Geography of Lebanon

Lebanon is a small country in the Levant region of the Eastern Mediterranean, located at approximately 34˚N, 35˚E. It stretches along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and its length is almost three times its width. From north to south, the width of its terrain becomes narrower. Lebanon's mountainous terrain, proximity to the sea, and strategic location at a crossroads of the world were decisive factors in shaping its history.

The country's role in the region, as indeed in the world at large, was shaped by trade.

The physical geography of Lebanon is influenced by natural systems that extend outside the country. The Orontes continues to flow north into Syria and eventually reaches the Mediterranean in Turkey. Lebanon is considered to be part of the Fertile Crescent, yet in the meantime with the severe climate changes, it might lose fertility.

Image:Danniyeh.jpg|Snow-covered karstic formations in the Danniyeh mountains.

Image:Satellite image of Lebanon in March 2002.jpg|Lebanon from space. Snow cover can be seen on the western and eastern mountain ranges.

Image:March 2011 Snow in Lebanon.jpg|Snow in Lebanon's two mountain ranges, Jebel Liban and Jabal ash Sharqi in March 2011.

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Area and boundaries

thumb|right|General map

thumb|right|Detailed map with places marked in both Arabic and Latin script

Area Total:

Land:

Water:

Land boundaries:

Total:

Border countries:Israel , Syria

Coastline:

Maritime claims:

Territorial sea:

Exclusive Economic Zone:

Elevation extremes:

Lowest point: Mediterranean Sea (sea level)

Highest point: Qurnat as Sawda'

Resources and land use

Limestone, iron ore, salt, water-surplus state in a water-deficit region, arable land

Land use:

arable land: 10.72%

permanent crops: 12.06%

other: 77.22% (2011)

Irrigated land: (2011)

Total renewable water resources: (2011)

Water in Lebanon

thumb|353x353px|Main rivers of Lebanon

Water is becoming a scarce resource in Lebanon due to climate change, which leads to different rainfall patterns as well as to inefficient methods of distribution within the country. Most of Lebanon's rainfall is in the four months of winter, but over the last 45 years, the Ministry of Environment (Lebanon) estimates that rainfall has decreased overall between 5 and 20 percent. The coastal strip of Lebanon gets approximately 2,000 mm of rain per year, while the Beqaa Valley to the east gets only one-tenth as much. In 2004, only about 21% of households across Lebanon had constant access to water in the summer months, with most of those households concentrated in or near Beirut. Lebanon has struggled with inadequate water and sanitation services for many years. In recent years, population growth has been increased rapidly with the addition of many Syrian refugees. One project that is currently being implemented by the Ministry of Environment in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) focusses on harvesting rainwater from agricultural greenhouse tops in order to increase water harvesting and reduce the pressure on pumping groundwater. Water is becoming a scarce resource and if Lebanon instates reformed practices, the progression forward into future water scarcity can be slowed.

Environmental concerns

Natural hazards include dust storms.

Current environmental degradation concerns include deforestation, soil erosion, desertification, air pollution in Beirut from vehicular traffic and the burning of industrial wastes, and pollution of coastal waters from raw sewage and oil spills.

Lebanon's rugged terrain historically helped isolate, protect, and develop numerous factional groups based on religion, clan, and ethnicity.

Air quality in Lebanon

thumb|EU-funded air monitoring in Beirut

As a result of increasingly hot summers and its location within the Mediterranean region, which is often cited for having long episodes of pollution, Lebanon, Beirut in particular, is at high risk for air pollution. Approximately 93 percent of Beirut's population is exposed to high levels of air pollution, which can most often be attributed to vehicle-induced emissions, whether it be long-range travel or short commuting traffic. The cost of air pollution to health may exceed ten million dollars a year. This network was launched in October 2017 at a major event bringing together 26 different institutions; it was to serve as the cornerstone of Lebanon's National Strategy for Air Quality Management, which was released at the end of the same year. By mid-2019, however, the ministry of environment ceased to maintain and operate this network, involving budgetary restrictions. Because of Lebanon's poor waste management system, a lot of waste and pollution ends up in the Litani and contaminates the crops, in turn endangering the health of consumers and farmers alike, contributing to environmental degradation, as well as hurting the agricultural reputation and economy. The protests were instated in response to the continued use of the landfill in Naameh beyond the date it was originally meant to close. The landfill began as a six-year project in 1997, but has remained open for seventeen years as of 2015, and without a sufficient alternative location for garbage disposal, it is likely that it will remain open for the foreseeable future. Sukleen is the largest government-contracted private waste management company in Lebanon. In this framework, tree cover refers to vegetation taller than 5 m (including natural forests and tree plantations), and tree cover loss is defined as the complete removal of tree cover canopy for a given year, regardless of cause.

For Lebanon, country statistics report cumulative tree cover loss of from 2001 to 2024 (about 10.6% of its 2000 tree cover area).