Can civil society save Lebanon’s water?

A completely new future for Lebanon’s water network; taking the sector out of the control of feuding politicians and into the realm of citizen control. Well at least that’s how it was billed. The launch of the Blue Gold initiative, the first project from the newly-formed Civic Influence Hub (CIH), in early December was supported by an impressive line-up — the president, the prime minister designate and the caretaker minister of economy were all in attendance. Yet while the CIH states a convincing and elaborately documented case that radical reform of Lebanon’s water sector is needed, there are doubts about the project — especially whether or not it has the necessary political support to be a success. In a country where civil society is often willfully ignored by the political classes, the project will need much more than the benefit of scientific accuracy to succeed. The necessity of change Blue