Government Report: Destruction In South Lebanon Constitutes “Ecocide”.

Summary

A newly released report backed by the Lebanese government documents destruction to forests, agricultural lands, marine ecosystems, water resources and atmospheric quality resulting from military activity in 2023 and 2024. The report describes the scale of harm as "ecocide" and concludes that it has "reshaped both the physical and ecological landscape" of the south of the country.

In the foreword to the report, prepared by Lebanon’s Ministry of Environment and National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS-L), the country’s environment minister, Tamara El Zein, describes the scale and intentionality of the damage as constituting “what must be recognised as an act of ecocide”. 

Publication of the report follows similar government-level claims – in a separate official statement issued in February 2026, Lebanon’s Ministries of Agriculture and Environment condemned alleged aerial spraying of the herbicide glyphosate over the southern region of the country as “ecocide”.

You can find the full report, ‘Guiding the Steps Towards a Post-War Recovery of Lebanon’s Natural Ecosystems: Understanding the Stakes and Looking Forward’, here.