Irrigation ditch at Hima Anjar. Photo credit: SPNL

The Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL)- a member of the MedWet Scientific and Technical Network- has, in recent years, managed to revive and put into practice the concept of Hima- an adaptation of a traditional process of conservation of natural resources rooted in Muslim tradition. In brief, a Hima is a protected area system that combines the use of cultural heritage for the conservation of the environment, community involvement, and scientific assessment tools. More information is available.

Currently, the SPNL, with the support of the MAVA Foundation, is implementing a project titled “Restoring Hima Ecosystem functions through promoting sustainable community -based water management systems”. The project location is the Hima Anjar- Kfar Zabad and the implementation of sustainable water management approaches have already been initiated in the Anjar agricultural lands.

The project aims to manage the over use of water practiced by farmers through the gravity open canal irrigation system, where furrow irrigation was adopted on a demonstration site owned by the Water Users Association. This demonstration aims to assess the effectiveness of the furrow irrigation approach on the management of flood irrigation practiced in this site. The following approach is expected to reduce the time of irrigation by 60%, which is anticipated to reduce the water usage by 60% too.

Source: SPNL Press release