Investigating the evolution of Naameh landfill and its surrounding vegetation using multispectral spaceborne imagery

Abstract

Naameh landfill is a vital sanitary landfill for Lebanon that started in 1997 and was closed in 2015 and the reutilized for an emergency phase in 2016. It served Lebanon's capital, Beirut and the Caza of Mount Lebanon. Ever since the landfill was active, it faced various controversies as it was originally meant to be an emergency plan for a short period of time. The locals of Naameh areas and its surrounding were defiant of the continuous prolongation of the landfill. This study aimed at addressing Naameh landfill using a remote sensing approach to assess its evolution in time. Due to the absence of field data for public or academic use, remote sensing offers a great alternative to understand the changes in the landfill and its vegetated surrounding in time. The study has shown that the vegetated areas were in place of the landfill with the possible presence of a small quarry in the 80s. The landfill area increased about 25% in surface area between 1998 and 2003 (about 6 hectares), and about 27% between 2003 and 2014 (about 8 hectares). Furthermore, the study shows that there was a major shift in the vegetation cover when comparing September 1984 (pre-landfill conditions) and September 2003. A less dense vegetation cover existed in 2003 where a total decrease in dense and sparse trees reaches about 100 hectares, from which 25% were lost to the landfill, 50% to urban areas including roads to the landfill, and the remaining 25%, i.e. about 25 hectares were due to indirect impacts and were replaced by low density sparse short vegetation or shrubs. Such information is important for proper management of the site and its rehabilitation, and represents a first step of in-depth analysis of the landfill using remote sensing technology.