Bassam Al Kantar, Commissioner for International Relations and Media at the National Human Rights Commission of Lebanon, including the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (NHRC-CPT), participated in a seminar entitled “Green Thought: Between Ideology and Natural Rights.” The Shemlan Cultural Forum organized the event on Thursday, 10 September 2026, at the residence of journalist Nabil Al Mokaddam.
The seminar also featured Dr. Kawthar Shia, a researcher and writer on environmental and human issues; Fadi Abi Allam, President of the Lebanese Green Party; and engineer Malek Ghandour, President of the Lebanese Environmental Forum. Tamara Al Dib moderated the discussion.
In his intervention, Al Kantar presented the NHRC-CPT’s approach to the relationship between climate change and human rights. He stressed that the climate crisis can no longer be treated as a specialized environmental or technical matter that may be postponed, but must instead be recognized as an issue directly connected to rights, freedoms, justice, and accountability.
He explained that national human rights institutions must move from merely monitoring developments to actively engaging with them, without replacing the government, the judiciary, or civil society. Their role includes advising public authorities, monitoring the human rights impacts of climate policies and projects, receiving and investigating complaints, and strengthening victims’ access to effective remedies.
Al Kantar noted that Lebanon’s climate crisis intersects with its economic and financial collapse; inadequate electricity, water, public transport, and waste-management services; regional inequalities; large-scale displacement; growing pressure on municipalities and healthcare facilities; land degradation; and increasing wildfire risks.
He stressed that institutional fragility is not a secondary factor, but an essential element of the human rights risk equation, particularly for the most vulnerable groups and regions. He therefore called for the integration of a human rights-based approach into all climate mitigation and adaptation policies, while guaranteeing public participation, transparency, accountability, and non-discrimination.
Al Kantar also called for a distinction between global and national responsibility. Lebanon is not historically among the largest contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions and is therefore entitled to international financing, assistance, and cooperation based on equity and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. However, he emphasized that this does not exempt the Lebanese authorities, within their available capacities, from their obligations to protect the population, manage risks, ensure access to information, prevent corruption, allocate climate finance transparently, and safeguard human rights in mitigation and adaptation projects.
Opening the seminar, Tamara Al Dib welcomed the speakers and participants and highlighted the contradiction between Lebanon’s celebrated natural beauty and the corruption and neglect affecting its environment. She invited participants to consider practical ways of protecting the country’s natural environment from continuing degradation.
Dr. Kawthar Shia emphasized that human beings are an integral part of nature and that human health is directly connected to the health of the land, water, and air. She argued that green thought is not limited to planting trees or sorting waste, but requires a deeper understanding of the relationship between people and the Earth and the adoption of ways of life that protect nature and preserve ecological balance.
Fadi Abi Allam stated that green ideology has moved beyond the critique of consumer capitalism to become a philosophy concerned with protecting the planet and ensuring its survival. He warned against transforming Lebanon’s natural resources from public rights into instruments of exploitation and political investment, amid forest fires, the privatization of beaches, and industrial pollution. He stressed that saving nature is an essential gateway to saving both people and the state.
Engineer Malek Ghandour explained that green thought has become an integrated vision of people, society, the economy, and their relationship with nature. It can no longer be reduced to protecting trees or reducing pollution. He stressed that citizens must move from being passive recipients to becoming active partners in decision-making and called for a Green Charter that would translate environmental and human rights principles into practical and achievable objectives.
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