We have so few of them, one would think no effort would be spared to safeguard them. But, no. Since early summer, cutting trees in rangelands and forests is allowed for housing developments and similar investment projects.
The aggressive campaign launched earlier this week by the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) against an amendment to the Agriculture Law introduced as temporary legislation under the previous government is right on target and needs all support.
As the RSCN points out, less than one per cent of Jordan’s territory is covered by forests â?? one of the lowest forestation rates in the whole region. (Actually, according to FAO, Jordan already has no forests to speak of.) [Jordan Times Editorial]
Aha! A chance to really test the powers of blogging. Spread it like wild fire (no pun intended).
By way of the RSCN, Ahmad, Nasim and Salam
Take a minute to sign the petition. And just adding to what Ahmad said in his post, I think this may be the first case of using the Internet as a medium for activism in Jordanian politics (if I’m not mistaken). So consider the following: by signing this petition you are either writing your name in Modern Jordanian history, or you are adding your name to a government “hit list”.
Either way, I’m cool with it.
See you in Jwaydah!
UPDATE: You can put a little badge I made up on your site to help spread the word.
I too love trees 🙂
LOL@See you in Jwaydah!
Is anyone else getting a “page cannot be displayed” message??
Nevermind. It’s working now. It’s been signed and forwarded to others. Thanks nasnas!
Salaam ‘Alaikum
Yay. Trees in Jordan is my issue… (I’m a tree hugger). I used to hope that I might encounter the king on one of his incognito ventures, wheren I would tell him that the gov’t needs to undertake a major reforesting campaign.
Good luck to you all. From what I understand, thousands of years ago there used to be more forested land in that area, that is Israel, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Is this correct? What kind of native trees are found in Jordan?
I am fortunate. There is no lack of trees where I live. I live in western part of Washington state in the US. We have a very wet climate and large cedar, fir, spruce, pine and other trees as far as the eye can see. Despite being very wet and rainy, the climate is mild and outside of the mountains you don’t get much snow during the winter. The topology of the area is hilly everymountainous in the Olympic Mountain range to my west and the Cascade Mountain range to my east – you can see towering Mount Rainier in the Cascades from where I live). I live only a few hundred meters from the ocean as well. We have many deciduous trees, so it stays green all year long. In fact Washington state’s nickname is “The Evergreen State.” I lived in northern Texas (the “Lone Star State” or, as some might call it, “The George Bush State”) for a while and couldn’t stand it. It is too dry, barren and flat. The only trees of any significance are the occasional lonely mesquite tree.
Here are some pictures of Washington state:
http://www.photoseek.com/wausa.html
http://www.phenry.org/wsh/sr11.html
http://www.asisna.com/davenporths/School%20Stuff/Create%20A%20Page/jennifer%27s%20web%20page.htm
What does Jordan look like? Direct me to some pictures that reflect what it is like where you live. Also show me some pictures of the prettiest parts of Jordan, if you don’t mind.
Correction: I meant somethng like coniferous or everygreen, not deciduous. That refers to trees that lose their foliage, particularly in the winter. (Though we do have many of those too.) :>)
naseem WHy did you leave me out of this?i ws the first one to call for supporting RSCN?:(
http://reflections-allmine.blogspot.com/2006/02/fight-desertificationone-more-reminder.html
Salam, my bad man, no problem, i’ll add you to the pack. the more the merrier.
thanks,it’s just that I feel very strongly towards this.I love the outdoors and our trees should be more important than our buildings..even as an architect I have to say that !
salam, i think architects are more eco-friendly, factoring in many variables into their designs. now civil engineers on the other hand…we should go after those guys 😛
Edward,
to name a few…check out:
– the kingdom of jordan
– mansour mouasher’s gallery
– sabri hakim’s blog
Thanks for the pictures, Nas. I enjoy them very much. 🙂
A few more questions about Jordan if anyone cares to respond:
I noticed that some of the pictures had hilly land and structures that remind me somewhat of the mesas you might find in a US state like Arizona or New Mexico. Is the land in Jordan generally like this or only in parts? Does the topography of Jordan vary from north to south, like you might find in a country such as Iraq? How about east to west? Does it ever become the sort of extreme desert that you might see in Saudi Arabia, for example, or is generally what we might call scrubland? If it has desert similar to the Arabian desert, how much of the country is like that? When it rains, does it rain a lot all at once or just a little at a time? Is it always cold during the night? Some places I’ve been to that have an arid climate get very cold during the night, while others (such as Las Vegas, Nevada) seem to stay warm even at night – at least during the summer.
I hear that many tourists in the Arab world like to vacation in Syria. Is this true? If so, what is it about Syria that makes it so attractive to Arab tourists? Is it natural scenery? The night life? What is it?
Edward, the land varies from north to south. There are parts of the north that are very hilly and therefore green. There are parts of the south like that too but on a lower geographical level. In between the cities is mostly land i cannot call desert like one would imagine in saudi arabia. it’s not sand, its dirt and rock. But its called desert because of its nature.
it doesn’t rain very much but when it does it varies. throughout the winter season there is usually one day or two where it rains nonstop in downpour.
it depends on the region. Amman has probably the most perfect weather in the world. it does get cold at night though in the winter. summer its usually hot in the morning and cool at night. this is mainly because there’s no water near amman so there’s never any humidity, just sun.
i think tourism to syria has declined a bit but there’s really nothing there for arab tourists other than the fact that it’s very very cheap to vacation there. they dont have many foreign products so they are pretty much self-sufficient in production which means while you wont find a mcdonalds anywhere you will find resaraunts that will feed an army for a very cheap price. but it’s also a beautiful country no doubt. very green.
Thanks for the information, Nas. 🙂
What kind of trees do you have in Jordan? I know that Lebanon, of course, is famous for its cedar. Does Jordan possess any species of cedar?
Edward, there are cedars but not as many as lebanon of course. im not a tree expert but the most common tree is the olive. Palestine and Jordan are the most common with the olive tree, although Palestine’s national tree would be the olive and Jordan would be the fig.
WOW!! I like it!
Trees shouldnt be cut down we need them for oxeygen to breath with out trees we would die. Just because u say u arnt cuttin down many trees years from now ull keep sayin that then we wont hav any more tress. If u save the trees u save the world dont let everyone die