europe and Africa.

Over past decades, the river and its basin have suffered severe abuses. Factories were built along its banks and dumped their waste into it, while many villages diverted their sewage directly into its flow. With pollutants accumulating, the Qaraoun Lake and river course turned into major contamination hotspots, with widespread environmental, health, and social consequences.

In the last two decades, violations have increased in the river’s southern section (south of Qaraoun Lake), which was relatively less polluted. Sand quarries multiplied along its banks, using its stream for washing sand. This caused massive sand and silt deposits that altered the gravel–rock nature of the riverbed and wiped out aquatic life in large areas. Sewage networks from several towns, random dumps, and poultry farms also raised pollution levels to unprecedented heights.

These degradations have affected not only the environment but also local communities directly—through polluted irrigation water, collapse of fish stocks, and the decline of tourism activities in cafés and rest houses that once thrived on its banks.

In response, the Green South Association has given special attention to the Litani’s cause. It organized repeated campaigns against illegal sand quarries in the Rayhan area and submitted reports to the Ministry of Environment. The association also actively participated in the national campaign to save the Litani, held meetings with local mayors to press for halting violations, and issued official statements firmly rejecting the unlawful exploitation of the river basin.

On November 1, 2016, the association launched the “Tourism Establishments Guidelines on the Banks of the Litani River,” aiming to highlight environmental and health challenges linked to the river and set guiding standards for tourism businesses operating nearby, ensuring preservation of the ecosystem and protection of public health and safety. The guidebook was distributed to municipalities along the river to be adopted in their local policies.

The association also worked, in cooperation with the Litani National Authority, on re-releasing several wild birds and animals into the basin’s surroundings, including barn owls (Tyto alba), little owls (Athene noctua), little bitterns (Ixobrychus minutus), and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes). This effort sought to reinforce the Litani basin’s role as a natural habitat for biodiversity and help restore its ecological balance.

In this context, the association praises the responsible performance of the Litani National Authority, which since 2018 has implemented a plan to remove violations and pursue offenders legally—boosting chances of protecting the river and rehabilitating its basin, especially along its lower course.

In June 2020, the Green South Association recorded field indicators of the ecosystem’s response to anti-pollution and anti-violation efforts, as signs of gradual recovery began to appear in the lower Litani basin. Notably, the association documented rare activity of the stone marten (Martes foina syriaca) in the Nabatieh area. In January 2022, colonies of rock hyrax (Procavia capensis, known locally as “tabsoon”) were documented along the riverbanks, marking an additional sign of biodiversity return and ecological balance restoration around the Litani.

The association believes that protecting the Litani River is not just an environmental issue, but also a matter of national water and food security. The river irrigates vast agricultural lands, supports food production, provides an essential source of energy and irrigation, and directly impacts people’s health and daily lives. Restoring the Litani’s vitality is a fundamental condition for strengthening social and economic stability along its basin and ensuring future generations’ right to healthy and sustainable natural resources.