Towards deep-sea conservation in Lebanon

The “Deep-Sea Lebanon project" is funded by MAVA Foundation and lead by OCEANA in cooperation with IUCN and UNEP/MAP-SPA/RAC as executing partners; the Lebanese Ministry of Environment as key member of the Steering Committee; and ACCOBAMS, GFCM and CNRS-L as Supportive Partners.  The project, launched in 2016, is being executed based on a request for partnership sent from the Lebanese Ministry of Environment in order to carry out biodiversity field surveys in the deep sea in Lebanon, following the adoption by the Lebanese Government of the Lebanon’s Marine Protected Areas Strategy in 2012, in which four sites in the deep sea were identified as potential MPAs and need further scientific studies for their declaration.
The overall aim of the “Deep-sea Lebanon project” is to increase the surface of MPAs in Lebanon with the intention of generating suitable management plans to maintain those protected zones. This objective will be achieved through a range of activities that go from scientific data collection to stakeholder workshops and policy briefings, in order to promote the restoration and further management of threatened marine ecosystems and species.