ABSTRACT
Lebanon is located at the heart of a mega-diverse area of Crop Wild Relative species, important food crops and pasture species, and landraces of high genetic diversity. Pastoralism which has been an integral part of communal livelihoods in rural and remote areas is fading away with the new farming system. Rangeland management, governed by the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture, follow a centralized governance with regulatory measures which need to be upgraded with evolved farming systems and lifestyles. Guidelines to preserve the pastoral system integrate the institutionalization of collaborative management in forest and rangelands and mobilize human capacities towards this end; initiate applied research studies on carrying capacities of rangelands and valuation of rangelands ecosystem services, strengthening national stakeholders’ capacity, and lobby for rights over the lands of herders to protect cultural aspects of ecological and social landscapes.
