SDG 12

Lebanon is party to multilateral environmental treaties, protocols and conventions, and national and sectoral legislation, policies and strategies have, to different degrees, incorporated sustainability principles. Nevertheless, there is still a need for a national sustainable development strategy and vision that connects these principles across sectors to cover all production and consumption patterns. The environment protection law (444/2002), and a number of application decrees, support the cleaner production techniques, biodiversity conservation, prevention of natural resource degradation, environmental monitoring (pollution sources and abatement systems) and setting landfill standards and promoting recycling. The Ministries of Environment and Industry developed Lebanon’s Action Plan for Sustainable Consumption and Production for the Industrial Sector in 2015. 

Solid waste management is a large, ongoing sector policy challenge. Lebanon, party to international conventions on hazardous waste management, has issued a national healthcare waste management decree. This specifies the types of waste in healthcare facilities and holds each medical institution responsible for managing its waste. An estimated 60 percent of healthcare waste is treated, while the rest (like industrial waste, demolition and other types of waste) is mixed with municipal waste. The Syrian crisis has added to the challenging solid waste situation in Lebanon. An estimated 15.7 percent of additional solid waste is attributed to displaced populations, leading to existing solid waste management infrastructure being stressed, an increase in open dumping and open burning of waste, and increased contamination of land, surface and groundwater. ref: LEBANON- Voluntary National Review (VNR) on sustainable development goals (SDGs).