Jordan's forest areas threatened by desertification, logging
Jordan Times
June 18, 2007
Hana Namrouqa
AMMAN -- Jordan's 1 per cent of green cover is expected to disappear in the coming few years, unless serious measures are taken, the Jordanian Society for Desertification Control and Badia Development (JSDCBD) warned on Sunday.
"The Kingdom's forests are decreasing as a result of illegal logging and random grazing of livestock by ranchers. People are uprooting trees for constructing investment projects and houses, instead of planting trees," JSDCBD President Abdul Latif Arabiyat told The Jordan Times yesterday.
The Kingdom, along with the rest of the world, yesterday marked the World Day to Combat Desertification (WDCD), which is annually observed on June 17.
WDCD seeks to highlight the urgent need to control the process of desertification and strengthen the visibility of the serious drylands issue on the international environmental agenda, according to the United Nations Environment Programme website.
Celebrated this year under the theme "Desertification and Climate Change -- One Global Challenge," the international event seeks to highlight the connection between climate change and desertification and draw attention to the significant benefits of an integrated approach to tackling these two major environmental challenges, according to the website.
Mahmoud Jneidi, an international expert on the environment and wild plants who heads the scientific committee at the JSDCBD, called desertification "one of the major dangers threatening the country's environment and wildlife."
Desertification, as defined by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, is land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities.
"Most of the country's drylands were once green areas housing different wild animals, but extensive cutting of trees exposed these lands to rainfall and winds, thus causing desertification and soil erosion," Jneidi told The Jordan Times.
He said deserts constitute up to 92 per cent of the country's total area, while only 8 per cent is suitable for agriculture. The increase in population, however, coupled with a similar rise in construction, is damaging this land.
In its attempts to limit the spread of desertification, the JSDCBD replants desert lands with trees and organises campaigns to raise awareness on its negative consequences.
The society also implements several programmes for combating desertification, including the "Green Belt" project, which seeks to plant trees from the north to the south as well as grow rare and endangered trees in 150 dunums (150,000sqm) of land.
Arabiyat said improving the badia is one of the key solutions for addressing desertification. "There is an urgent need to develop the badia in order to absorb the increase in population and limit the negative effects of desertification at the same time," he said.