Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL)

Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon – SPNL is one of the oldest environmental NGOs in Lebanon. It was established in 1983 under the Lebanese Laws, and licensed by the Ministry of Interior by decision no. 6/AD dated 8/1/1986.

SPNL is the national partner for BirdLife International in Lebanon. It considers birds as entry points for the conservation of wider natural resources, as they act as key indicators of the status and health of ecosystems.

Ever since its establishment in 1986, SPNL advocated the establishment of protected areas and initiated with the Ministry of Environment the protected areas in Lebanon. After twenty years of experience working with nature reserves through government agencies, SPNL is now reviving and advocating the Hima community based conservation approach that has been prevalent in the Arabic region for more than 1500 years.

SPNL has a long experience in scientific research (mainly avifauna and biodiversity), education and awareness, advocacy and networking, and community development.

As a national environmental NGO in Lebanon, SPNL has widely contributed to both raising awareness on environmental issues and concretely protecting natural areas in Lebanon. As a member of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), SPNL has helped develop the first biodiversity project in Lebanon, known as the Protected Areas Project. SPNL has established the Environment Information Center (EIC) that serves as a key resource for the provision of environmental information to students, teachers, and researchers in this field.

As the BirdLife International partner for Lebanon, SPNL is engaged in bird conservation mainly through building capacities of protected areas managers from the whole country on bird identification; through the Important Bird Areas program that aims at identifying sites and habitats essential for bird conservation; and through conservation site action projects.