AFP Forum

LEBANON - ECOTOURISM - JUNIPER
A general view shows a campsite amid Juniper trees in the mountains of Lebanon's Hermel region in the eastern Bekaa valley, near the border with Syria, on July 18, 2009. A decade ago, it was a glittering vision -- a scheme to lure nature lovers to the Lebanese highlands, providing income to local people, nurturing the country's damaged environment and cementing national unity in one stroke. Today, after a war, a political crisis and flare-ups of sectarian violence, the east Mediterranean country's brave experiment in eco-tourism is battered and bloodied but defiantly soldiers on. AFP PHOTO/JOSEPH BARRAK
JOSEPH BARRAK / AFP