Who is Nizar Hani, Lebanon's New Minister of Agriculture
Since 2010, Nizar Hani has held the position of Director of the Shouf Cedar Reserve and serves as an advisor to the Protected Areas Department at the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Roadmap for Vision 2030 for Protected Areas).
He holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Food Sciences from the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, with the highest honors and a commendation from the committee, and a Master's degree in Agricultural Economics from the Lebanese University.
Hani also worked as an environmental specialist overseeing the Shouf Biosphere Reserve at the Ministry of Environment between 2014 and 2020, and as a professor at the faculties of agriculture at the Saint Joseph University and the Lebanese University.
In addition to his work, he was elected in 2021 as Vice President of the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for North Africa, West Asia, and the Middle East. He has been a consultant for the Natural World Heritage for Lebanon's representative at UNESCO since 2023.
Hani has also received the Michel Batis UNESCO Award for Humanity and Biosphere Reserves, the Kenton Miller Award from the WCPA of IUCN, and recently, in 2021, the Knight's Cross of the Order of the Star of Italy as a token of appreciation from the Italian Republic.
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