SDG 15: Life On Land

Life on land looks at how institutions manage the ground they occupy, protecting green space and biodiversity, and making sure everyday operations like waste handling don't quietly degrade the land and habitats around them. At Phoenicia University, that shows up mainly in two places: how much of the campus is kept as usable green space, and how tightly waste is controlled before it has any chance of reaching the soil.

Green Space on Campus

Roughly 70,000 square metres of the Zahrani campus is maintained as green space, landscaped grounds, recreational areas and open outdoor land that isn't built over. It isn't run internally as a biodiversity programme so much as part of how the campus is laid out, but the effect is the same: a meaningful share of the site stays undeveloped rather than paved or built on.

Preventing Land and Soil Contamination

The University's Hazardous Waste Management Policy governs chemical, biological, medical and electronic waste generated across laboratories, clinics and maintenance operations, in line with national environmental regulations and the Basel Convention on hazardous waste. Hazardous materials are segregated at the point they're generated, stored and labelled safely, and disposed of only through licensed contractors, with a documented spill and emergency response procedure in place if something goes wrong. Facilities Management keeps a current inventory of hazardous materials on site, updated at least annually, and staff who handle these materials are trained at least once a year. (Phoenicia University, Sustainability and Procurement Policy)

Reducing Plastic and Landfill Waste

Two further policies work alongside hazardous waste controls. The Plastic Reduction Policy sets a target to cut plastic packaging waste, covering procurement, catering and campus events. The Waste Disposal and Landfill Diversion Policy, aligned with ISO 14001, sets a measurable annual target for diverting campus waste away from landfill — reducing both the volume of waste PU sends to landfill sites and the land disturbance those sites cause nearby. (Phoenicia University, Sustainability and Procurement Policy)

The Greenhouse and Sustainable Land Use

PU also runs a 9,000 square metre greenhouse, growing produce within a controlled, enclosed footprint rather than expanding into open land. Yields per square metre run well above open-field cultivation, so producing the same amount of food takes up less land overall. The enclosed system also allows irrigation, fertilisation and pest control to be managed precisely, cutting down on agrochemical runoff into the surrounding soil compared with conventional farming.

Broader Sustainability Commitments

PU's sustainability governance extends beyond land-specific policy: the University is a member of the International Association of Universities' Higher Education and Research for Sustainable Development (HESD) network, and its Sustainability Policy sets out an annual sustainability committee covering building/construction, energy/emissions, waste, water, procurement and education. Rooftop solar installation, undertaken as part of that plan, has cut the campus's reliance on diesel generators by more than 50% — a strong, concrete result that reinforces how PU's land-use and energy choices work together rather than in isolation.

https://pu.edu.lb/sites/default/files/sustainability_policy.pdf 

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