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Ecotourism in Jordan has grown tremendously due to environmental pressures and the demand for jobs outside of the cities, especially since the establishment of the Dana Biosphere in 1993, the first biosphere reserve. [1]
The early history of ecotourism in Jordan is attributed to His Majesty, the late King Hussein who was behind the creation of the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, created in 1966, which protects and manages the natural resources of Jordan. [2] It currently oversees ten protected areas, Ajloun Forest Reserve, Azraq Wetland Reserve, Burqu Nature Reserve, Dana Biosphere Reserve, Dahek Nature Reserve, Dibeen Forest Reserve, Dmeitha Nature Reserve, Fifa Nature Reserve, Mujib Nature Reserve, Qatar Nature Reserve, Shaumari Wildlife Reserve. [3] Jordan was one of the countries that responded to the declaration of the International Year of Ecotourism in 2002. [4] Ecotourism practices were considered when planning for tourism destinations in order to improve its contribution to the local and national economic development. [5] The Jordan Tourism Board (JTB) published an ecotourism booklet in April 2004 with the cooperation of the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) and the Jordan Royal Ecological Diving Society. [6] [7] The booklet includes all the ecotourism sites in Jordan with a brief description of each site location, what it is, and what has been done to enhance and develop the site. [7] Six nature reserves including the Ajloun Forest Reserve, Dana Biosphere Reserve, Mujib Nature Reserve, Azraq Wetland Reserve, Shaumari Wildlife Reserve, and Wadi Rum in addition to the Dead Sea, Bethany Beyond the Jordan, and the Gulf of Aqaba are distinguished. [8] The booklet also provides some important and useful guidelines for visitors; the guidelines include:
The booklet also encourages tourists to become members of the RSCN, providing them with a membership form. [9] A person can become a regular member with several benefits or can “adopt” an animal by paying a fee which provides some benefits such as a “parent” certificate and free entry to the reserve to visit the adopted animal. [10]
Jordan uses tourism as a tool for conservation. By promoting tourism throughout the country, business owners and hoteliers contribute to conserving Jordan's landscape. [11] The ecotourism scheme has provided job opportunities and a market for local products, bringing much needed economic stability to some of Jordan's poorest rural communities. [12]
In addition to small NGOs and other organizations, The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature and USAID are largely responsible for the increase in ecotourism in Jordan. In 2003, a branch of the RSCN, Wild Jordan, was established to manage social economic development and eco-tourism activities in all RSCN protected areas. [13] In 2000, USAID began supporting development of Jordan's eco-tourism industry as a means to create jobs in rural communities. The RSCN and USAID partnership is now 20 years old, and both work together to make eco-tourism a success. [14]
Eco-tourism has generated tremendous revenue for the country and the rural communities in the nature reserves. The RSCN has a 100% local employment policy in all their protected areas, resulting in eco-tourism directly supporting around 160,000 families throughout Jordan. According to USAID, in the Dana community, over 85 jobs were directly created, helping around 800 people. [15] The Feynan Ecolodge, in Wadi Feynan, alone directly creates 32 jobs for locals, and many more indirect jobs. [16] Creating jobs is a concern in Jordan since the unemployment rate rests around 12.3 and 15.3 percent. [17] Through income-generating projects with eco-tourism, communities living around nature reserves earned JD1.6million in 2012, which is roughly USD2.3million. RSCN annual report also showed that eco-tourism revenue was up 10% in 2012 from the year before, jumping from JD831,336 to JD916,141. [18] There is huge potential for this industry, which could generate around 50,000 jobs in a decade through environmental conservation. This would equate to about JD1.3 billion, equal to about USD2.1 billion. [19] According to the Environment Ministry Secretary General Ahmad Qatarneh, environmental destruction costs Jordan about USD1.25 billion a year, five percent of Jordan's GDP and about twice the amount of aid received in 2009. A green economy helps to offset this cost while reducing degradation. [20]
It is the local communities' involvement in these nature reserves that makes eco-tourism a success. The local communities contribute to eco-tourism by leading tours and hikes, working in the lodges and restaurants, transporting people and resources, and other various jobs. Manual labor is used more than machines, providing a smaller impact on the environment and more jobs. [21] Community members originally relied on hunting and herding for income. Now, with the wide variety of jobs, there is less hunting and a better standard of living. [22] Herding was once sustainable, but with population growth there was too much pressure on the diverse plants and grazing area. Hunting was decreasing biodiversity and endangering animals like the Nubian ibex. Now, these animals are used as a tourist attraction rather than food. The communities still graze their herds, but they keep significantly less and respect no grazing areas. [23] Furthermore, eco-tourism is also helping to revive communities. With the help of USAID, the city of Dana, near the Dana Biosphere Reserve, is rebuilding fifty-seven historic houses. The goal of the project is to bring back the community members who left the poor city in search of work. Through eco-tourism, poverty is reduced, the environment is protected, and heritage is restored. [24]
However, despite the economic benefits, eco-tourism is not without controversy. Eco-tourism projects, especially in the beginning, are not always as environmentally-conscious as possible. For example, in the Wadi Rum nature reserve, the sudden increase in tourism was accompanied by increased roads, electrical lines, hotels, and litter. Although the development helped improve the Wadi Rum Village of Bedouins by bringing them more reliable water and electricity, decisions regarding the fate of Wadi Rum often disregarded local opinions. For example, plans were created to move the village further away and make the existing village into a tourist site without consulting the Rum community. [25] Despite efforts, there are still environmental problems within the reserves. Threats include woodcutting, overgrazing, and hunting, but these threats have significantly decreased in the past decades. [26]
Ecotourism is a form of nature-oriented tourism intended to contribute to the conservation of the natural environment, generally defined as being minimally impactful, and including providing both contributions to conservation and environmental education. The definition sometimes also includes being financially beneficial to the host community or making conservation financially possible. There are a range of different definitions, and the correct definition of the term was an active subject of debate as of 2009. The term is also used more widely by many organizations offering nature tourism, which do not focus on being beneficial to the environment.
