Bourj Al Shamali refugee camp in south Lebanon was opened in 1948 as a temporary shelter for Palestinian refugees coming from north Palestine, now Israel. Sixty years later, it has taken on the air of an overcrowded, unplanned, permanent city, with five times the original inhabitants occupying the original site, under the jurisdiction of the UN.

Bourj Al Shamali is currently going through quite a particular and inspiring political moment with a new local committee that is independent and has no political affiliations, currently working to involve numerous people around the camp in collective work to improve daily aspects of life in the camp. One of their main objectives is to green the camp, and it is in this area that this chapter seeks to support the local community.

Local Organizers:

• Claudia Martinez Mansell
• Firas Ismail
• Mustapha Dakhloul
• Mahmoud Al Joumma, "Abu Wassim"
• Amal Al Saeid

Our projects:

STARTING-UP: An initiative to install green energy to power nighttime lighting in the narrow winding streets for community safety.

ONGOING: With the local committee and Al Houla Association, we are currently working on the creation of the first public green space in the camp, in conjunction with the launch of a pilot urban agriculture initiative for the camp's residents. The first step in this process involved balloon mapping the camp and identifying locations within the overcrowded camp.

Updates

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Research Notes:

Activities we've done:

For more information:

Greening Bourj Al Shamali

Places article on Bourj Al Shamali