AUB study offers policy-makers solutions to Corniche litter
An AUB team conducted a litter survey along Ras Beirut's Corniche, submitting it to policymakers to help them find the most effective solution for that problem.
Led by Dr. Jad Chaaban, an assistant professor of economics at the American University of Beirut, the team of 12 students and researchers spent nearly one month collecting samples from the Corniche and conducting interviews with its visitors in May and June of this year. Students surveyed 990 Corniche users, profiling them and asking them about their perceptions regarding litter on the seafront.
To present their findings, the team recently held a workshop at AUB. Titled “Who Are the Stakeholders in Ras Beirut’s Seafront Pollution Management?", the workshop attracted representatives from the Municipality of Beirut, the Ministry of Environment, Sukleen, and environmental NGO Greenline, as well as others from the private sector and the University.
"This is the first study in the country to provide a detailed assessment of recreational seafronts sustainable management," said Chaaban, adding: "What's unique about this project is that we are immediately connecting with policy-makers and sharing our results with them so they are better equipped to take appropriate measures."
What the team discovered was that most visitors to the Corniche blame the youth and families for the litter along the promenade and seafront, but most also said they would be willing to contribute to a fund for keeping the Corniche clean.
Researchers also found that litter mainly originates from products sold by coffee shops, and include such products as cigarettes, bottles, cans, and cups.
Most people think the Municipality of Beirut is the main institution in charge of reducing the litter pollution. And 95 percent of visitors consider that it is important to address the litter seaside pollution problem.
Even though Lebanese law imposes a significant fine on people who litter, the law is not being implemented. That's why the team brainstormed with workshop participants to come up with ways that would curb people's polluting habits.
Some suggestions included creating awareness posters and replacing plastic coffee cups with biodegradable ones that carry an anti-littering message. In parallel, a fund should be set up and fundraising activities carried out.
"One of the valuable things in this project," said Chaaban, "is that it proved to be a great learning experience for students, who followed the process from survey-making to policy-making. Such activities should be included in the curriculum."
"It's true that it's a disastrous problem, but it's not hard to solve," added Chaaban.
The project emerged from an AUB initiative to engage better with the community. Dubbed the Neighborhood Initiative, a small team at AUB led by anthropologist and urban architect, Dr. Cynthia Minti, has been working since 2007 on understanding the impact of the University on its neighborhood and on Beirut as a whole, as well as finding ways, through University resources, in which AUB could act constructively "to make Ras Beirut a better neighborhood for all its inhabitants."
As noted by former AUB President John Waterbury, the current phase of the Neighborhood Initiative is to figure out what AUB can and should do to bring about positive changes in its neighborhood.
"I have always marveled at the Corniche just outside our gates," said Waterbury, during the opening speech of the 2008/2009 academic year. "Here we find Beirutis, men and women, children and grandparents, all income levels, the religiously conservative to the religiously indifferent, sharing the sea, the air and one another. That is or was the spirit of Ras Beirut, and AUB has an obligation to nurture that spirit. It is an obligation we should accept willingly and gladly“,
"The Neighborhood Initiative hopes to encourage research by AUB faculty and students on problems facing the area of Beirut surrounding the university, and then, using participatory approaches, to devise solutions to them," said Myntti. "Professor Chaaban's project offers a great example of this sort of research; it addresses a problem of concern to our neighbors and users of the Corniche seafront, and it involves multiple stakeholders to develop creative solutions."
