The document outlines a program organized by the Group Knowledge for Development (GK4D) focused on sustainable solid waste and sewage treatment in Lebanon through a cluster-based approach for economic development. It encompasses study tours and training aimed at federations of municipalities to enhance capacity, promote best practices, and align with sustainable development goals. The program includes various activities in Catalonia from July 17-22, 2016, designed to address local environmental management and foster collaboration among municipalities, businesses, and research institutions.

1. Lebanon: Solid Waste & Sewage Treatment in
Cluster-Based Approach for Economic
Development: Exchange of visits & Training
Program (Catalonia 17-22 of July 2016)
Press document
Barcelona, 27 July 2016
I- The Group Knowledge for Development – GK4D, and Associate
Partners organize a series of study tours and action learning aiming
at Federations of Municipalities “Solid Waste & Sewage Treatment in
Cluster-Based Approach for Economic Development (Exchange of
visits & Training Program)”
In the framework of its program MEDEV (Media & Advocacy for
Sustainable Development) the Group Knowledge for Development,
embracing the Triple Helix Thesis, launched “Lebanon: Solid Waste &
Sewage Treatment in Cluster-Based Approach for Economic
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2. Development: Exchange of visits & Training Program” (Catalonia 17-
22 of July 2016). The first exchange of visits planned for 2016 &
2017, was attended by the “Etihad Baladiet Al Dahiah”.
MEDEV offers a number of communication activities and training for
sustainable development with the aim of promoting greater
awareness of the issues related to Sustainable Development Goals.
These activities serve to foster the access to information, create the
competences and provide the resources needed for "Knowledge
activists, Media and Policy-makers” for local sustainable
development through a study tours to best practices in green blue
economies and science in a knowledge-based society.
II- Federations of Municipalities are Key
• the decree law in Lebanon (Nº118/30.06.1977) setting the
definition (juridical & autonomous bodies), the formation and
the competencies of the Federations of Municipalities in policies,
planning, implementation and supervision of the public projects
with common benefits to all the members (roads, public spaces,
sewers and waste management, slaughterhouses, hospitals,
schools, fire-fighting stations, public transport, cooperatives,
public markets, planning, land purchases, and the tenders with
all needed conditions for the implementation of the common
projects
• the occasion of the unprecedented full recognition by Lebanon
in 09 September 2015 of the key role of the Federations of
Municipalities in their jurisdiction and scope to govern, manage,
treat and dispose solid waste and sewage, in full coordination of
the central technical and advisory committee headed by the
Ministry of Interior and Local Governments.
• the United Nations Multilateral Environmental Agreements and
conventions, mainly Barcelona convention, and relative
protocols focusing generally on issues related to waste
management and putting an emphasis to follow the principles
of sustainable waste management and to avoid illegal and
uncontrolled dumping of waste (Mediterranean Land-Based
Sources Protocol)
• the key pillar of the environmental strategy for the
Mediterranean; the Horizon 2020 initiative is tackling the top
sources of Mediterranean pollution by the year 2020 that was
endorsed at the 10
th
Anniversary Euro-Mediterranean Summit in
Barcelona in 2005. The Mediterranean strategy fleshes out the
detail of Horizon 2020, grouping planned activities under four
headings (1/ Projects to reduce the most significant sources of
pollution. The initial focus will be on industrial emissions,
municipal waste and urban waste water, which are responsible
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3. for up to 80% of Mediterranean Sea pollution 2/ Capacity-
building measures to help neighbouring countries create
national environmental administrations that are able to develop
and enforce environmental laws 3/ Using the Commission's
research budget to develop greater knowledge of environmental
issues relevant to the Mediterranean and ensure this is shared.
4/ Developing indicators to monitor the success of Horizon 2020
• “What Local Governments need to know about Sustainable
Development Goals”; all of the SDGs have targets that are
directly or indirectly related to the daily work of Federations of
Municipalities. Local governments should not be seen as mere
implementers of the agenda 2030. Local governments are
policy makers, catalysts of change and the level of government
best-placed to link the global goals with local communities and
to “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient
and sustainable” (SDG 11 for instance)
III- The Objectives of “Lebanon Solid Waste Treatment and
Cluster-Based Approach for Economic Development: Exchange of
visits & Training Program (Catalonia 17-22 of July 2016)” are:
1. Exchanging of best practices in view to consolidate a cross border
research and development initiatives;
2. Contribution toward the full implementation of the Lebanese
national-Provincial solid waste management policies and
strategies;
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4. 3. Strengthening the strategic capacity, the planning, the self
assessment and control functions of the public institutions
(Federations of Municipalities), and improving the efficiency and
effectiveness of their human resources
4. Building partnership and Developing Bilateral Sustainable
Development Agreement for implementation of best practices for
the transfer of experiences on management and urban waste
clusters with the highest International standards (scientific,
practical and internationally recognized solutions) concerning the
equipment to ensure that the waste flows coming from different
sources (industrial, municipal, medical, port waste etc.) are
adequately collected, possibly reused and recycled & eventually
treated for final disposal.
