OCHA Situation Report No. 3
Lebanon: Environmental Update
24 August 2006


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Key issues
Environmental Update No. 3 contains information on:

- Oil spill response in Lebanon
- Oil spill response in Syria
- Waste assessment mission in Beirut
- Planned post conflict assessment
- Rapid environmental assessment by IUCN
- Flash Appeal and Early Recovery
- Italian assessment team
- Background information
- Contact details


Oil spill response

Oil spill response in Lebanon

Background

An estimated 10,000 - 15,000 tons of medium/heavy fuel oil has
contaminated 150 km of coastline (including about 20 km of Syrian
coastline). The source of pollution is a power plant at Jiyeh, south of
Beirut. The spill occurred on 13 July (approx 12,000 tons) and 15 July
2006 (3,000 tons). In the United Nations, the Regional Marine Pollution
Emergency Response Center for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) and the
International Maritime Organization (IMO) are coordinating the oil spill
response with support from the Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit (Joint
Environment Unit). The European Commission is also extensively involved
in relevant activities.

New information:

Aerial survey flights for visual inspection and in-depth analysis of the
oil slick have been agreed to, subject to prior notification and
approval of each flight. A first flight has been carried out by the
French government. A second visual-only observation flight (i.e. without
specialized equipment) will be undertaken in the next few days. A
subsequent flight using specialized aircraft, equipment and aerial
surveillance techniques is also planned to ensure a comprehensive
assessment. The European Commission MIC is in contact with member states
to solicit support for the latter.

An action plan for the oil spill response was adopted at a coordination
meeting in Athens, Greece on 17 August. The meeting was convened by the
Secretary General of the IMO and the Executive Director of UNEP, hosted
by the Minister of Mercantile Marine of Greece, and attended by
Ministers and high-level representatives from Cyprus, Greece, Lebanon,
Syria, Turkey, the European Commission, and the French Centre for
Documentation, Research and Experimentation on Accidental Water
Pollution (CEDRE). The meeting made it possible for the countries, IMO,
UNEP and other partners to agree on follow-up actions to address the oil
pollution, and on a strategy for resource mobilization to finance these
actions. The meeting confirmed IMO and REMPEC's role to coordinate
operational aspects of the spill including offers of assistance, and the
Joint Environment Unit's role supporting these efforts.

The Danish team deployed by the EC-MIC has initiated oil spill clean up
procedures and completed the removal of oil from the harbor at Byblos,
Lebanon, where 250 cubic meters of oil was removed. Operations have
moved to Fisherman's Wharf in Beirut. The team continues to train
Lebanese officials on the use of the equipment sent to Lebanon from
Norway through the European Commission.

Georges Peigne, an oil spill expert from CEDRE, has been deployed to
Beirut through REMPEC to assist the Lebanese Ministry of Environment in
the coordination of the oil spill clean-up operations and in particular
in the coordination of incoming assistance to Lebanon. Rick Steiner, an
oil spill expert affiliated with IUCN, is also on-site and working in
collaboration with the Ministry of Environment to provide technical
advice and support.

France has sent equipment by ship from Marseilles to Beirut. It is
estimated to arrive August 28 along with experts for in-country training
in its use.

Canada and the United States have notified REMPEC that they stand ready
to assist with equipment and experts.

Oil Spill response in Syria

New information:

Following a request from Syrian authorities to address the oil that
reached their coast, experts were deployed on August 12 through the
REMPEC, IMO and the Joint Environment Unit to carry out a scientific
assessment.  A preliminary assessment was carried out on August 14 along
approximately 20 km of coastline. It indicates that although oil does
appear on the shore, damage so far is limited and cleanup efforts have
been reasonably effective

