The Mighty Cedars of Lebanon Are Facing their Hardest Challenge Ever!
They are the principal symbol of our country's identity, a mighty relic of ancient times and a proud feature on our national flag, our anthem, our banknotes, and our stamps. It is difficult to put to words exactly what these magnificent evergreens mean to us, but it is by far much more difficult to ever imagine our Lebanon without them.
I'm talking, of course, about the mighty cedars of Lebanon.
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These majestic creatures have withstood the tests of time, defying millennium upon millennium of wars, conquests, natural disaster, and human impeachment.
They once blanketed most of Lebanon's upper reaches, creating lush expansions of evergreen giants that hugged the sky and captivated the eye for miles on end.
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Over the years, the massive conifers faced a lot of human exploitation. The Phoenicians used it to build their ships, Egyptians to make paper, Spanish to make temples, and other civilizations like the Romans and the Turks exploited that natural treasure of ours for trade.
In more recent history, cedar trees were also significantly harvested by British soldiers for their use in building railroads.
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The looming giants also hold significant religious importance. They are heavily mentioned in the Bible; 103 times, to be exact, the cedar of Lebanon is cited. They also feature in several occasions in the Tanakh, where Hebrew priests were ordered by Moses to use the bark of the Lebanon cedar in the treatment of leprosy.
The Hebrew prophet Isaiah used the Lebanon Cedar as a metaphor for the pride of the world, with the tree explicitly mentioned near the end of Psalm 92 as a symbol of the righteous.
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In addition, the trees' sturdy wood was used to build Jerusalem and King Solomon's Temple, prompting Emperor Hadrian to rule them as his royal domains in an effort to halt their destruction.
According to legend, their beauty and grace transcend human realms. Not only among men were the immortal trees coveted. They were first mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh, where they are described as a divine shady forest that was fought over by the demi-gods and the humans.
It is said that the expanse was once protected by Mesopotamian Gods and that Gilgamesh himself used cedar wood to build his great city.
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Having thrived for 5,000 years, Cedar trees symbolize resilience and immortality. They endured trying times and endless hardships, but will they survive the hardest test of all?
Today, the cedar tree is listed as 'vulnerable' on the red list of threatened species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Only about 20 square kilometers (7.7 square miles) of cedar forests remain in Lebanon, a dismal 0.4% of their estimated ancient cover.
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Human exploitation has been now banned, and that small area is cherished and protected by all.
However, the disastrous effect of global warming is bringing a more urgent and looming threat... one that we might not be able to contain.
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