Protection measures safeguard Kingdom’s trees from deforestation

Dibeen  Trees FOREST
(Photo: Wikipedia)
AMMAN — Deforestation in Jordan — the result of illegal logging and forest fires — is on the decline thanks to measures taken by the Ministry of Agriculture, the ministry’s Director of Forestry Khaled Manasir said on Tuesday. اضافة اعلان

Over the past few years, the ministry has developed forest protection instruments, and imposes tough penalties on logging under the Agriculture Law, Manasir said. The transport of firewood among governorates is also prohibited, Khaberni reported.

Early last year, the department’s former director Khaled Al-Qudah said that the Agriculture Ministry had teamed up with the Ministry of Environment to protect forests from excessive logging and forest fires, installing 80 stations and towers to monitor forest areas and assigning patrols to identify and report illegal logging.

With the ministry’s measures, Manasir noted, deforestation activities in the Kingdom have declined.

“Jordan’s forested land is limited, and we must preserve it,” he said.

Planting new treesDirector of Nature Preservation at the Agriculture Ministry Bilal Qutaishat said that technology has also played a role in reducing deforestation in Jordan. Despite this, many of the Kingdom’s trees died out over the past year due to the impact of climate change.

Qutaishat said that studies are underway to identify tree varieties for afforestation, and several projects have already been implemented to increase the Kingdom’s green cover.

Registered areas of woodland in Jordan are estimated at 1.1 million dunums (1,100sq.km.), making up about 1 percent of the Kingdom’s total area, concentrated in the central and northern governorates, including Balqa, Jerash, Ajloun, and parts of Irbid. 


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