Assessment activities

Preliminary Waste Assessment by Jurg Zaugg (Switzerland) in southern
Beirut

New information

Jurg Zaugg, a Swiss environmental and waste management expert, was
seconded to the Joint Environment Unit by the Swiss Development
Corporation (SDC) and deployed to Beirut from August 16 - August 21. Dr.
Zaugg examined two areas with the objective of ensuring safe and
effective waste disposal: debris and rubble from damaged and destroyed
buildings, with the related risks of hazardous waste (HW) and unexploded
ordnance (UXO)  the heavy fuel oil spill originating at the damaged Jieh
power plant

Results of preliminary assessment

On August 19, Dr. Zaugg carried out a rapid waste assessment in the
heavily bombed southern Beirut suburb of Haret Hreik by visual
inspection, measurement of toxic gases, and monitoring of radiation.
This affected quarter has an area of approximately 200 x 240 m (48'000
m2). The volume of mixed debris at this location is estimated to be
1'000'000 m3. About 80 % of the buildings are completely destroyed.
Debris and metal are being cleared by locals with basic mechanical help.
Neither toxic gases nor radioactivity were detected at levels above
those normal for motor traffic emissions and background radiation,
respectively.

A tentative first estimate of the debris composition is as follows:

Concrete: 50 - 70 %
Steel/iron  5 - 8 %
Bricks 10 - 25 %
Other metals 2 - 5 %
Plastics (including styrofoam) 5 - 15 %
Organic waste (incl. food) 2 - 8% %
Hazardous waste < 2 %


Most buildings in the assessed area had 6 to 10 floors with 1 to 3
basements and were mostly built with steel-reinforced concrete. Ground
floor and basements were rented by commercial enterprises (workshops,
garages, retail stores), while upper floors were residential apartments.
Except for some basic personal items, the contents of households and
commercial spaces are mixed with debris. Small quantities of hazardous
wastes can be expected among the debris from the ground floor commercial
spaces. Transformers, generators and fuel storage can be expected in the
basements of some of these buildings. PCBs are unlikely to be contained
in the transformers, according to MoE, but the fuel storage could
constitute a fire risk. According to the assessment, the most serious
risk and the largest impediment for all clearing and demolition
activities is unexploded ordnance (UXO). Typically, 10% of spent
ammunition ends up as UXO, and heavily bombarded areas may be strewn
with bombs, missiles and cluster bomb submunitions. The as-yet
unassessed structural soundness of the remaining and the partially
damaged buildings remains a problem for further clearing and demolition.
Finally, it should be anticipated that the Beirut waste management
system as well as landfills, once restarted fully, will be overwhelmed
by the quantity of materials from the crisis.

Recommendations based on preliminary assessment

Dr. Zaugg presented his findings to engineers and environmental
specialists in the Lebanese MoE, and made recommendations in the
following areas:

Clearance of a site for a temporary recycling center in Beirut to
maximize recycling of concrete and steel debris, minimize the amount of
debris needing final disposal, and thus reducing the pressure on natural
resources. Foreseeable fields of action are debris clearing, transport
to the recycling center, separation of debris waste types, reusing the
suitable materials and disposal of the unusable remains.  UXO and
hazardous waste specialists should be on-site during demolition works
and provide separate containers to collect the small quantities of
hazardous waste (e.g. car batteries, paints, oil, etc) during the debris
clearing activities The findings from this area in southern Lebanon may
have nation-wide implications. Accordingly, rapid environment
assessments should be carried out at potentially critical sites as soon
as possible to prevent or mitigate any irreversible damage

Oil spill

Dr. Zaugg collected samples of oil-contaminated sand for analysis in
Switzerland. The issues of disposal and potential recycling of oil, oil
slick and oil-contaminated waste and sand remain to be resolved.

Post Conflict Assessment

On 5 August, UNEP received a request from the Lebanese Ministry of
Environment to conduct a post-conflict environmental assessment in
Lebanon. UNEP's Post-Conflict Branch is now, together with the Joint
Environment Unit, making preparations to conduct the assessment. The
assessment is planned for mid-September, provided that security and
political constraints allow environmental experts to enter Lebanon. UNEP
and OCHA will cooperate with IUCN and other stakeholders in this
assessment.

