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المديرية العامة للشوؤن السياحية

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وزارة السياحة - مصلحة الأبحاث والدراسات والتوثيق

معدل الاشغال الفندقي واعداد تراخيص المؤسسات السياحية

This dataset is acquired from the Ministry of Tourism. It includes the total number of tourists visiting Lebanon per year along with their nationalities since 2010

Ministry of Tourism

عدد السائحين في لبنان في السنة مع جنسياتهم

Haydamous,  
 Patricia

El-Hajj, Rana

Lebanon's Agricultural Sector Policies: Considering Inter-Regional Approaches to Adaptation to Climate Change

Kerkezian, Silva

Farhat, Zeinab

POLICY BRIEF #5/2016 
March 2016
Silva Kerkezian & Zeinab Farhat
Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, American University of Beirut
THE WAY FORWARD
TO SAFEGUARD WATER
IN LEBANON 
This policy brief is based on the research report “The Way Forward to Safeguard Water in Lebanon: National 
Water Integrity Risk Assessment”, prepared by Nadim Farajalla, Silva Kerkezian, Zeinab Farhat, Rana El Hajj, and 
Michelle Matta, April 2015, in addition to the feedback from the high-level decision-makers’ meeting on water 
integrity in Lebanon, December 18, 2015. The report was prepared as part of the Capacity Building Programme 
on Water Integrity in the MENA region implemented by the Stockholm International Water Institute and partners 
with the financial support of the Swedish government. 
Main Findings 
Challenges to achieving water integrity in Lebanon are 
present in the Lebanese institutions at different levels 
and were identified as: 
▸	 Government ineffectiveness, corruption, and 
clientelism in procurement and public works, in 
addition to inequitable distribution with the absence 
of government budgeting
▸	 Absence of proper legislation that clearly identifies 
roles and duties within and between institutions 
leading to overlaps in responsibilities
▸	 Favoritism and bureaucracy in public employment 
▸	 Misuse of water resources through illegal connections 
to the water supply network and the prevalence and 
uncontrolled pumping from illegal wells
▸	 Inaccessibility to data or information available at 
public authorities
Problem Statement and Methodology
In 2010, the Ministry of Energy and Water (MoEW) 
estimated Lebanon’s annual available water per capita 
from renewable sources at 926 m3, which is lower than 
the widely used international benchmark of 1,000 m3. 
Water resources in Lebanon are under continuous stress 
from a growing population, rapid urbanization, economic 
growth, pollution, and climate change, in addition to the 
recent influx of refugees.
One of the greatest challenges is the weak governance and 
mismanagement of the sector. An improved governance 
system, characterized by integrity should be top priority in 
the tension against water scarcity in Lebanon. Within this 
context, researching and assessing integrity within the 
water management context is a first of its kind in Lebanon. 
The assessment included a mapping of stakeholders, 
an analysis of official reports, strategies and laws of the 
MAIN RECOMMENDATIONS 
In order to rebuild the lost trust between the 
Lebanese citizen and the public authorities, the 
implementation of a multi-sectoral anti-corruption 
strategy, coupled with legislative reforms in the 
water sector is imperative, and should include: 
 ▸ Adoption of an anti-corruption strategy that 
enjoys a high level of independence and 
reinforces transparency, accountability, public 
participation and subsequently prevents different 
types of corruption at various levels and on a 
multi-sectoral basis
 ▸ Legislative reform of the water sector that clearly 
identifies roles and responsibilities of the 
relevant public institutions 
 ▸ Improve policies and procedures of human 
resources departments at public institutions
 ▸ Monitoring systems that will measure and 
subsequently help rationalize water consumption
 ▸ Enhance accessibility and availability to data and 
information through the formation of a national 
water projects’ database and the passage of the 
draft law of access to information 
country, as well as 60 semi-structured interviews with 
stakeholders. The analysis was based on an analytical 
framework adopted from the Value Chain Model. 
Background 
Lebanon ranked 136 out of 174 in the Transparency 
International Corruption Perception Index in 2014. In 
its efforts to fight corruption, four anti-corruption laws 
are being reviewed in the Lebanese Parliament which 
