Exploring environmental risks : forest firefighting in Lebanon.

Abstract

The question that this thesis studies is the following: how can Lebanon improve its forest fire management policies? In order to explore this question, the thesis analyses the current forest fire risk handling approach and highlights the areas that could be changed for an improved fire service. It focuses on how Lebanon organizes its human resources that provide forest fire services and briefly compares the case of Lebanon to other countries to choose a possible suitable option. It frames its analysis of the organization of under the theory of bureaucracy and the principal-agent model and situates it within the larger context of dealing with risks. The thesis’ methodology is qualitative and relies on desktop research of primary and secondary sources of data. In addition, this thesis includes one-on-one semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders. The main result expected after the analysis is a suggestion to the Lebanese government for an optimal forest fire service provision, and that is the shift of fire service provision to the military apparatus. Other results include the need for an improved legislative cover for forest fire management in Lebanon, cooperation and coordination between stakeholders and first respondents to fires, and exchange of technical data and policy papers between experts to transfer them to citizens.