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for purposes of conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research. They may be designated by government institutions in some countries, or by private landowners, such as charities and research institutions. Nature reserves fall into different IUCN categories depending on the level of protection afforded by local laws. Normally it is more strictly protected than a nature park. Various jurisdictions may use other terminology, such as ecological protection area or private protected area in legislation and in official titles of the reserves.
Dana is a village near the city of Tafilah, in the Feynan area in central-western Jordan. It is situated on the edge of Wadi Dana, a large natural canyon, and has views over Wadi Araba. It is host to Dana Biosphere Reserve, one of Jordan's premiere nature reserves with ecotourism facilities.
The Royal Society for The Conservation of Nature (RSCN) is an independent voluntary organization that is devoted to the conservation of the county of Jordan's natural resources; it was established in 1966 with King Hussein as Honorary President.
The Wadi Mujib, also known as Arnon Stream, is a river in Jordan. The river empties into the Dead Sea circa 420 metres (1,380 ft) below sea level.
Jordan is a sovereign Arab state in the Middle East. The capital, Amman, is Jordan's most populous city as well as the country's economic, political and cultural centre.
Tourism in Nicaragua has grown considerably recently, and it is now the second largest industry in the nation. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has stated his intention to use tourism to combat poverty throughout the country.
The wildlife of Jordan includes its flora and fauna and their natural habitats. Although much of the country is desert, it has several geographic regions, each with a diversity of plants and animals adapted to their own particular habitats. Fossil finds show that in Palaeolithic times, the region had Syrian brown bears, Asiatic lions, zebras, Asian elephants, and rhinoceroses, but these species are all now extinct in this region.
Ecotourism is the concept of responsible trips and travel to areas that might be protected and especially fragile. The intent is to create as little detrimental impact on the environment as possible. South Africa has used ecotourism to sustain and improve its immense biodiversity, as well as invigorate its economy. Tourism is the fourth largest generator of foreign exchange in South Africa, and ecotourism is the idea of encouraging visitors while promoting and supporting a country's biodiversity. South Africa contains a lot of biodiversity, and so ecotourism is a way for the country to benefit from wildlife in a non-consumptive and legal manner as opposed to illegal activities like poaching and trafficking for the international wildlife trade.
Rural tourism is a form of tourism that focuses on actively participating in a rural lifestyle. It can be a variant of ecotourism, emphasizing sustainable practices and community involvement. Many villages can facilitate tourism because of the hospitality and eagerness of villagers to welcome or host visitors. The mechanization of agriculture has reduced the need for manual labor, leading to economic pressures on some villages and prompting young people to migrate to urban areas. However, a segment of the urban population is increasingly interested in visiting rural areas to experience and understand the rural lifestyle.
The Dana Biosphere Reserve is Jordan's largest nature reserve, located in south-central Jordan. Dana Biosphere Reserve was founded in 1989 in the area in and around the Dana village and Wadi Dana comprising 308 square kilometres (119 sq mi).
Dibeen Forest Reserve is a nature reserve located in the north-west of Jordan. It is situated just south of the Roman site of Jerash and covers an area of 8.5 square kilometres (3.3 sq mi) of rolling hills covered with pine–oak habitat. This area houses the largest Aleppo Pines one of the oldest and naturally grown habitats in Jordan. It also is the home to 17 endangered species such as the Persian Squirrel.
There are at least seven nature reserves in Jordan. In 1966, the organization that would later start Jordan's nature reserves, the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, was founded. RSCN's first efforts involved bringing back severely endangered species. In 1973, RSCN, was given the right to issue hunting licenses, giving RSCN an upper hand in preventing extinction. The first step was the founding of Jordan's first nature reserve, Shaumari Wildlife Reserve, in 1975. The primary purpose was to create means to breed endangered species, specifically: the Arabian oryx, gazelles, ostriches and Persian onagers in their natural environment.
The Ajloun Forest Reserve is a nature reserve located in the Ajloun Governorate in north-west Jordan. Established by the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature in 1988 in the area around the village of Umm Al-Yanabi, it comprises an area of 13 square kilometres (5 sq mi). The reserve is houses a captive breeding programme for the locally extinct roe deer and has been declared an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International. There are also a number of hiking trails for tourists.
The first USAID funded Jordan Tourism Development Project ran for three years (2005–2008) providing technical assistance, training and other services to help Jordan implement its National Tourism Strategy designed to double tourism receipts by 2010. It promoted Jordan’s competitiveness as an international tourism destination by establishing a strong institutional and regulatory framework that promoted private-sector investment, stimulates tourism growth and preserves national tourism assets and the environment.
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Jordan has been granted considerate amounts of international aid moneys toward environmental conservation. Foreign aid goes into mitigation projects in the areas of water scarcity, loss of arable land for agriculture, and renewable energy. Moreover, foreign aid goes toward the development of the eco-tourism sector. Jordan receives aid from different kinds of international agents. Principal institutions that donate money toward environmentalism in Jordan are the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and World Bank. Recently, Jordan has had problems to control its budgetary deficit, which directly affects its ability to manage its environmental problems. That has made some point out that Jordan depends on International aid to control environmental-related issues. One of the examples of that is related to the construction of the East Ghor Canal.
Wadi Feynan or Wadi Faynan is a major wadi and region in southern Jordan, on the border between Tafilah Governorate and Aqaba and Ma'an Governorates. It originates in the southern Jordanian Highlands with the confluence of Wadi Dana and Wadi Ghuweyr, and drains into the Dead Sea via Wadi Araba.
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