Based on monitoring during the conflict, it is believed that significant
contamination of the Lebanese and regional environment has resulted from
the targeting of key components of the Lebanese infrastructure
including, but not limited to power plants, industrial sites, fuels
storage tanks, bridges, key roads, along with buildings believed to be
housing military personnel or resources. Contamination by UXO may be
widespread, with heavy concentrations in the south. Other possible
threats to the environmental and public health situation within Lebanon
and the region include contamination from hydrocarbons, asbestos,
chemicals, the disruption or destruction of waste management systems and
impacts from weapons.

Rapid environmental assessment by IUCN

Between 19 - 22 August, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) carried out
assessment missions to three sites believed to be of particular
ecological significance. Palm Island Nature Reserve, located NW of
Tripoli off the coast, was found to be affected by the oil spill, with
implications for sea turtles and migrant birds in the upcoming migration
season. The Tyre Nature Reserve and turtle breeding areas - a 5km
stretch of coastline S of Tyre - were found to be unaffected by the oil
spill, but their medium-term sustainability is in jeopardy. The Chouf
Reserve alongside the Bekaa valley was found to be affected by some
infrastructure damage due to bombing but mainly by issues relating to
management budget losses and community income losses resulting from
total tourism loss.

Assessment Reports on these three sites, complete with photos and
proposals for response will be available from www.iucn.org/wescana on
August 27. An IUCN film staff member has accompanied these missions to
prepare a documentary, which is expected to be ready by mid-October.

IUCN has also developed a proposal for the use of $100,000 emergency
funds to provide flexible resources and organizational capacity for
immediate oil spill cleanup and for undertaking a preliminary Natural
Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA), and gather national expertise for a
full-scale NRDA.

Flash appeal and early recovery

Flash Appeal

The Joint Environment Unit and UNEP's Post Conflict Branch submitted a
joint submission for possible inclusion in the revised Flash Appeal. The
submission was compiled from proposals from IMO, REMPEC and the Post
Conflict Branch and comprised of two segments: response to the oil spill
emergency, and post conflict environmental assessment.

The first segment would provide for a comprehensive clean up of areas
affected by the oil spill. The second segment would allow for a
collaborative mission between the Joint Unit and the UNEP Post Conflict
Assessment Branch to identify acute environmental impacts, define
practical strategies and solutions to mitigate these impacts and to
assess medium and longer term impacts and propose remediation
strategies, as noted above.

Early Recovery

UNDP-Lebanon is working closely with the Ministry of Environment in
Lebanon to develop a government submission on early recovery needs.
These will be presented at the Stockholm Conference on August 31. UNEP's
Executive Director has sent a proposal for Early Recovery in the
environment sector to the Lebanese Minister of Environment for
consideration within the national early recovery plan.

Italian Team

The Italian government has bilaterally deployed a team of environmental
experts to Lebanon. This team inspected the bombed Jiyeh power plant on
August 22, reporting the plant itself and all transformers to be intact.
These transformers reportedly contain 37 tons of PCB and hence an
estimated 90 % of Lebanon's PCB inventory.

Background

The Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit is the international mechanism to
mobilize and coordinate the response to environmental emergencies. In a
case such as Lebanon, the Joint Environment Unit focuses on working with
partners to identify the most acute (e.g. life-threatening) risks and
mobilize resources to address them. Additional information is available
on our website (see below).

Contact information

Roy Brooke or Rene Nijenhuis

Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit Emergency Services Branch, OCHA United
Nations, Palais des Nations CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

Tel: (+41) 22 917 34 84
Fax: (+41) 22 917 02 57
Email: brooker@un.org and nijenhuis@un.org
http://ochaonline.un.org/ochaunep

After hours (available 24/7):

OCHA Emergency telephone: +41 22 917 20 10
OCHA Emergency facsimile: +41 22 917 00 23

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