Lebanon Needs to Adopt Measures to Avoid War Repercussions

On Tuesday, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) urged Lebanese authorities to adopt urgent measures to protect the country from the repercussions of the conflict in Gaza.

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"In Lebanon, a development response to the crisis needs to be intrinsically linked to implementing much-needed reforms to bring the economy back on its feet," said Abdallah Al Dardari, director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States at the UNDP, in a report.

Titled "Gaza War: Preliminary Findings on the Socio-Economic and Environmental Impact on Lebanon," the report said that vital economic sectors that provide employment and income to a large population, namely tourism, services, and agriculture, have been hit hardest.

The tourism and service sectors had shown weak performance since the beginning of the conflict on Oct. 7 amid a decline in the number of arriving passengers and demand for hotel and restaurant services.

Meanwhile, significant losses were reported in the agriculture sector in the conflict-affected southern Lebanon, with 47,000 olive trees reportedly burnt, 200,000 birds, 700 heads of livestock killed, and 250 beehives and 60 greenhouses destroyed, said the report.

"This preliminary analysis provides a snapshot of the human, socio-economic, and environmental tragedy as it unfolds in real-time," said Melanie Hauenstein, UNDP resident representative for Lebanon.

"This helps to inform the provision of immediate socio-economic and livelihood support, while taking a longer view of the development needs of these communities and providing a baseline for a more sustainable recovery."

In the past three months, 1,768 attacks have occurred in 91 villages in Lebanon, displacing about 64,000 people and causing extensive damage to houses, businesses, and infrastructure.