The Ministry of Environment is hosting the operations of the Lebanese Environment and Development Observatory (LEDO), which was launched in December 1999.

The Lebanese Environment and Development Observatory's main activities are to gather and provide open access to environment and development data, to provide proper information and better understanding of the state of the environment and development in Lebanon, to establish a national platform for environment and development information gathering, sharing and dissemination, and finally to establish a continuous environmental monitoring system based on environment and development indicators.

In coordination with national partners from the public, private, academic sector research institutes and non-governmental organizations, the LEDO project was able to identify 90 environment and development indicators for Lebanon. The selection of these indicators was partially based on a set of 130 indicators identified by the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD) for the Mediterranean region and on priorities identified by national LEDO partners.

This handbook is designed to introduce the concept of environment and development indicators, by helping the user understand what indicators are, how are they identified and interpreted, and their significance in guiding decision-making.

Acknowledgement

The Ministry of Environment (MoE) acknowledges the professional work carried out by team of the Lebanese Environment and Development Observatory (LEDO). Moreover, MoE would like to thank the European Union for funding the LEDO project, the United Nations Development Programme for their management, and the Mediterranean Action Plan/Blue Plan Regional Activity Center (MAP/BP) for their technical backstopping. All this work would have never been accomplished had it not been for the support and commitment of all the national partners of the LEDO project, the LEDO Steering Committee and Advisory Group, to whom MOE would like to extend its gratitude for their cooperation and advice.

Minister of Environment

Michel Moussa M.D.