On February 8, LebNet DC hosted a captivating event attended by more than 40 individuals, featuring guest speaker Joseph Ghaleb Karam, Executive Vice President of ECODIT LLC and President of the American Friends of the Lebanon Mountain Trail (LMT). With skillful moderation by Maya Reslan and Noura Saad, and lively engagement by the attendees, Joseph shared his experience founding and leading ECODIT, an international company dedicated to advancing environmentally and socially responsible development worldwide, and his life journey in conceptualizing, realizing and championing the LMT.

Joseph passionately discussed how the Appalachian Trail inspired him to conceive and develop the idea of a national long-distance hiking trail through the mountains of Lebanon, how ECODIT established the LMT with funding support from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and how ongoing efforts by the LMT Association in Lebanon and the American Friends of the LMT in the USA are protecting, maintaining, and promoting the LMT as a worldclass hiking destination. Joseph also discussed ECODIT’s current implementation of the USAID-funded DAWERR project, which aims to improve solid waste management in rural communities through intentional recycling and composting.

Joseph’s profound love for Lebanon, its natural beauty, and rich culture deeply resonated with all attendees, as he expressed, “Although I left Lebanon in 1977, I never truly left… nor did it ever leave me!”

Thank you, Joseph, for sharing your contagious love for Lebanon and your passion for sustainable development and the LMT. Many of us have now been inspired to add walking on the LMT, and perhaps doing a full thru hike of the 275-mile trail, to the top of our bucket lists!