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
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)
This entry is compiled from the public sources, official sites and research below.
- OfficialRooftop Gardens for a Palestinian Refugee Camp in Lebanon (ANERA) ↗anera.org
- ArticleRooftop Gardening in Nahr El Bared Refugee Camp, Lebanon (ReliefWeb) ↗reliefweb.int
- PaperFlowers in the dark: rooftop urban agriculture and human well-being in Ein El-Hilweh Camp (ScienceDirect) ↗sciencedirect.com
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