includes the establishment of a national anti-corruption 
committee, right to receive information, protection of 
whistleblowers, and the reformulation of the law for illicit 
and illegal enrichment. 
Water integrity: is the adherence of stakeholders and 
institutions to governance principles of transparency, 
accountability and participation in water resources 
management, based on core values of honesty, equity 
and professionalism. The concept of water integrity thus 
includes the management aspect within the water sector.
In 2000, the Lebanese government passed Law 221/2000. 
According to this law, the water sector is primarily 
managed by the MoEW on a national level, and by four 
autonomous Water Establishments (WEs) on a regional 
level, in addition to the Litani River Authority (LRA). 
Other governmental stakeholders are also mandated with 
responsibilities in relation to the water sector and these 
are summarized in Table 1. 
Lebanon has already started incorporating some 
principles of integrity in relation to its resource planning 
as included in the National Water Sector Strategy of 2010 
and the Environmental Law 444/2002. However, these 
mainly promote stakeholder and public participation and 
access to information and disclosure.
DESCRIPTION OF RESPONSIBILITIES MOEW WE MOA MOE MOPH MOIM LRA CDR MOI
Policy 
Making 
 ▸ Definition of sector policy, institutional 
roles and structures 
 ▸ Enactment of legislation and regulation 
 ▸ Development of investment and subsidy 
policy
Planning and 
Implementa-
tion
 ▸ Establishment of long-term consolidated 
planning for water, irrigation and waste water 
 ▸ Evaluation of infrastructure and investment 
requirement 
 ▸ Water rationalization 
 ▸ Design, construction and  
operation of major water infrastructures
 ▸ Funding and execution of investment 
programs
Conservation 
and  
Resource 
Management
 ▸ Allocation of resources across regions, 
e.g., water reuse 
 ▸ Identification and promotion of water 
conservation campaigns
Regulation 
and  
Enforcement
 ▸ Issuance of regulations 
 ▸ Enforcement of regulations and standards 
for cost recovery, service quality, water 
quality, and consumer relation
Operation 
and 
Distribution
 ▸ Billing and collection of tariffs 
 ▸ Maintenance and renewal of infrastructure 
Waste Water 
Treatment
 ▸ Operate, maintain and renew sanitation 
infrastructure
Control & 
Monitoring
 ▸ Management of all information including 
data collection, analysis and reporting 
 ▸ Implementation of service quality and 
contingency planning
Table 1
MANDATED ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE DIFFERENT 
GOVERNMENTAL STAKEHOLDERS IN THE WATER SECTOR
What are the Challenges to Water Integrity in Lebanon and 
How Can We Address Them? 
The following sections identify water integrity risks and 
recommended reform(s) 
Risk 1: Government Ineffectiveness, Corruption, and 
Clientelism 
Corruption in Lebanon’s managerial systems has caused 
several ripple effects including:
 ▸ Limited Budgeting, where the Lebanese government 
is still following the 2005 national budget which was 
set based on 2005 priorities and inflation levels. This 
has indirectly obliged governmental agencies to seek 
financial assistance from international donors that 
often regulate and restrict activities according to their 
agendas rather than local needs.
 ▸ Procurement and Public Works which are set and 
published on official websites. These systems are 
perceived as non-transparent; the procurement 
procedure which is regulated by law is the same for 
all public institutions, and in some cases there is 
misinterpretation and exploitation of the law where 
some contractors access the required standards and 
eligibility criteria from undisclosed sources.
 ▸ Inequitable Distribution within the Water Sector is due 
to the old infrastructure, political interference favoring 
certain areas for water distribution, and the inability 
of the WEs to provide water because of electricity cuts 
and the high costs of fossil fuel. Concerns about water 
privatization were expressed as a worry that privileged 
access will be provided to those who are capable of 
paying, causing the water as a good to become a luxury 
rather than a necessity. 
Reform 1: An Anti-corruption Committee and Strategy
The current draft law for the formation of an anti-
corruption committee is recommended to be revived at 
the parliament for further revision and endorsement. 
This committee would need to enjoy a high level of 
independence, as opposed to the current obligation of 
