Municipalities in Local Climate Governance: The Case Study of Menjez (Lebanon)

Abstract

Local governments have increasingly become recognized as key players in the climate discourse. Yet, in the context of weak decentralization, their jurisdiction and influence are undermined. In Lebanon, the existing gap between national and local levels of government hinders proper mainstreaming of climate action. Nevertheless, a number of municipalities across the country have taken steps to address their carbon emissions and adopt adaptation measures within their territories.

This thesis examines the case study of Menjez, a small village in the North of Akkar that has demonstrated municipal efforts in becoming a low-carbon resilient village. In 2014, Menjez was one of the first municipalities in Lebanon to join the Covenant of Mayors (CoM) – an EU network that supports cities and local governments in advancing their climate agenda – signaling its commitment to reducing its local carbon emissions. To understand how climate change issues are governed in this small village, I identified four main factors building on Bulkeley et al., (2009) and Hoppe et al., (2016) (Motivation, National climate governance policy, Municipal Governance and Membership in Transnational Municipal Networks (TMNs)), and accordingly developed an evaluation framework. Data for this thesis relies on semi-structured interviews with experts in the field of energy and climate policy, as well as members of the municipality. The framework can serve as a tool to examine local efforts in advancing climate action, in the context of a weakly decentralized system.