The process of delivery and delivery in the Ministry of Environment: Yassin, number of challenges and achievements

Today, the Ministry of Environment witnessed the delivery and receipt process between the former Minister of Environment Nasser Yassin and the current Minister of Environment Tamara Al -Zain in the presence of a number of heads of departments, advisers, officials, members of the National Council for Scientific Research and Media.

After a short meeting in the office of the Minister of Environment, the two ministers, Yassin and Al -Zain, moved to the meeting room, where the delivery and delivery ceremony took place. Yassin welcomed Minister Al -Zain, and delivered a speech in which he prepared the challenges that the ministry faced and the principles of work and achievements for 3 years and five months, saying: “On the day we received the environment portfolio in September 2021, the ministry as the country was crowded due to crises, from a financial collapse, a fatal pandemic and the bug explosion, on The land as well as in the morale, the Ministry’s status was broken. In spite of this, we decided to face the challenges and announced about a work program that included the most important environmental issues that we worked to address, at the forefront of air pollution issues that are considered one of the best environmental and health problems in Lebanon and the world, in addition to water pollution, management, solid and liquid waste management and protection of biological diversity and ecological systems And climate change. These issues and their approach were our strategic goals and goals to be collected within more than three years.

He added: “Three years of daily work in the Ministry of Environment, a ministry has always been considered marginal in the contexts of political action and traditional policies. The Ministry of Humat and the same sometimes marginalized itself due to the weak resources, and it understood its administration and its recession to be a consultant in many major projects and its preference for closing itself, contented with internal proceedings that do not fatten or sing from hunger. Without entering into the reasons for these practices and their reasons, we wanted this ministry since we assumed responsibility in September 2021, and the powers given to them in the law, to be one of the most important ministries entrusted with the lives of people and living organisms, the permanence of resources and the protection of nature, and to stimulate the principles of sustainability in the intention, Promoting readiness in the face of disasters. We wanted it to be at the heart of all sectors and projects. The matter is not only the power of law or derived from the powers of the minister, but rather the power of honesty and transparency, by adopting logic, based on science and proofs, believing in dialogue and participatory, and boldly attending in many files.

Yassin stressed, “The circumstances were not always favorable, so a sharp political crisis, a vacancy in the headquarters of the state, a major financial collapse, administrative sagging, ugly and destroyed aggression, but despite all of this we worked with effort and hardship for the public interest, and to raise the level of government work to respond to aspirations People, and we have always provided a business model that always stems from the prevalence of the interests of people and the public interest over the special interests, and from adherence to the constitution and laws, the commitment of absolute transparency, communication and participatory, and building confidence. A business model of cooperation and openness to confront the displacement and closure, and joint work with the team of the volunteer minister, employees and honest employees, and with international and local partners. We have achieved a lot, and remains more to reach our vision and achieve the aspirations of the Lebanese and Lebanese women with a clean environment for our children, daughters and grandchildren.

Minister Yassin gave a “brief presentation on the issues we worked on with a team of experts, advisers and adequate employees, and in cooperation with partners of the ministry from international organizations, NGOs and universities, to form an account statement in front of people and secondly to the Ministry’s new leadership status with a brief description of the obtaining as well as challenges,” “The challenge was not just an administrative or organizational crisis, but rather a crisis of trust, institutions and will. Nevertheless, we decided to move forward in the face of difficulties, putting a clear vision to address major environmental issues, foremost of which is air pollution, which is one of the most dangerous environmental and health problems in Lebanon and the world, as well as water pollution and management, solid and liquid waste management, and protecting biological diversity and ecosystems, And confront climate change. These issues were not just technical files, but rather the goals of our work to achieve within three years.

Ministry’s achievements:
Minister Yassin presented what was achieved in various sectors, and said, “With the aim of submitting an account statement to people, I will present the most prominent thing we have worked on in various environmental sectors:

1. Environmental governance and legislative reforms

We worked on developing environmental laws and systems, including:

• Solid waste management: amending Article 28 of Law 80/2018, establishing the National Authority for Solid Waste Management, and issuing circulars for environmental guidelines.

• Air pollution control: Determining the border values ​​of air pollutants emissions.

Chemical safety: setting controls for dangerous waste management.

Climate change: procedures to support emissions and adaptation financing projects with climate change.

We also put important national strategies, such as:

• The National Solid Waste Management Strategy.

• A road map to organize the quarry and crushers sector.

A road map to improve air quality (2025-2030).

Forest fire reduction strategy.

• Low -emission development strategy.

2. Air pollution control

• Establishing a road map to improve air quality, including enhancing the legal frame, improving air quality assessment, and relieving pollution.

• Obtaining a gift of $ 8.8 million to combat organic pollutants resulting from the random burning of waste.

• Updating pollutant emissions from factories and generators.

• Providing customs exemptions and tax discounts on electric cars.

3. Organizing the quarry and crushers sector

• Establishing a road map to collect treasury dues from the sector, estimated at $ 3.7 billion.

• Update environmental standards to make quarries.

Improving environmental monitoring mechanisms using modern technologies.