reporting to either the executive or the legislative power. 
The anti-corruption committee’s framework would go 
hand-in-hand with the goals of an anti-corruption strategy, 
and provide a legal structure for the development of clear 
accountability mechanisms, introduction of transparent 
procedures which encourage public participation, the 
enhancement of access to public information, establishing 
e-governance, and investigating corruption cases. The 
ultimate goal of this strategy would be directed towards 
preventing corruption rather than treating it. These reforms 
would be partially implemented through the implementation 
of the United National Convention Against Corruption.
Risk 2: Fragmented Legislation with Weak Enforcement 
Lebanon has a good baseline of laws and regulation 
related to the water sector which are poorly implemented 
and enforced. This results from the existing overlap of 
roles and responsibilities between and within institutions. 
The contributing factors to this are:
▸	 Lack of operational decrees for existing laws and long 
processes or delays in ratification of laws.
▸	 Weak legal prosecution, and absence of a single entity 
that is responsible for enforcement and follow-up on 
violations
▸	 Absence of accountability mechanisms and the 
presence of corruption within the monitoring agencies
▸	 Political deadlock
▸	 Deficit in human and financial resources in 
institutions related to the water sector, mainly primary 
stakeholders
▸	 Poor coordination between relevant ministries
Reform 2: Legislative Reform and Enforcement 
▸	 Issuance of the stated operational decrees referred 
to in Law 221/2002 Article 9, could be considered 
as a first step towards legislative reform. These 
decrees would elaborate each institution’s roles 
and responsibilities in relation to planning and 
implementation of water resources policies. 
▸	 Adoption of a basin management approach which will 
be a form of decentralized resource management. 
▸	 Creation of a national water board that includes all 
involved executive and legislative governmental 
bodies. Most importantly, this board shall overlook 
activities in relation to water resource and sector 
management and shall be interconnected and 
represented within the anti-corruption committee. 
▸	 Activation of existing mechanisms and institutions 
which promote and regulate accountability and 
transparency in the public sector is urgently needed. 
Based on Article 19 of law 4517/1972, public 
institutions are under the obligation of submitting 
annual reports of their work (performance, financial 
audits and progress reports). 
Risk 3: Favoritism and Bureaucracy in Public Employment 
Jobs in the public sector face a twofold problem. The Civil 
Service Board (CSB) which is responsible for ensuring 
that the right person gets to fill the right vacancy and 
thereby preventing nepotism, has been swayed from the 
proper execution of its job by political interferences. It 
further faces long delays in processing applications due 
to needless red-tape. “No one can be hired in the public 
sector unless he/she has passed through the political 
leaders who ensure the person’s loyalty to them.” Another 
challenge facing these jobs is the low salary which is not 
attractive to young professionals. These two problems 
combined with the freezing of hiring have resulted 
in understaffing; a more aged staff that restricts the 
application of modern methods, and the overloading of 
current staff with extra tasks.
“No one can be hired 
in the public sector 
unless he/she has 
passed through the 
political leaders who 
ensure the person’s 
loyalty to them.”
Reform 3: Improving the Policies and Procedures of 
Human Resources 
▸	 New human resource policies that clearly state the 
criteria required including the applicant’s passing 
grade and his/her qualifications. These standards 
should be made public, thus limiting political 
interference in recruitment processes, in addition to 
being monitored by an independent party to ensure 
that the right person is in the right position. 
▸	 On the other hand, motivation can be promoted 
through a reward and sanction system, where civil 
servants can be held accountable by monitoring 
agencies, not by politicians. A supervision system 
would help in evaluating employees to receive rewards 
or sanctions according to their evaluations. 
▸	 A Code of Conduct for public institutions is highly 
advised with specific guidelines for monitoring 
agencies when assessing performance. 
