Geoinformation applications for monitoring protected areas in Lebanon

Abstract

Monitoring Protected Areas (PAs) at the national level is an important step towards the assessment and acknowledgement of the ecological, patrimonial, and cultural national heritage. In this context, this work aimed at developing a geoinformation-based approach to inventory the environmental state of existing national PAs. The specific objectives were to 1) map all existing PAs and those in pipeline, 2) propose new PAs based on field-based and other geospatial data, 3) establish a remote sensing-based monitoring plan and 4) assess the contribution of PAs to national targets especially those linked to international conventions of relevance. The work resulted in a comprehensive geo-spatial database of PAs under each category of protection. Topographic, biophysical, biotic and administrative baseline maps were produced. In addition, maps of environmental risks were generated using multi-source satellite remote sensing imagery and geographic information system data. Consequently, landscape ecology was investigated in function of existing and proposed PAs. The monitoring plan was developed by setting a number of criteria and indicators most of which can be assessed through satellite imagery. Eventually, the contribution of existing PAs to national targets was investigated for those related to Lebanon’s Nationally Determined Contributions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the national biodiversity strategic action plan under the Convention on Biological Diversity and the land degradation neutrality under the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Overall, the addressed geoinformation applications served as essential tools for a standardized use by managers and decision-makers especially in countries with limited resources for monitoring their PAs.