How Jordan is reversing the decline of its natural heritage

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a semi-arid nation with distinctive pure options together with valleys, mountain ranges and desert plateaus. The nation has a wealthy array of wildlife protected in a number of nature reserves. However the local weather disaster has exacerbated Jordan’s already harsh desert landscapes, inflicting pure habitats to say no considerably.

We sat down with Jordan’s Secretary-Basic of the Ministry of Surroundings, Mohammed Al Khashashneh, to study extra about how the nation is addressing a bunch of environmental challenges, from desertification to plastic air pollution.

How is Jordan tackling key environmental challenges, such because the local weather disaster?

Mohammed Al Khashashneh  (MK): On the difficulty of the local weather disaster, in 2021, we submitted our up to date nationally decided contributions to scale back greenhouse gasoline emissions. In comparison with our 2016 submission, we elevated our goal of lowering emissions from 14 per cent to 31 per cent by 2030. This can solely be doable by the implementation of tasks that can be distributed throughout completely different sectors, reminiscent of vitality, agriculture, water, transportation, tourism and waste administration.

As well as, the Nationwide Local weather Change Coverage of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan 2022-2050 was launched previous to the United Nations Local weather Convention COP 27. This coverage aligns with Jordan’s nationwide insurance policies and sectoral methods, particularly the not too long ago printed Financial Modernization Imaginative and prescient. The doc outlines Jordan’s forward-looking imaginative and prescient to remodel right into a resilient low-carbon nation, contributing to the worldwide transfer in the direction of turning into a carbon impartial planet by the center of this century.

Jordan is taken into account one of many nations most affected by environmental modifications, particularly these brought on by the local weather disaster and the ensuing drought, desertification and lack of arable lands. That is along with the successive waves of displaced individuals and refugees that the dominion witnessed over the previous 70 years.

We’ve got developed formidable plans to handle the local weather disaster together with the worldwide neighborhood, and are aiming to plant 10 million timber within the coming eight years. The realm of nature reserves has additionally elevated to greater than 5 per cent of the dominion’s whole space.

What’s Jordan’s strategy to addressing the rising drawback of plastic air pollution? 

MK: Jordan can also be lowering its plastic waste and taking plastic air pollution very severely. Based on a United Nations Surroundings Programme (UNEP) report, plastic is the most important, most dangerous and chronic type of marine litter, accounting for no less than 85 per cent of whole marine waste.

Whether or not within the ocean or on land, we consider that daring and historic choices have to be taken on a world stage. UNEP’s work on plastic air pollution is vital, and one of many methods to guard nature is to develop a particular worldwide conference to encourage all events to scale back using plastic and take away hazardous supplies utilized in plastic manufacturing.

The fifth resumed UN Surroundings Meeting addressed vital and historic choices – considered one of them being the institution of an intergovernmental negotiating committee for motion on plastic air pollution. We absolutely help this as a result of we consider it is a worldwide drawback that wants pressing motion. Jordan has additionally utilized substantial measures to boost the discount of waste and to develop a waste hierarchy, the place the federal government of Jordan issued a waste administration framework legislation, along with a lot laws that targeted on environmentally sound administration practices and investments on this sector.