On Wednesday, 10^th of May 2023, SPA/RAC, the Ministry of Environment of Lebanon and the Appointed Protected Area Committee of Tyre Coast Nature Reserve (TCNR) organised the second consultation workshop on the draft updated Management Plan of TCNR.

The consultation workshop took place in the heart of the Nature Reserve at Rest House in Tyre with the participation of around 40 people representing national authorities but also most relevant local communities and stakeholders, including the representatives of the municipality of Tyre which is chairing the Appointed Protected Area Commission (APAC), TCNR management team, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Culture, the representatives of local fishers, local diving centres, local touristic operators, local farmers, and many other representatives of civil society organisations and institutions.

The workshop was a great opportunity to present and discuss through three different working groups sessions the proposed management programmes, actions and potential ecological, social and cultural outcomes and to identify the niches and opportunities of TCNR to be considered towards the updating of the management plan.

Once endorsed by the Ministry of Environment, the updated management plan will serve as a logical framework for all programmes, projects and initiatives to be implemented targeting an effective management of the Nature Reserve which is included on the List of Specially Protected Areas of Mediterranean Importance (SPAMI) and planned to be proposed among the Lebanese potential candidate sites to the IUCN Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas (Green List).

This activity is being implemented within the framework of the IMAP-MPA project, co-funded by the European Union.

Special thanks go to the national team of experts in charge of the management plan update and to the IUCN Regional Office for West Asia (IUCN-ROWA) for the technical and logistic assistance.