English - Industrial Research Institute

Pumping the Environmental Sciences
at the Faculty of Agriculture:
Cooperation between IRI, LCPC & Faculty of Agriculture
at the Lebanese University
29 April 2010
The Industrial Research Institute did not stop the
expansion of cooperation at the local level to allow
scientific institutions, university faculties as well as
economic and industrial enterprises, to benefit from
its accumulated and developed experience. Institutions
aiming to achieve a broader degree of progress
and be a pioneer in their field can take advantage of
the Institute's laboratories which are growing in modernity
year after year. In this regard, IRI concluded
cooperation agreements with the Faculty of Agriculture
at the Lebanese University, and the Chamber of
Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Beirut, after
a previous agreement with the Zahle Chamber.
In the framework of this activity, the Faculty of Agriculture
at the Lebanese University, and the Institute
of Industrial Research - The Lebanese Center
for Cleaner Production, have held a meeting attended
by a number of professors and students, during which
the cooperation agreement was signed between them.
IRI’s Director General, Dr. Bassam Frennn, talked
about the combined work and the recognized priority
of environmental improvement which is the basis
for a sustainable development for a prosperous and
bright future, and the conviction that environmental
improvement is a positive economic catalyst and not
vice versa. The commitment to sustainable development
increases the credibility and commitment of
Lebanon and its respect for international protocols
that it has concluded regarding the environment such
as Vienna Protocol, Montreal Protocol and others.
The Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at the Lebanese
University, Dr. Taysir Hamieh, stated that the
preservation of the environment is a base of human
behavior, and it is a duty of the academic sector,
in particular the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences
which inaugurated the Department of Environmental
Sciences, to make every effort to pump the best
available scientific techniques in the university curricula,
in the aim of graduating a generation with the
required qualifications that is able to face the environmental
risks and reach a true sustainable development
for the humans.
The Director of the Lebanese Centre for Cleaner
Production, Dr. Ali Yaacoub, talked about the importance
of disseminating the concepts and the implementation
of a cleaner production in the Lebanese
University especifically the Faculty of Agriculture,
which has led through its implementation in the
industrial enterprises, to achieve annual savings of
over a million dollars a year in industrial sectors.
He also mentioned the importance of the universities
and academic sector in the awareness and dissemination
of the cleaner production concepts. The
conclusion of the Convention crowns the efforts
made for the benefit of environment and science in
Lebanon, and builds a solid bridge between the environment
and the academic sector.
Then Dr. Frenn and Dr. Hamieh signed a technical
cooperation agreement in the fields of scientific research
and exchange of information and expertise.
Finally, Dr. Yacoub and Dr. Hamieh signed the Cooperation
Agreement between the Faculty of Agriculture
and the Lebanese Centre for Cleaner Production
related to the commitment for a sustainable environment
and economic growth. Then LCPC distributed
the academic book entitled "Half is Enough: An Introduction
to Cleaner Production" to all attendants.
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