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Despite the blockade, the Lebanese Ministry of Environment has started the clean up of fuel that spilled into the Mediterranean Sea after Israel bombed a power plant. Some environmentalists consider this to be the biggest environmental catastrophe in Lebanon’s history. The month old spill has reached 140 km (87 miles) of Lebanese coastline and the Syrian shore threatening marine species such as Bluefin tuna and the green turtle, which is endangered in the Mediterranean.

The Nairobi-based UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Tuesday “In the worst-case scenario, and if all the oil contained in the bombed power plant at Jiyyeh leaked into the Mediterranean Sea, the Lebanese oil spill could well rival the Exxon Valdez disaster of 1989.”

An Italian environmental agency that monitors the Mediterranean said the “spill posed a heightened risk of cancer, and is a high-risk toxic cocktail made up of substances which cause cancer and damage to the endocrine system. It is not oil that has flowed but fuel for power stations. This contains substances such as benzene, categorized as a Class 1 carcinogen.”

Aside from the aforementioned, the MOE website lists numerous other environmental effects of the war that Lebanon has to deal with. For the time being, the war seems to have ended, but the battle to overcome collateral damage is just getting started. There is no doubt in my mind that the destruction brought up by the conflict will resonate for years, if not decades and will substantiation the notion that “in a war, there are no winners�.

 

Tags: Non-profit, Middle East, Geography, War, Israel, pollution, EPA, Environment, Sustainability, Lebanon, Activism, Oil Spill, Fuel Spill, Ocean