IV- Cluster-Based Approach for Economic Development
Clusters are defined broadly as geographic concentrations of
interrelated, competitive firms and related institutions that are of
sufficient scale to generate external economies that are not found in
regions lacking such concentrations. Clusters generate wealth in a
region, clusters give a region a competitive advantage, and
clusters can provide the basis for cost-effective economic
development strategies. External economies are the tangible (e.g.,
reduced costs) and intangible (e.g., faster innovation) benefits
generated either by the high relative concentration of a particular
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5. kind of economic activity in a region, or through firms, local
governments and research centres deliberate decisions to work
together to pursue advantages that they cannot achieve on their own
(e.g., economies of scale, acquisition of common resources).
The concentrations that characterize clusters typically include local
governments (such as public firms or environment units etc.),
competitive firms, cooperating suppliers, service providers,
knowledge and research providers-centres, and associated
institutions that do business with each other and share needs for
common talent, technology, and infrastructure. Interdependencies
that define clusters include supply chains, core technologies, and
proximity to resources and distribution channels. Because of the
many elements that contribute to clusters, they are sometimes
referred to as “economic ecosystems”:
• Clusters are sometimes referred to as “economic ecosystems”
• Clusters are geographic concentrations of Collaborating firms,
Research Centres and Local/National Governments (Triple
Helix)
• Cluster-based economic development strategies are
interventions designed to improve a cluster’s performance by
addressing the common needs of businesses within the cluster.
• Local government managers and other local officials can
enhance the success of clusters through interventions that cut
across a number of domains, including economic development,
education and training, workforce development, and
infrastructure provision.
• Cluster is a relatively new term for the activities in which a
region has developed specialized competencies that allow it to
produce goods and services for sale inside/outside the region.
The cluster-based approach has influenced local, sub-national,
state, and national economic development policy worldwide. It
has also added significant value as a method of understanding
provincial (sub-national) economies, as a tool for engaging
industries in collective problem solving, and as a tool for
organizing service delivery across public sector departments,
services, and functions
• Looking at a local economy in terms of clusters has the added
benefit of providing a framework for addressing the needs of
existing businesses in a way that can also make the community
more attractive to new businesses in similar or complementary
industries.
• Addressing the needs of existing businesses is crucial because it
is much more efficient to retain existing businesses than to
recruit new ones: on a cost-per-job basis, bringing in new jobs
can be as much as eight times more costly than preserving
existing ones.
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6. • Cluster strategies permit the integration and targeting of
resources in ways that are consistent with the multiple goals of
economic development programs: business recruitment,
retention, expansion, and new-business creation.
When public private partnership attempts to improve a region’s
economic situation by influencing how Triple Helix Thesis within a
cluster use public resources, work together, or do business, they are
using cluster-based economic development strategies (“cluster
strategies”). The right public strategies can help the businesses
within a cluster become more successful and competitive. And such
strategies are always more successful when they are formulated to
address companies’ real competitive needs.
Highly visible commitment from public sector, scientific and the
business community support usually accompany such initiatives.
Clusters and cluster strategies cannot be seen as the answer to every
economic challenge faced by a community or region. However, they
do represent a valuable tool that economic development stakeholders
should have at their disposal. A cluster approach may be most useful
in helping officials and practitioners to see a community’s economy in
a new way—not as a collection of individual firms, but as an
Ecosystem in which interventions can assist companies, industries,
and the entire community
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7. V- Agenda - template
< Day 1
Preparatory
phase
Day 1
Arrival of
Delegations
Free
Welcome
reception by
GK4D-MEP,
Associate
Partners and
Administrations
Day 2
Cluster:
Integrated
EcoPark,
Waste to
Energy &
Sewage
Treatment
Plant
Round-table
“Waste
Management
in Catalonia:
Past, Present
& Future”
(Government
of Catalonia)
Day 3
Cluster:
Integrated
EcoPark & Waste
to Energy Plant
Catalan Medical
Waste Treatment
Plant
Laboratories &
Research wastes
(Autonomous
University of
Barcelona)
Day 4
Cluster:
Integrated
Ecopark & Landfill
Biological &
Mechanical
Treatment, and
Recycling Business
Development
(Private
Industries)
Day 5
Free
Round-table
“The Global
Practitioners
Network for
Competitiveness,
Clusters and
Innovation”
(Government of
Catalonia)
Urban Ecology &
Master Plan
development
(Barcelona City &
Barcelona
Metropolis)
Day 6
Cluster:
Integrated
EcoPark,
Waste to
Energy Plant
Cluster:
Integrated
Hazardous
Waste, Waste
to Energy
Plant &
Monofill
Day 7
“Ecology, Urban
Planning and
Mobility” & Week
(Barcelona City)
Wrap-up with GK4D-
MEP
Departure
> Day 8
Follow-up
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8. IV- In close collaboration with and support of
Registration is open for the next MEDEV PTP (end of October
2016) ¿Interested Federation of Municipalities &
Media? Kindly Contact Eng. Abbas Zahreddine, GK4D, CEO l
Address C/ Consell de Cent 475Bis, 3º-1ª 08013 Barcelona Spain l
Tel +34 931857714 or Tel/direct +34 636011331 l Email:
info@gk4d.eu or msda.ardi@gmail.com l WEBSITE: www.gk4d.eu
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