"How years of illegal construction is shrinking Lebanon's coastline"

... in an attempt to quantify how many building infringements on public land have taken place, the Lebanese Army began a survey of coastal properties on the instruction of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport and the Army’s Directorate of Geographical Affairs.

Lebanon’s tourism industry and the potential economic value found in the country’s sandy beaches and clear blue sea have for years overtaken any government interest in preserving marine life and access to public space...

Luxury beach clubs and hotels — unaffordable for most of the population — have sprung up along the coastline and are often constructed without the correct permit, despite its designation as a public space by a 1925 law.

Law 144/S of 1925 laid out the constituencies for the land constituting Lebanon’s shoreline, known as the ‘Maritime Public Domain’

Violations have become so normalised that even the Lebanese Army’s Central Military Club, south of Beirut, where soldiers and their families can enjoy a restaurant, swimming pool and beach cabins, was constructed on public land...

Among Lebanon’s 220 km coastline, as much as 170 km is believed to have been privatised.

Up to 80 percent of the coast is not accessible to the public according to Mohammad Ayoub, director of Lebanese non-profit Nahnoo, a research and advocacy platform for participatory public policy making around public spaces.

“Mapping the encroachments is important but not more important than stopping them and demolishing all the violations,” he said to The New Arab.

“Why is the minister more into mapping them now? It is because he is thinking of how much money he can get. They are treating the violations as a source of income.”...

In June, locals rallied together in Kfar Abida, north Lebanon, which successfully saw the demolition of a house which had been blocking stair access to the public beach Abu Ali for years...

Although summer in Lebanon is nearing its end, the fight for public space is not, with new encroachments continuing to pop up.

In June, locals rallied together in Kfar Abida, north Lebanon, which successfully saw the demolition of a house which had been blocking stair access to the public beach Abu Ali for years.

In 2021, Nahnoo, together with activists and academics, launched ‘The Coast For All’ campaign for the amendment of Law 64/2017 to limit the right to occupy the Maritime Public Domain to national defence and public interest, rather than private activities which have sought to monopolise the coast’s financial value.

Although summer in Lebanon is nearing its end, the fight for public space is not, with new encroachments continuing to pop up...