Fostering sustainable development by empowering indigenous abilities: The border zone case of rural south Lebanon

TY - JOUR

T1 - Fostering sustainable development by empowering indigenous abilities

T2 - The border zone case of rural south Lebanon

AU - Gharios, Georges

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - In Lebanon, traditional customs and practices of water use evolved into lore still prevailing today. In south Lebanon, rural communities adapted to the characteristic scarcity in water resources of the region by harvesting and storing rainwater in birket. These open-air reservoirs constitute one of the many ancestral water practices that are the most appropriate for adaptation to uncertain changes and future water management. Despite the potential for more frequent and severe droughts in the future, and current sporadic formal access to water, birket-s are actually declining in numbers. In this paper I ask: what can be done to strengthen traditional social water arrangements and how can we reclaim them to better face the current and future water management problems? I first examine the set of laws, written and unwritten, at play. Then I analyse two cases of reclaimed birket-s to better understand the social and economic aspects of their functions in the community. I argue that this forms a palimpsest of legislative and administrative water competence that is better able to address uncertainty and water insecurity.

AB - In Lebanon, traditional customs and practices of water use evolved into lore still prevailing today. In south Lebanon, rural communities adapted to the characteristic scarcity in water resources of the region by harvesting and storing rainwater in birket. These open-air reservoirs constitute one of the many ancestral water practices that are the most appropriate for adaptation to uncertain changes and future water management. Despite the potential for more frequent and severe droughts in the future, and current sporadic formal access to water, birket-s are actually declining in numbers. In this paper I ask: what can be done to strengthen traditional social water arrangements and how can we reclaim them to better face the current and future water management problems? I first examine the set of laws, written and unwritten, at play. Then I analyse two cases of reclaimed birket-s to better understand the social and economic aspects of their functions in the community. I argue that this forms a palimpsest of legislative and administrative water competence that is better able to address uncertainty and water insecurity.

KW - Communal pools

KW - Custom and practices

KW - Rainwater harvesting

KW - South Lebanon

KW - Water insecurity

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85068899916

U2 - 10.2495/SDP-V14-N2-130-140

DO - 10.2495/SDP-V14-N2-130-140

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85068899916

SN - 1743-7601

VL - 14

SP - 130

EP - 140

JO - International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning

JF - International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning

IS - 2

ER -