Tag Archives: Jordan

التنوع الحيوي الغابي في الأردن

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تعاني الغابات في العالم من ضغوطات هائلة, حيث أن تقلص الغطاء الحرجي في العالم آخذ في التسارع بمعدل ينذر بالخطر وبسرعة تتجاوز قدرة الطبيعة على تعويض الخسارة, إن لإزالة الغابات أثرسلبي مباشر وغير مباشر على الأنظمة البيئية مما يهدد الفائدة الإقتصادية والروحية والترفيهية والثقافية التي تقدمها الطبيعة للإنسان, ومن أكثر الآثار المدمرة هي التغير السلبي وغير الرجعي في التنوع البيولوجي بسبب تدمير الموائل الطبيعية لكثير من أصناف الحياه البرية التي تثري النظام البيئي على كوكب الأرض. إن غياب الأشجار سيؤدي إلى تدمير التنوع الجيني مما يؤثر وينتج خسارة دائمة في أنواع نادرة ومختلفة من النباتات والحيوانات والحشرات والمايكروبات. كما تعتبر … Continue reading →

Water Diplomacy in the Middle East for Transboundary Water Supplies

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Increased pressure on transboundary water supplies as a result of rising economic and population needs, exacerbated by climate change processes, can have catastrophic consequences in the Middle East. Management of groundwater extraction from transboundary aquifers must involve sharing the amount of accessible water and preserving its quality in order to ensure that future generations will have access to safe groundwater supplies. The Middle East is afflicted by internal water mismanagement and conflicts. This necessitates not only the building of water governance institutions but also diverse engagement platforms and other water diplomacy techniques. The negotiations about water management create the need … Continue reading →

Green Growth in Jordan: Prospects and Challenges

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The global financial recession triggered serious debate among many countries in revealing the causes behind failures and in innovating affordable solutions. Seeking “transformational” economic growth is very fashionable nowadays bringing to the front-line clean energy and green investments as keys for a better future. And for those countries at the heart of change in the Arab World, the famous “Spring” is bringing a different flavor to the aspired change and reform. In Jordan, attention to sustainability (whether environmental or social) is a need as well as a strategic choice. For a country with very limited natural resources and increasingly growing … Continue reading →

Biodiversity Conservation in Jordan: Perspectives

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Jordan is situated at the center of unique biota, representing the biodiversity of dry lands. The natural ecosystems in Jordan support human activities in agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, tourism, traditional and pharmaceutical health products, traditional medicine and many others. These ecosystems are also important for their intrinsic value, and for protection of overall environmental quality. The Levant states in general, and Jordan in particular, went through changes during the past two centuries from various anthropogenic activities. These changes are threatening the natural ecosystems, which have been destroyed to make way for agricultural, industrial, or housing developments. Species biodiversity have been … Continue reading →

Unlocking Climate Finance and Investments in Jordan

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The Paris Agreement called for parties with greater financial resources to provide financial assistance to those with fewer and more vulnerable resources. Because large-scale investments are required to significantly reduce emissions or adapt to the adverse effects of climate change, climate finance is required for mitigation and adaptation. While almost all Arab States submitted their Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) by their Paris Agreement, only 11 provided cost estimates of their financial needs to implement their initial or updated NDCs. According to the UN ESCWA, Arab States received a total of USD 34.5 billion in climate finance over the period 2010 … Continue reading →

التقييم البيئي الاستراتيجي كأداة للتخطيط ودمج مفهوم الاستدامة في التنمية في الأردن