• Supporting the import of dirt to enhance competition and consumer protection.

4. Treating pollution in the Litani basin

• Supporting sewage projects in cooperation with the concerned authorities.

• Create water quality monitoring platforms.

• Implementing projects to protect environmental systems and reduce environmental deterioration.

5. Solid waste management development

• Rehabilitation and operation of waste management laboratories in several regions.

• Expanding healthy landfills and closing random dumps.

• Developing pioneering facilities for green waste treatment and medical waste.

• Security of $ 100 million financing for projects

Waste management.

6. Protecting biological diversity and reducing forest fires

• The success of the fire reduction strategy, which led to a decrease in the burning areas by up to 91%.

• Launching the “Million Trees” campaign to enhance afforestation and combat climate change.

• Create vital corridors to protect biological diversity.

• Developing the national strategy for biological diversity in line with international agreements.

• Referring draft laws to create new naval reserves in Jbeil and Anfa.

Then it was a speech by Minister Tamara Al -Zain, in which she thanked Minister Yassin, his work team and the Ministry of Environment team, and said: “We know that you received the ministry in circumstances that may be the harshest in the contemporary history of Lebanon, where the explosion of the Beirut port and we were under the weight of a financial economic crisis and a presidential vacancy to be followed by the Israeli aggression where Excellent your responsibility as head of an emergency committee in addition to your responsibilities as an environment minister. We were disagreing in many things related to the point of view and approaches, but what I know is that you worked honestly and not my testimony on my own, but it is the testimony of everyone. This is an additional reason to tell you thank you and give you wellness, of course they say the ruling is continuity, views and approaches may differ, but we all want the good of this country and the path we are going through the directives of the President of the Republic and the vision of the Prime Minister, and as the environment said to him is not a secondary ministry but rather the most basic ministry in the country ”.

She added: “I deliberately accompanied me for the National Council for Scientific Research for two reasons, first to focus on my scientific background, and this is something that concerns you because you are from a scientific background, and secondly to confirm that I am from the background of a public sector, and this is what will make it easier for me because I know the nature of the challenges in the public sector and the challenges of management in Lebanon And if I am on this site, it is a continuation of a long march in a scientific work, which was 80 percent of it if it was not more related to environmental matters, climate issues and natural risks, and our work is based on a large incision on the product of science and experience that we have accumulated in the National Council for Scientific Research in cooperation with the authorities Other Academy, international organizations and all the actors in the environmental field.

Al -Zein continued: “Your Excellency preferred a long list of challenges. It has been done on a large section and there is still a large section that needs to work. Those who followed us in the media have become an idea of ​​the paths that we will walk, and the first of which concerns me as a person who comes from the public sector, meaning the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic is talking about reform. I do not want to call it more reform than it is a restructuring in the heart of the public sector, which abounds with very high competencies, contrary to what is said, and the opposite of what is always accused of the public sector is that he is a brushing sector or a sector in which all competencies are disregarded. There are certainty competencies that are certain, but there are still competencies that exist like you and the likes of the National Council team are the biggest example of this issue. Rather, there is a need to re -update and modernize the public administration, and I start to name the ministry itself. It is unacceptable or the Ministry of Environment remains. The first thing that must be called the Ministry of Environment and Climate, and if only with the reconstruction plan called the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Reconstruction, because the environment will be interfering in all stages of reconstruction in the country. But modernization and modernization will not take place for a day and two days. more”.

Al -Zain stressed that “it is not possible to talk about sovereignty in general if there is no administrative sovereignty in our ministry and our institutions our public administrations, and this is my education in the public sector. The second track is what the Israeli enemy imposed on its environmental crimes that we know, and this requires a plan of action that is placed on the railway to be illuminated more, and I insisted that it be mentioned in the ministerial statement that the government should give the extreme importance of environmental rehabilitation because it is not possible to talk about a comprehensive recovery plan if Environmental recovery was not an essential part of it because there is an economic, social and health impact if we do not address the issue of environmental recovery. The second point that we insisted on is any reconstruction plan for it to take into account the environmental path and environmental standards, starting with the treatment of bloody, which is the subject that has acquired a lot of discussion according to a sound environmental path to architectural plans that take into account the reduction of the depletion of natural resources in the country and takes into account the risks caused by the disturbances Climate and natural disasters. The third track is to complete the inherited environmental challenges and whatever work that we may need 30 years to re -put them on the proper path and certainly we will complete the work that started in the ministry and there are things that we may add and other things we modify and we may change a little the approach with international organizations in order to amend some priorities and this is what We asked him from the Ministerial Statement Committee and the Prime Minister in terms of mentioning all environmental challenges and the need for the state to give it for the first time the extreme and necessary importance according to a vision agreed upon at the political and economic levels because any environmental plans are supposed to take into account the economic, social and humanitarian interest in the country, these are the outlines that we will work on. I thank you once again, His Excellency the Minister and the Ministry’s team, and I also thank the National Council’s team for their efforts, and of course there is a personal effort, but their efforts were great because we were able to transfer the institution from the stage of economic and financial disasters to a stage in which it became a scientific and basic reference in the country.