“The importance of Lebanon for the migratory

soaring birds & the flyway”

April 2012
Bassima Khatib
SPNL Assistant Director General
 Outline

• Who is SPNL?
• IBA programme
• Importance of Lebanon for migratory soaring birds
• Threats to soaring birds
• Effect of wind energy on soaring birds
• Mitigation measures
 Who is SPNL?

• The first environmental NGO in Lebanon.

• SPNL was established in 1986.
• SPNL is a national, non-geographic, non-sectorial, non-
political environmental NGO.

SPNL ’s Mission Statement

SPNL aims to protect nature, birds and biodiversity of
Lebanon for people and to ensure sustainable use of
natural resources.
 SPNL’s International
Partnerships ?
BirdLife International Partner – Lebanon.

IUCN Member.

Med Forum Partner - Lebanon

Founding Member
Medwet / NGO Network

Member in the WANA Forum

Founding Member of the Lebanese Environment

Forum (composed of 48 NGOs)
 IBA programme

 The IBA programme call for the

conservation of the declared
sites.

 No specification for land tenure.

 No restriction on the approach

for reaching the goal of
sustainable management.

 From strict protection…..to community based management.

Declared IBAs in Lebanon

• Three years of extensive work (1 March 05 –

28 February 08).
• 320 site visits by teams of researchers
• Over 3000 hours of observations
• Thousands of records
• Tens of thousands of birds

• 15 IBAs identified by SPNL & declared

internationally by BirdLife.
• Variety in habitats, ecosystems, biodiversity
& bottlenecks for migration.
 Conservation Status
ONLY
5 Nature
The rest 10 sites are Reserves
on municipal or private land

??? On public land

Where central system does not respond to it.

WHICH CALLS FOR URGENT ACTION

 Importance of Lebanon for Birds
• a small country of 10,452 km2
• temperate Mediterranean
climate

• topography dominated by two

mountain ranges and a rift
valley in between, running
parallel to a 225 km narrow
sandy and rocky coastline

• extreme variability in climatic

conditions, soils, vegetation
cover and socio-economic
status
• Around 400 species of birds have been recorded
in Lebanon.

• 140 of these species have been recorded to be

breeding in Lebanon.

• GTS such as Dalmatian Pelican, Greater Spotted

Eagle, White-tailed Eagle, Egyptian Vulture, Pallid
Harrier, Imperial Eagle, and the Lesser Kestrel
stresses the importance of this country on an
international scale.
 Importance of Lebanon
• Lebanon lies on the second most
important flyway for migrating birds,
lying between Eurasia and Africa.

Estimated 5,000,000,000 birds travel 7-8,000

km from northern breeding grounds to African
wintering grounds & backwards.
 Soaring Birds

• They migrate from one place to another.

• They travel searching for their needs: food,
shelter,…
• They depend on thermals during their travel.

• They are opposed by risks & threats during their travel.

 Bottlenecks
• Birds of prey (raptors), storks,
pelicans, cranes

• Ascend on thermals and glide

• Method limits migratory routes –

can’t easily cross mountains or
large water bodies - form narrow
‘flyways’

• Forces birds through narrow

migratory ‘bottlenecks’

• Birds vulnerable at bottlenecks

and along flyway
 Migratory Soaring Birds
• over 1.5 million birds of
37 species, including 5
globally threatened
species, using this
corridor

• BirdLife indicated that

nearly 70% of these
soaring birds have an
unfavorable
conservation status.
 Spring Flyway
• In spring, the major route
used by soaring birds of prey
and cranes migrating north, to
their breeding grounds,
through Lebanon is along the
eastern flanks of the Mount
Lebanon mountain range and
the western half of the Beqaa
Valley.
 Fall/Autumn Flyway
• In the fall, when birds are returning
south to their wintering grounds in
Africa, most soaring birds pass
down the western slopes of Mount
Lebanon.

• These streams do converge at

times and congregate in large
flocks.

• Unlike spring, the autumn passage

is dominated by birds of prey with
storks and pelican heading on a
more south easterly track with
majority passing over Syria and
Jordan.
 Migration Season
• Generally, the passage starts by mid August building up to
early October to dwindle down with few stragglers by the
end of November,

• however, the numbers do vary significantly through this

period, with daily counts peaks in the thousands offset by
days with total absence of birds.

• Also, it should be pointed out, that the composition of the

passage does vary, early migrants being nearly exclusively
dominated by a single species, while by early October
counts of up to 18 species per day have been registered,
this diversity too, will dwindle as the season progresses.
 Identified Threats

• Productive sectors that pose the greatest risk to the

safe migration of soaring birds, mainly:
– Hunting
– Energy
– Agriculture
– Waste Management

• Population growth, development and economic

expansion would lead to increased activity in the
productive sector.
Effect of Wind Energy on Migratory
Soaring Birds
 Threats of Wind Farms

Wind turbines may affect bird populations in a

number of ways; main potential hazards
identified as:

– Collision mortality
– Disturbance leading to displacement or exclusion,
including barriers to movement
– Loss of, or damage to, habitat resulting from wind
turbines and associated infrastructure
 Conclusions
• Lebanese government objective to increase the
proportion of energy derived from renewable
sources, with a set target of 12% of renewable
energy by 2020.

• The information presented in the Wind Atlas by

Hassan (2011) demonstrate that north east
Lebanon and a narrow strip south east adjacent
to the Syrian border are the most favorable
locations for wind farms installations in the
country.
Figure 5.2 Central estimate wind map of the
Republic of Lebanon at 50 m above ground level
of The National Wind atlas of Lebanon (Hassan
2011).

Figure 5.1 Central estimate wind map of the

Republic of Lebanon at 80 m above ground of T
he National Wind atlas of Lebanon (Hassan 2011)
 Recommendations

• Bird vulnerability and mortality at wind power

facilities reflect a combination of site-specific,
species specific and seasonal factors.

• therefore, once specification and location of the

proposed project are at hand, a detailed survey of
the migration, preferably for 4 cycles (2 springs and
2 autumns), should be undertaken covering the main
routes followed, the composition and numbers in
each season.
• Based on the findings of the study, the most unobtrusive
season for construction should be selected and adhered to.

• Once the works are operative and commissioned, remote

sensing equipment supported by trained personnel or at
least one member of the staff with ornithological
qualifications to assess the size, state and structure of the
migrating flocks or birds in the surroundings to advise on
the action to be taken.

• The passage being seasonal and variable intra that period,

the most appropriate mitigation measure should be a plant
shut down during the comparatively few days of intense
birds presence.
Partnership

• To protect these
amazing creatures.
 Thank you

Bassima Khatib
SPNL Assistant Director General
Khatib, Bassima; SPNL
Lammergeier