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RooftopActiveSince 2012

ANERA Rooftop Gardens, Nahr el-Bared Camp

Tripoli / Nahr el-Bared, Lebanon · Operator: ANERA (American Near East Refugee Aid)

Overview

An ANERA project spreading low-cost rooftop gardening with recycled containers among residents of a Palestinian refugee camp destroyed and rebuilt after the 2007 fighting. Residents such as 62-year-old Om Maher grow vegetables, herbs and fruit trees on their roofs, supporting food security and the rebuilding of their lives.

Citizen participation

In the war-destroyed and rebuilt Nahr el-Bared refugee camp, residents (many of them women) grow vegetables, herbs and fruit trees on their rooftops. In November 2012, 42 people attended a workshop led by an urban and rooftop agriculture expert. They plant in recycled containers, old plastic barrels, buckets and brightly painted tyres raised on stone blocks.

Operating model

An aid project by an international NGO (ANERA). Interested families receive plants, trees, flowers, seeds, fertiliser, soil and containers, and grow on their own rooftops; harvests support household food and food security.

Impact

Brought fresh food and opportunities for self-reliance to families—especially women—in the rebuilt camp, improving food security and quality of life. Research in the nearby Ein el-Hilweh camp similarly documents contributions to women's livelihoods.

Land tenure

Free loan

Residents use the rooftops of their own (rebuilt) homes; materials are provided free through the aid project.

Crops

  • vegetables
  • herbs
  • fruit-trees

Scale

Workshop in Nov 2012 trained 42 participants in rooftop agriculture; families equipped to garden on their rebuilt rooftops using recycled containers

Sources(3)

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ANERA Rooftop Gardens, Nahr el-Bared Camp — Urban Farm DB