Who We Are
Middle East Center for Sustainable Harvest and Anti-Poaching
MECSHAP is an independent Lebanese non-governmental organization operating under the name "Middle East Center for Sustainable Harvest and Anti-Poaching." We work to protect nature and biodiversity through an anti-poaching lens, while strengthening a culture of responsible land and sea harvesting from within the hunting and fishing community itself.
We follow a clear operational methodology that combines field monitoring, professional documentation, organized intervention, and coordinated follow-up with the relevant authorities—ensuring that violations are transferred into an effective legal pathway. Our work is grounded in consistent professional standards, including safety and discipline, integrity in documentation, and respect for the law, alongside practical partnerships with local communities and official institutions.
Name & Identity
Until the end of 2025, our name was the Middle East Sustainable Hunting Center (MESHC). With the start of 2026, we adopted a broader name: the Middle East Center for Sustainable Harvest and Anti-Poaching (MECSHAP).
The reason for choosing the word "Harvest" is simple and deliberate. In Arabic, the word "صيد" naturally includes both land hunting and sea fishing. In English, however, "Hunting" is often understood as land-based only. Rather than lengthening the name by repeating "Hunting" and "Fishing," we chose "Harvest" as an inclusive term that reflects the idea of responsible, sustainable harvesting from nature—bringing land and sea under one ethos and one set of standards.
This direction is rooted in a clear conviction: protecting nature cannot be separated from regulating our relationship with it—especially in a country positioned on one of the world's most important bird migration corridors. That reality makes Lebanon a space of responsibility whose impact extends beyond its borders into the wider region.
Our Story
This journey began in 2010 through Sayd Magazine, a specialized media platform dedicated to sustainable hunting and environmental awareness. In partnership with SPNL—the national partner of the World Bird Council—we focused on awareness and training around responsible hunting concepts and the hunter's role in protecting nature.
In 2015, the Middle East Sustainable Hunting Center (MESHC) was founded to create an institutional home for the concept of responsible hunting in harmony with nature.
In 2018, the Anti-Poaching Unit (APU) was launched as a specialized field arm for monitoring, documentation, and intervention. It emerged through a practical partnership that brought together MESHC, SPNL, and CABS (the international organization fighting bird slaughter), alongside cooperation with the environmental judiciary, Lebanese security agencies, and the Lebanese Army. This partnership became a working model of productive collaboration between sustainable hunters, environmental organizations, state institutions, local communities, and international organizations.
This model helped anchor a central principle: the responsible hunter is part of the solution, and nature protection begins from within the communities most directly connected to it—by turning awareness into measurable, improvable field practice.
Constructive cooperation with SPNL continued through the end of 2025 and played an essential role in shaping the methodology and scientific expertise on which the Center stands today. At the same time, cooperation with CABS remains active and ongoing, on an upward trajectory in fieldwork, anti-poaching action, and awareness efforts.
Today, at the start of 2026, MECSHAP moves forward with a broader and more mature vision that embraces the protection of wildlife on land and at sea as one integrated natural system. We continue to refine methodologies, raise standards, and strengthen professional documentation, ensuring sustainable results that can be measured and continuously improved.
Our Mission
To protect nature and biodiversity by:
- Promoting responsible hunting practices and combating illegal hunting through awareness, fieldwork, and systematic legal documentation.
- Building national, regional, and international cooperation networks to exchange data and early-warning alerts, particularly along migratory routes.
- Developing training and scientific research, and working toward the establishment of a specialized anti-poaching academy.
- Integrating education, technology, arts, and creative media into environmental awareness.
- Empowering local communities and creating sustainable green job opportunities.
- Protecting children from the risks associated with hunting weapons and promoting a culture of safety and responsibility.
Our Vision
Toward a Middle East where wildlife and marine life are protected, and hunting is practiced as a responsible and balanced activity grounded in science and ethics—starting from Lebanon as a key hub along migratory routes—through integrated efforts by states and communities to safeguard biodiversity for future generations.
Our Values
Respect for Life
We believe that every living being has intrinsic value and that protecting biodiversity is an ethical responsibility before it is a legal one.
Responsible Hunting
We recognize hunting as a legitimate traditional practice when regulated by science, law, and environmental conscience.
Science and Evidence
We rely on scientific research, reliable data, and professional documentation as the foundation for any decision or field intervention.
Partnership and Integration
We believe that protecting nature can only be achieved through cooperation between governments, civil society, local communities, and international institutions.
Transparency and Accountability
We are committed to clarity in our work and to legal and ethical standards in monitoring and follow-up.
People at the Heart of Nature
We see humans as part of the ecological system, not separate from it, and seek to rebuild this relationship on the basis of balance and respect.
Community Empowerment and the Role of Women
We believe in the central role of women in environmental education and in engaging all segments of society, including persons with disabilities, in sustainable environmental action.
Innovation and Creativity
We use technology, visual arts, and creative media as effective tools to communicate our environmental message in impactful and engaging ways.
Our Visual Identity
The MECSHAP logo was designed to function as a sign of awareness, much like road signs that guide and alert people. Its mere presence is meant to create a moment of attention and to awaken conscience before any explanation or interpretation.
The logo is built around the triangle as a core symbol of meaning. The triangle represents stability, balance, and conscious movement. It is not a symbol of stillness, but a solid foundation upon which action is built. It reflects responsible field engagement driven by clear values, not by randomness or reactive responses.
This design is a direct extension of the previous visual identity of the Anti-Poaching Unit, affirming that MECSHAP was not born as a logo or a theoretical concept, but as the maturation of a real field experience—one that evolved from confrontation to vision, and from reaction to building a viable future.
At the heart of the triangle lies a four-pointed star, serving as a moral compass. It symbolizes the four cardinal directions and the four seasons, reflecting comprehensive and continuous action, and the necessity of clear direction in every act—because protecting nature without awareness can itself become a form of harm.
The colors of the star form a clear ethical pathway:
Yellow represents the sun, clarity, and warning against darkness.
Blue represents the sea, wisdom, and calm decision-making.
Green represents the land, growth, and the trust of responsibility.
Brown represents the soil and the roots that life needs in order to endure.
In this sense, the logo does not present itself merely as a symbol of protection, but as a clear signal that states: Every act of harm against nature today is a debt recorded against the future of humanity.