Lebanon Biodiversity Villages Green Maps

Across the country of Lebanon, Green Map resources have been used by Ibsar, the Nature Conservation Center for Sustainable Futures, an interdisciplinary center at the American University of Beirut, as part of its Biodiversity Village Award (Baldati Bi'ati) program.

Working with twenty villages every year, Professor Salma Talhouk and her team have used Green Map Icons to facilitate community based mapping efforts aimed at defining areas that need conservation and reforestation. They have also identified village ecotourism and sustainable agriculture assets. 

NEW! In 2021, Aita el Foukhar, the first of these wonderful Green Maps has been added to OGM2, the new mapping platform, as seen here.

The team has also documented best practices in collaboration with film maker Carole Mansour. A judging committee, which consisted of seven faculty members from various disciplines, helped select winning villages based on an evaluation matrix that was developed for this purpose. One can watch the group's wonderful video on this work, which explains how the villagers and university have transformed their communities in 2010-2012 by documenting local best practices. The Biodiversity Village Awards programs were funded by Coca Cola Foundation in 2011 and 2012.