LMTA - Lebanon Mountain Trail Association

The Lebanon Mountain Trail is a reality today thanks to the vision, efforts, and support of many people and organizations.  While there is not enough space to thank them all here, it is fitting to acknowledge those who pioneered the establishment of Lebanon’s first national long-distance hiking trail.

Indeed, it takes vision, determination, and a shared sense of purpose to dream up the idea of a trail connecting Lebanon’s high-mountain villages, develop a workable concept and a convincing proposal for such a trail, obtain grant funding for implementation, and establish the trail in a record two-year span (2006-2008).  The LMT Association is thankful to ECODIT, a US company with a sister company in Lebanon, for spearheading efforts to establish the Lebanon Mountain Trail, including its side trail the Baskinta Literary Trail, and the LMT Association.  We asked Joseph Karam, President of ECODIT, to recount the genesis of the LMT, for the record.  Here’s what he wrote:

“The gradual rise of ecotourism as a post-conflict recreational industry in Lebanon has intrigued me and my colleague Karim El-Jisr.  Beginning in 2001, we began thinking of ways to help develop local ecotourism products in Lebanon, focusing on the Batroun region.  I have also been awed by the Appalachian Trail (AT) ever since moving to the United States in the mid-eighties: a 2,175-mile hiking trail from Georgia to Maine, a six-month journey that several hundred thru-hikers completed each year.  Wow, I thought!

One day, in the summer of 2002, it struck me that the mountains of Lebanon, with their unique natural and cultural heritage, could be the home of a wonderful long-distance hiking trail similar to the Appalachian Trail.  The LMT idea was hence born.  I shared it with Karim and together we worked on developing the idea into a detailed concept.

The best opportunity for implementing the LMT concept presented itself in the summer of 2005 when the US Agency for International Development (USAID) issued a Request for Applications (RFA) to promote economic growth in rural areas of Lebanon in three sectors: Information & Communication Technologies (ICT), agriculture/agri-business, and rural tourism.  The LMT, we thought, would help meet the objectives sought by USAID Lebanon, so ECODIT submitted a detailed proposal to establish the LMT in response to that RFA.  USAID Lebanon liked the proposal and awarded ECODIT $3.3 Million to implement the LMT over a two-year period.  The rest is history...

Of course, receiving an award is no guarantee of success.  But with perseverance and a shared sense of purpose, and drawing on the resources and skills of a large network of consultants and partners, the project team pulled it off and exceeded all expectations, despite a very difficult situation in the country during that period (2006-2008).  We worked in close partnership with all relevant stakeholders, in particular community-based organizations, local tour operators, trail municipalities, and government agencies (in particular the Ministries of Tourism and Environment and the Lebanese Army's Directorate of Geographic Affairs).  We also received invaluable advice and insights from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, the International Ecotourism Society (TIES), and the US Forest Service.”

The ECODIT LMT project team has set high standards of professionalism, transparency, drive for excellence, and teamwork, which have become guiding principles and a source of inspiration to all of us at the LMT Association, members, board of directors, and executive unit.  Kudos and thanks from us to each and every member of that team, from Faisal Abu-Izzedin and Karim El-Jisr as Project Manager and Deputy Project Manager, respectively, to the four Regional Field Coordinators (Chadi Ghajar, Gilbert Moukheiber, Nizar Hani, and Ramez Dalli), to the other team members (Michelle Bachir, Jad Abou-Arrage, Rima Gabriel, Louis Rahal, Sevag Fernezian, Paula Irani, Walaa Mallak, and Miled Boutros), and to Joseph Karam, Project Director.