Risk 4: Misuse of Water Resources
▸	 The main driver behind the increased prevalence of 
illegal wells and connections is the inability of the 
government to consistently provide water to all its 
citizens. This phenomenon has drastically spread, 
especially in the highly populated area of Greater 
Beirut due to the increasing population and increased 
water outages. Also, the inability of the government to 
support farmers and the absence of alternative sources 
of water has pushed farmers in rural areas into digging 
wells illegally for irrigation. “Sometimes all it takes to 
dig a well is money”. 
▸	 The absence of monitoring agencies and the lack 
of accountability mechanisms have further led to 
the eruption of this phenomenon which has been 
aggravated by people exploiting political connections 
or bribery to circumvent the law.
Reform 4: Monitored Wells 
▸	 An accountable and transparent monitoring 
entity within the Ministry of Energy and Water, 
in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior and 
Municipalities to help control illegal connections to the 
network and the illegal digging of wells. 
▸	 Adoption of the metering system with set tariffs, which 
helps in controlling consumption, as well as further 
monitoring water use.
AUB POLICY INSTITUTE
The AUB Policy Institute (Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and 
International Affairs) is an independent, research-based, policy-
oriented institute. Inaugurated in 2006, the Institute aims to harness, 
develop, and initiate policy-relevant research in the Arab region.
We are committed to expanding and deepening policy-relevant 
knowledge production in and about the Arab region; and to 
creating a space for the interdisciplinary exchange of ideas among 
researchers, civil society and policy-makers.
AUB Policy Institute (Issam Fares 
Institute for Public Policy and 
International Affairs) 
American University of Beirut 
P.O.Box 11-0236   
Riad El-Solh / Beirut 1107 2020 
Lebanon 
Issam Fares Institute Building 
AUB
961-1-350000 ext. 4150  
+961-1-737627 
ifi@aub.edu.lb 
www.aub.edu.lb/ifi
aub.ifi
@ifi_aub
Risk 5: Lack of Availability of National Information and 
Data on Water
The limitation of water resources data is due to 
information-hoarding by institutions and the slow 
recovery of monitoring agencies from the civil war and its 
various impacts.
The weak level of collaboration between the academic 
sector and policy-makers has hindered the major 
role that research could play when setting long-term 
strategies and policies.
Reform 5: Information on Water Resources Projects and 
Data Accessibility 
▸	 Creation of a reliable shared database of projects 
would facilitate sharing knowledge between 
institutions. The role of this database will be 
compilation and supervision of water-related 
projects. Compilation shall include, but not limited 
to, the following elements: project scope, executors, 
funding source and amount, beneficiaries, outcomes 
and outputs. This would improve performance, and 
increase transparency and accountability in planning 
and managing resources.
▸	 Passage of the draft law of access to information by the 
Lebanese Parliament 
Conclusion
The parallel implementation of the respective reforms will 
ensure a higher impact towards achieving water integrity.
These reforms, based on the suggestions of a discussion 
session with high-level decision-makers in Lebanon, 
should be addressed in a more detailed manner to provide 
an implementation framework for a more proactive 
approach identifying the needed steps to achieve change. 
Rebuilding the lost trust between the public institutions 
and the Lebanese citizen is an ultimate priority to 
safeguard the execution of these reforms. 
“Sometimes all it 
takes to dig a well 
is money”
List of Acronyms
MoEW: Ministry of Energy and Water
WEs: Water Establishments 
MoA: Ministry of Agriculture
MoE: Ministry of Environment
MoPH: Ministry of Public Health
MoIM: Ministry of Interior and Municipalities
LRA: Litani River Authority
CDR: Council for Development and Reconstruction  
MoI: Ministry of Industry


The Way Forward to Safeguard Water in Lebanon

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معدل الاشغال الفندقي واعداد تراخيص المؤسسات السياحية

عدد السائحين في لبنان في السنة مع جنسياتهم

Lebanon's Agricultural Sector Policies: Considering Inter-Regional Approaches to Adaptation to Climate Change

The Way Forward to Safeguard Water in Lebanon

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