Environmental Aesthetics:

Implications on Nature Conservation

and Valuation in Lebanon

Moustapha Itani
Nature Conservation Center, American University of Beirut
 Ecological Quality
“Ecological quality tends
to look messy, and this
poses problems for those
who imagine and
construct new
landscapes to enhance
ecological quality. What
is good may not look
good, and what looks
good may not be good.”
-- Nassauer, 1995
Plants as Objects of Aesthetic
Appreciation
Plants as Elements of Landscapes
Plants’ Changing Properties and
Appearances
Knowledge as a Driver for Change in
Aesthetic Experience
 Evolutionary Roots
“The selection of habitat
was crucial in our
evolutionary history,
research on human habitat
preference and perception
is a vital area for the
further understanding of
evolved aesthetic tastes”
--Ruso et al. 2003

• Ecological quality is not

speciesist or
anthropocentric.
 Environmental Aesthetics of the
Lebanese
• No studies (that I am
aware of) have been
conducted on assessing
the visual preference of
the public for vegetation
groups in Lebanon!!!
• People in the region have
been found to generally
prefer large evergreen
vegetation (Misgav,
2000).
 Environmental Aesthetics of the
Lebanese and Ecological Quality
Representation of
various altitudinal zones
and geographic
locations in proposed
Important Plant Areas.
 Environmental Aesthetics of the
Lebanese and Ecological Quality
• National Endemics
 Environmental Aesthetics of the
Lebanese and Ecological Quality
• Most protected areas
and recommended
areas for protection
are located at mid
elevation on the
western side of
Mount Lebanon.
Environmental Aesthetics of the
Lebanese and Ecological Quality
As you travel up the
mountain, plants
change in height,
growth form, color
and type of
understory. There
are four distinct
zones in the Alps for
instance which are
lowlands, montane,
subalpine and alpine
zones.
 Environmental Aesthetics of the
Lebanese and Ecological Quality
The location on the mountain slopes determines
how dry or moist it is and consequently how
vegetation types are differently distributed.
Environmental Aesthetics of the
Lebanese and Ecological Quality
Environmental Aesthetics of the
Lebanese and Ecological Quality
Environmental Aesthetics of the
Lebanese and Ecological Quality
Care and Neatness as Dimensions
Associated with Attractiveness
Descriptive Terms Organized Under the
Concept of Landscape Care

Are they all culturally relevant to Lebanon?

NOT ENTIRELY.
 »‫«كل شي فرنجي برنجي‬
“All that is from the west is best”
• ‘Native plant’ and ‘wild-
life’ in Arabic?
– Negative connotation
– Mistranslation
• Some exotic plants may
become invasive or may
require lots of resources
to be sustained.
• Activities that familiarize
people with their native
vegetation and wild-life
are restricted and
limited to certain groups
El-Hashir ‫الهشير‬
El-Oshb ‫العشب‬
 Al-Jurd ‫الجرد‬
(Bare Ground)
Names of altitudinal
zones in Central
America:
• Tierra caliente (hot
land): Sea level to
2,500 feet
• Tierra templada
(temperate land):
2,500 to 6,000 feet
• Tierra fria (cold
land): 6,000 to
12,000 feet
• Tierra helada (frozen
land): 12,000 to
15,000 feet
• Tierra nevada (snowy
land): Above 15,000
feet
 Al-Jurd ‫الجرد‬
(Bare Ground)
Sand Dunes ‫الرمل‬

Entirely destroyed!
Sand Dunes ‫الرمل‬
• Remnants
are eithers
landscaped,
buried or
stabilized.
A Possible Intervention: Cues of Care
Many Questions Unanswered
• What cues of care can enhance
nature appreciation in
Lebanon?
• What vegetation types are less
likely to be found desirable and
thus less likely to be conserved
and what slight modifications
can add to their aesthetic
valuation by the public?
• Does the foreignness of exotic
plant species make them more
aesthetically appealing to the
Lebanese and des knowledge
of harmful effects of invasive
plants that people find
aesthetically appealing make
them less desirable?
• Can installing cues of care make
people more involved in the
protection of the highly
threatened alpine and
subalpine vegetation and the
restoration of destroyed coastal
ecosystems?
 References of Note
• Nassauer, J. I. (1995). Messy ecosystems,
orderly frames. Landscape journal, 14(2), 161-
170.
• Ruso, B., Renninger, L., & Atzwanger, K. (2003).
Human habitat preferences: A generative
territory for evolutionary aesthetics research.
In Evolutionary aesthetics (pp. 279-294).
Springer Berlin Heidelberg.