Lebanon's Historic Pine Forests Dying Due to Invasive Insect

Crisis in Lebanon's Largest Pine Forest

• 🌲 The Cassine forest, the Middle East's largest productive pine forest and a source of prized pine nuts, is facing a crisis.
• 📉 Local communities, whose livelihoods depend on the forest, are struggling as many pine cones are barren.

Invasive Insect Threat

• 🐛 Farmers initially blamed weather changes, but scientists have identified an invasive insect, Leptolossus Oxidentalis, as the cause.
• 🌍 This insect, originally from North America, likely arrived in Lebanon via untreated wooden shipping pallets and has spread to other Mediterranean regions.
• ⚠️ Trees weakened by climate change are particularly vulnerable to the insect's damage.

Impact on Pine Cone Yields

• 📊 Normally, pine cones have up to 5% empty seeds, but with the insect's attack, as many as 80 out of 100 seeds can be empty.
• 📉 This significantly reduces the yield and quality of harvested pine nuts.

Difficult and Declining Labor Conditions

• ⚠️ Harvesting pine cones is dangerous, involving workers balancing on narrow branches without safety gear.
• 📉 The number of laborers has drastically decreased, from over 200-250 to just 20-30, due to the poor yields and lack of a viable pine season.