NEWS




FEBRUARY 18, 2020




Mapping Lebanon’s fire devastated areas, 2019


Mapping Lebanon’s fire devastated areas, 2019

​Under the “Livelihoods in Forestry” (LIF) project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) implemented by the Lebanon Reforestation Initiative (LRI), the Land and Natural Resources Program at the Institute of Environment at the University of Balamand mapped the burned areas (i.e., above 0.1 ha) of 2019 including the disastrous fires of October 2019.

Satellite remote sensing imagery was used to assess losses in different land cover types, map fire severity, survey fire affected areas, and accordingly develop restoration and rehabilitation plans.

Summarized mapping results indicated 117 main fires covering a total of 2,679 ha and affecting 103 towns across the country. The assessed fires ravaged dense and relatively large pine and oak forests.
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