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يسعى الأردن لإيجاد وصفة خاصة به للتخطيط المستدام، حيث يتم حاليا تطبيق ريادي لمفهوم التقييم البيئي الاستراتيجي (Strategic Environmental Assessment)  كأداة للتخطيط وإدارة المناطق التنموية والمناطق الاقتصادية الخاصة. التقييم البيئي الاستراتيجي هي عملية منهجية لتقييم الآثار البيئية للسياسات والاستراتيجيات المقترحة أو للمخططات الشمولية للتأكد من تضمين وادراج كافة الاعتبارات  البيئية بالتوازي مع الاعتبارات الاقتصادية والاجتماعية خلال المراحل المبكرة من التخطيط من قبل صناع القرار. باستخدام نموذج فريد من نوعه، أعدت المملكة الأردنية الهاشمية دراسة التقييم البيئي الاستراتيجي (SEA) وخطة الإدارة البيئية الإستراتيجية (SEMP) لمنطقة البحر الميت التنموية والتي تم اعلانها كمنطقة تنموية في عام 2009 لجذب الاستثمارات  النوعية ذات القيمة … Continue reading →

An Adaptive Refugee Camp Model for the Middle East

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Natural disasters and wars are two main reasons that force populations to leave their homes, which consequently push for an urgent need to provide temporary shelters or settlements as a disaster management plan. For many years, governments and aid agencies have worked on offering emergency relief camps. Solutions have ranged from short term to long-term shelters. Tents are the most common shelter structure used. However, studies show that the majority of current tent shelters do not satisfy comfort conditions for occupants and hardly satisfy privacy, hygiene and other social needs. They are also expensive to fabricate and deteriorate quickly. Several … Continue reading →

Energy Sector in Jordan: Perspectives

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The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is an emerging and stable economy in the Middle East. Jordan has almost no indigenous energy resources as domestic natural gas covers merely 3% of the Kingdom’s energy needs. The country is dependent on oil imports from neighbouring countries to meet its energy requirements. Energy import costs create a financial burden on the national economy and Jordan had to spend almost 10% of its GDP on the purchase of energy in 2019. In Jordan, electricity is mainly generated by burning imported natural gas and oil. The price of electricity for Jordanians is dependent on price … Continue reading →

Waste-to-Energy Outlook for Jordan

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A “waste crisis” is looming in Jordan with more than 2 million tons of municipal waste and 18,000 tons of industrial wastes being generated each year at an annual growth rate of 3 percent. Alarmingly, less than 5 per cent of solid waste is currently recycled in Jordan. These statistics call for a national master plan in order to reduce, manage and control waste management in the country. The main points to be considered are decentralized waste management, recycling strategy and use of modern waste management technologies. Currently there is no specific legal framework or national strategy for solid waste … Continue reading →

Syria’s Crisis and Jordan’s Water Struggle: Lessons Learned

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Jordan has had to accept being labeled a Refugee Country since its independence, as the country has absorbed several waves of refugees from neighboring countries in a region of uncertainty.  It began with the Arab-Israeli Wars in 1948 and 1967, followed by the Gulf Wars in 1991 and 2004, and ended with the most recent conflict in Syria, which added 1.4 million refugees to the country’s population. This posed extraordinary challenges to Jordan’s water sector, which lacked the necessary resources to meet the increased demand. Former UN High Commissioner for Refugees and current UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres summed up Jordan’s … Continue reading →

Ways to Counter Water Scarcity in Jordan

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Water scarcity is a reality in Jordan, as the country is counted among the world’s most arid countries. The situation has been exacerbated by the large-scale influx of refugees due to the Syrian crisis. The current per capita water supply in Jordan is measly 61 m3 per year which is almost one-third of the global average. Thus, it is of paramount importance to augment water supply in addition to sustainable use of available water resources. How to Augment Water Supply in Jordan? There are couple of options to increase alternative water supply sources in Jordan – desalination of seawater and recycling … Continue reading →

Solid Waste Management in Jordan

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Jordan is an emerging and stable economy in the Middle East. The growing industrialization and high population growth rate has led to rapid increase in solid waste generation in the country which has, in turn, put increasing pressure in waste management infrastructure. Around 2 million tons of municipal waste is generated in Jordan each year with most of it diverted to unsanitary landfills and dumpsites. Improper solid waste disposal is leading to public health risks, adverse environmental impacts as well as socio-economic problems.  Solid Waste Generation The predominant fraction in Jordanian MSW is organic matter which makes up as much as … Continue reading →