Community Involvement

Within the context of enhancing LAU’s image in the community and to increase interaction between students and the professionals in the community, several speakers were hosted to present their expertise and the following table shows a sample of these speakers and lecture topics.

Date	Speaker	Organization	Topic
18/1/2001	Michel Mufarrej	Liban Trek	Ecotourism from a business perspective
5/2001	Rajeh el Khoury	Annahar newspaper	Pollution in Lebanon from a political perspective
17/10/2001	Habib Maalouf	As-Safir newspaper	Environmental Issues in Lebanon
24/10/2001	Iffat Idriss Chatila	Cedars for Care	The Big Blue: Saving the Mediterranean Campaign
31/10/2001	Adnan Melki	University of Balamand / GreenLine	School Gardens: A New Reforestation Approach
1/2002	Paul Ariss	La Reserve - Afqa	Sustainable Ecotourism
1/2002	Dr. Antione Daher	Environment Council - Qbayat	Ecotourism in Akkar and rural Environmental activities
10/4/2002	Ramona Boulos	Lebanese Council for Environment and Development	Municipal Solid Waste Treatment
22/4/2002	Dr. Samira Korfali	Lebanese American University	Noise Pollution
8/5/2002	Zeina el-Hajj	Green Peace	The Right to Know Campaign: Environmental Awareness in Lebanon
20/5/2002	Dima Soueid	Future Youth Association	Saving the Sea Turtles
1/2003	Richard Storey	A Rocha - Lebanon	Ammiq Wetland
10/3/2003	Husam Chahine	Green Peace	Environmental Activism and Current Environmental Issues
18/3/2003	Ziad Abi Chaker	Cedar Environmental	Environmentally Friendly Applications for Solid Waste Management
5/2003	Clement Zakhia	MADA - Aljord	Ecotourism in Aljord project - Hermel
8/2003	Mutasem Zahra and Hisham Zantout	MAPS Geosystems	Remote Sensing as an Environmental Conservation Tool
18/12/2003	Mohammad el Sarji	Sidoon Diving School	Lebanese Marine Environment
20/12/2003	Wael Hmaidan	Green Peace	Environmental Awareness Campaigns
08/03/2004	Ziad Abi Chaker	Cedar Environmental	Integrated Municipal Solid Waste Management and Accelerated Aerobic Decomposition
26/05/2004	Wissam Daw	DAWTEC	Energy from the Sun: Evacuated Tube Solar Water Heater Technology and its Applications in Lebanon
17/05/2004	Alia Kaskas Dandashly	Ministry of Environment	Dioxins and Furans Releases: Lebanon National inventory
28/05/2004	Alia Kaskas Dandashly	Ministry of Environment	Dioxin Sampling and Analysis
28/05/2004	Hamzi Moghrabi	IBC	Sustainable Development: Global and Local Applications
7/2004	Hafez Jreij		Salt works in Anfeh and associated biodiversity significance
11/10/2004	Bassam Shakhashiri	University of Wisconsin - Madison	Science is Fun
10/11/2004	Ziad Abi Chaker	Cedar Environmental	Recent Advances in Solid Waste Management in Lebanon
24/8/05	Wael Hmaidan	Green Peace	Climate Change
19/10/05	Salim Roukoz	Ministry of Agriculture	National Forest and Tree Inventory Assessment in Lebanon
13/4/07	Monir Bou Ghanem	Association for Forests Development and Conservation (AFDC)	Forest Protection and Conservation
16/5/07	Adnan Melki	Global Environment Facility (GEF)	Small Grants Program
23/5/07	Ziad Abi Chaker	Cedar Environmental	Aerobic Decomposition of Solid Waste
1/6/07	Faisal Abu Ezzeddine	Lebanese Mountain Trail Project	The Lebanese Mountain Trail
28/6/07	Antoine Bekhaazi	Lebanese Forum for the protection of Nature	Adoption of Environmental Strategies
4/7/07	Mahmoud el- Ahmadieh	Nature Without Frontiers	Rural Environmental Advocacy and Solid Waste Separation
5/11/07	Soumar Dakdouk	IndyAct	Climate Change

In addition, within the context of the Environmental Science course, students were encouraged to volunteer for work with several organizations (13 total) such as

AFDC, Green Line, Green Peace, Cedars for Care, Chouf Cedar Reserve, Tyre Coast nature reserve, Mansouri Beach sea turtle reserve, Environmental Protection & Sustainable Development Society –Syria, Time 4 Sharing, Society for the protection of Nature SPNL, Beautifying Lebanon Association, Ministry of Agriculture, MORES Management of Resources and Environmental Solutions.

And they were able to visit a variety of places (15 places) and interact with people involved in environmental projects such as

Palm Islands reserve; Ehden Reserve; Ammiq wetland reserve; Chouf Cedar Reserve: Barouk, and Maaser al Chouf; Bentael Reserve; AFDC – Ras el Matn Camp; Al-Nour Organic Farm – Kfarmechki; Mansouri Beach Sea Turtle reserve; Qaroun lake and hydro dam project; Arsal Rural Development Association; LEFICO – Plastic Recycling plant; Terrestrial and Marine Life Museum; Anfeh salt works; Tree planting in Kfarhouneh

In addition, thousands of forest and fruit trees have been planted all over the Lebanese territories through a deliberate program in which each student planted 10 trees.

In addition, I have served as a member of the judging committee for the Science, Math and Technology fair held by the German school on Saturday April 8th, 2006.