Prices Rise High and Nature Pays the Price
15 year ago, I used to hear on the news that our government had a plan for a better agriculture in Jordan. The motto I used to hear was “A Green Jordan in the Year 2000”. Many trees were planted along the ten years of the plan. Jordan never became completely green, but I always believed it would.
Nowadays, I come to believe it will lose all its greenness as if the government is adopting a plan to make a “Black Jordan in the year 2010”. After increasing the prices of the petroleum products many people stop using the kerosene stoves to heat their houses in winter and started using gas stoves which seemed cheaper. Few days ago the government shocked us by increasing the price of the gas to reach almost the double.
As a reaction, poor people in villages organized violent demonstrations against “nature”. People see that the best way to deal with the problem is to stop using gas stoves, and go back to using the traditional wood stoves. Since they’re poor and they cannot buy wood they attack the forests that surround them.
So many trees are being cut everyday and the government is doing nothing. Of course the government is happy that people don’t act against them and they turn to punish nature instead.
Join the Conversation
It’s good to see people talking about this. Not many people in the Middle East understand our overall environmental crisis, enough to be active about it. My country (Kuwait) is one of the most polluted in the world, areas that were once brimming with greenery are completely destroyed. There is barely any activism revolving around this factor.
Are there any organisations in Jordan working on envrionmental issues?
To the best of my knowledge I don’t think there are special organizations in Jordan to defend nature. There are governmental insituations, I think,but the question is where are they now and what can they do to reconciliate the three sides poor people, the government and nature so that everyone can have their rights?
Hi guys,
As far as I know Jordan does have the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN), an NGO with close links to the government. They’re also official partners with BirdLife International.
There do appear to be small local organisations throughout the Middle East who are dedicated to environmental and wildlife conservation. Palestine has its Palestine Wildlife Society (PWLS), who carry out Environmental Education programs in the West Bank. Muneeb, even Kuwait has its Kuwait Environment Protection Society (KEPS)!
My impression though is that most of these NGOs are extremely small and lack the proper resources, funding and support to carry out any really significant work. Public awareness of them (and their work) also appears to be very low. I’d love the chance to do some conservation work in the Middle East – but each time I check, none of these guys ever seem to be hiring!
Oops sorry I should’ve said Murad not Muneeb!
Also, the Quebec-Labrador-Foundation (QLF), a Canada-based NGO, runs a Middle East fellowship programme training environmental professionals from Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine, as well as helping to organise Environmental Education activities in these countries. I believe they have a training workshop coming up in Amman in 2 weeks’ time.
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has a West Asia/Middle East Programme covering Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Yemen. Projects include combating desertification, species/biodiversity conservation and integrated ecosystem management.
Pingback: Global Voices Online » Jordan: Nature Pays the Price