PUBLICATIONS


BOOKS

The lectures organized by AFIAL were compiled with three different books in Arabic, published since 1993 and distributed to the public and the decision makers. The titles of the books are:

Water and Energy, Water in Lebanese Districts, Agriculture Policy in Lebanon


REprinting the geological maps

AFIAL initiated the republishing of the geological maps of Lebanon. The project was financed by the European Commission and Implemented by the Institute for Geographical Affairs (Lebanese Army) and the Council for Development and Reconstruction. These maps were drawn in the 40s by the french geologist Louis DUBERTRET, at the request of Ibrahim Abd El Al who was then the General Director of the Ministry of Public Works. The project consisted of the reproduction, printing and distribution of the 25 maps covering the Lebanese territory (scale 1/50.000), one map of Lebanon (scale 1/200.000), and 17 booklets. These maps are available to the public as part of the Association’s information dispatching activities.


researches

Hydro-Political Baseline of the Upper Jordan River

AFIAL  published the hydro-political Baseline of the Upper Jordan River, a research undertaken in the collaboration with the UEA Water Security Research Center.
This research examines the history and current politics of water use in the Jordan River Basin – specifically the Liddan, Banias and Hasbani basins.
An interdisciplinary lens interprets the archives of French and British authorities, Lebanese and Israeli river flow data, news media, interviews and unpublished official reports. Finding the distribution of the transboundary flows to be asymmetric in the extreme, the study investigates how the inequity has been achieved and is maintained. It also situates the Lebanon-Israel water conflict within the broader political conflict, and examines the effect of the 2006 war on water resources and water infrastructure. The study thus fills an important gap with significance to the wider Jordan River Basin (including Syria, Jordan and the West Bank and Gaza) – and lays the baseline for the river’s equitable use.
Moreover, this research clearly establishes the physical basis for the Liddan, as an international river; identifies significant knowledge gaps in the public domain of hydrology, hydro-geology and water use; finds that transboundary groundwater flows are of greater volume than surface water flows.
Provides an estimate of use of the Upper Jordan River basin (surface water and groundwater, in million cublic meters per year):
Syria – 0
Lebanon – about 11
Israel – 360 to 520
Shows how control of water resources can be maintained with (the Golan – Banias and groundwater recharge of the Liddan) or without (e.g. the Hasbani) the control of territory, and other aspects of hydro-hegemony; identifies established and emerging narratives constructed about the flows, and discusses the implications of an Israeli discourse linking water with state security on resolution of the water conflict;
Evaluates the importance of control over water resources with the Israeli occupation of Ghajar and the Cheba’a Farms, alongside military and religious motives;
Documents the extensive damage to water resources and water infrastructure during the 2006 war, in violation of the laws of armed conflict;
Finds that mediation by the international diplomatic community during the 2002 Wazzani Springs dispute tended towards conflict management, and away from conflict resolution;
from conflict resolution; and Discusses the extent to which International Water Law may form the basis of equitable use and resolution of the water conflict. 
 

Click here to read the full study

Legal Analysis of the Upper Jordan River Basin

AFIAL in partnership with the Order of Engineers & Architects in Beirut, launched a research study entitled “Legal Analysis of the Upper Jordan Basin”. The study tackled how, from a national perspective, Lebanon must achieve its basic rights to an equitable share of the trans-boundary waters, to resolve the water conflict in the region.

The ‘Legal Analysis of the Upper Jordan River Basin’ examines the basis for the development of a national Lebanese policy on trans-boundary waters on the Upper Jordan River. Comprehensive audits of the relevant water resources and legal elements were taken into consideration, with results interpreted as per the global hydro politics of the basin.

The research was timely for coinciding with three major developments in relation to water resources. Firstly, the need for the economic development in the Hasbani Basin, which is leading to an increased use of the region’s water resources. Secondly, The agreement between four of the five Jordan River riparian states on the 1997 UN Watercourses Convention, which provides a distinct opportunity to work towards the resolution of the conflict through an equitable re-distribution of the flows. And thirdly, the Lebanese Government is engaged in three legal processes currently underway: The 2013 opening of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Water Convention to non-European countries; the ongoing drafting of the Arab Water Convention; and the ongoing debate of the International Law Commission’s Draft Aquifer Articles (DAA).

Accordingly, several recommendations on how to proceed in regards to the water issue have been addressed by experts, in the report.

To learn more about the study, along with the key findings and comprehensive recommendations of the team of experts,

CHECK the full study


Memorial stamps

In 2000, the Lebanese government issued a memorial stamp in memory of Ibrahim Abd El Al and in recognition of his important work and his huge contribution to the development of Water Resources in Lebanon.