The latest issue of Sherwood | Foreste ed Alberi Oggi, an Italian magazine focused on forestry, landscape management, and governance, features an article on Lebanon's oldest cedar forests. Leila Rossa Mouawad, a young forest researcher and communicator, whom we met through the Youth Mediterranean Task Force during the Mediterranean Forest Week in Barcelona, shares her insightful reflections on the significance of the "Forest of the Cedars of God" for the Lebanese people.
The article was originally translated into Italian for publication, but to reach a wider audience, Sherwood has decided to publish the full English version on its website. This offers us a valuable opportunity to share it across our Network, particularly as Lebanon is one of the regions where we are actively working towards establishing a new Model Forest initiative.
Here are a few words from our Secretary, Toni Ventre, who had the opportunity to visit the forest during his time in Lebanon for workshop activities related to the Model Forest initiative.
The road that leads from Baalbek in the Beqaa Valley to the "Forest of the Cedars of God" crosses the Lebanon Mountain range. It is from this direction that one approaches the forest from above, beginning to sense its presence from a great distance, thanks to the vast horizon available, but above all because of how that small dark green patch stands out against an endless expanse of yellow. It consists of just a few dozen hectares amid completely degraded slopes where, only in recent decades, a massive—though not always effective—reforestation effort has begun. However, this "exception" in the landscape makes Leila's words even more moving and inspiring, because only the immense sacredness attributed to the cedar by the Lebanese can explain how this fragment of forest still exists and how it represents a symbol of renewal—both environmental and beyond—for the entire "Land of the Cedars."
The full english version of the article by Leila Rossa Mouawad is available on Sherwood website.
