Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ndmmz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-21T11:50:09.850Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Environmental Management in Jordan: Problems and Recommendations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Maher F. Abu-Taleb  and
Elias Salameh
Maher F. Abu-Taleb
Affiliation:
President and Principal Consultant, Environmental Resources Management Consultants, PO Box 5182, Amman, Jordan
Elias Salameh
Affiliation:
Professor of Hydrogeology (Formerly Director of the Water and Environment Research and Study Center), Jordan University, Amman, Jordan.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Jordan faces a wide variety of environmental problems, most of which are attributable to the inherent water supply–demand imbalance. This paper has examined the broad range of environmental problems experienced by Jordan, including local, regional, and global, environmental threats. Economic costs of ignoring environmental problems are presented, with examples showing how expensive and how complicated decontamination may be. The paper then discusses current policymaking to counter the existing problems and recommended that future decision-making mechanisms be flexible, robust, and timely enough to be able to cope effectively and rapidly with the evergrowing environmental problems.

In conclusion, the paper offers some suggestions for how the process of environmental policymaking may be improved and accelerated in order to cope with the wide range of environmental problems facing Jordan. The paper recommends that scientists and researchers become more involved in governmental decision-making, to be able to establish more technically-informed policies than hitherto. In addition, some type of concessional financing may be necessary from multilateral and bilateral lending organizations to assist in overcoming some of the more threatening environmental problems, such as water quality, and to provide economic impetus to a depressed economy.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , Spring 1994 , pp. 35 - 40
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abu-Taleb, M.F., Deason, J. & Salameh, E. (1991). ‘Water Resources Planning and Development in Jordan’, in Proceedings of the World Bank International Workshop on Comprehensive Water Resources Management Policy, Washington, DC, USA: 06 24–28 [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Abu-Taleb, M.F., Deason, J., Salameh, E. & Mareschal, B. (1992). Multiobjective decision support for water resources planning. Pp. 79–97 in Jordan's Water Resources and Their Future Potential (Eds Garber, A. & Salameh, E.). Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Amman, Jordan: 122 pp.Google Scholar
Ahmad, A. (1989). Jordan Environmental Profile — Status and Abatement. United States Agency for International Development, Amman, Jordan: 273 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Al-Fataftah, A. & Abu-Taleb, M.F. (1992). Jordan's Water Action Plan. Pp. 153–71 in Sustainable Water Resources Management in Arid Countries: Middle East and North Africa (Ed. E. Schiller). Special Issue of the Canadian Journal of Development Studies, April, Ottawa, Canada: 226 pp.Google Scholar
Gedeon, R. (1991). The potential impact of industrial wastes on water resources in Amman-Zarqa Basin. Pp. 97–108 in Water Pollution in Jordan — Causes and Effects (Ed. Salameh, E.). Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Amman, Jordan: 140 pp.Google Scholar
Haas, P.M. (1990). Towards management of environmental problems in Egypt. Environmental Conservation, 17(1), pp. 45–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes, R. & Goreau, T. (1991). The Tropical Coral Reef Ecosystem as a Harbinger of Global Warming. Paper presented at the 2nd International Conference on Global Warming, 8–11 04, Chicago, USA: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Huazin, S. (1991). Solid waste disposal sites and their effects on ground and surface water. Pp. 51–72 in Water Pollution in Jordan — Causes and Effects (Ed. Salameh, E.). Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Amman, Jordan: 140 pp.Google Scholar
Issar, A.S. & Nativ, R. (1988). Water beneath deserts: keys to the past, a resource for the present. Episodes, 11(4), pp. 256–62.Google Scholar
Jordan Ministry of Planning (1985). Five Year Plan for Economic and Social Development. Ministry of Planning, Amman, Jordan: 574 pp.Google Scholar
Jordan Natural Resources Authority (1988). Natural Resources in Jordan: Inventory, Evaluation, Development Program. Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, Amman, Jordan: 224 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Lenton, R. (1992). Irrigation management strategies for the 21st century. Pp. 121–30 in Sustainable Water Resources Management in Arid Countries: Middle East and North Africa (Ed. Schiller, E.). Special Issue of the Canadian Journal of Development Studies, April, Ottawa, Canada: 226 pp.Google Scholar
McCarthy, P., Taylor, L. & Talati, C. (1987). Trade patterns in developing countries 1964–1982. Journal of Development Economics, 21, pp. 5–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munasinghe, M. (1991). Comment on ‘The environmental and emerging development issues’, by Dasgupta & Maler. Pp. 133–41 in Proceedings of the World Bank Annual Conference on Development Economics, World Bank, Washington, DC, USA: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Porter, G. & Brown, J. (1991). Global Environment Politics. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, USA: xv + 208 pp.Google Scholar
Postel, S. (1989). Water for Agriculture: Facing the Limits. (World-watch Paper 93.) Worldwatch Institute, Washington, DC, USA: 54pp.Google Scholar
Royal Scientific Society (cited as RSS) (1989). King Talal Reservoir Monitoring Project. RSS, Amman, Jordan: 32 pp. [in Arabic].Google Scholar
Salameh, E. (1989). Groundwater contamination: causes, methods of protection, and examples from Jordan. Jordanian Geologist, Amman, Jordan. [Not available for checking.]Google Scholar
Salameh, E. (1991). Overexploitation and salinization of ground-water resources and accompanying saltwater intrusions. Pp. 85–95 in Water Pollution in Jordan—Causes and Effects (Ed. Salameh, E.). Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Amman, Jordan: 140 pp.Google Scholar
Salameh, E. (1992). The Jordan River System. Pp. 99–105 in Jordan's Water Resources and Their Future Potential (Eds Garber, A. & Salameh, E.). Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Amman, Jordan: 122 pp.Google Scholar
Shuraiki, Y. (1991). Impact of biocides on ground and surface water pollution in Jordan. Pp. 109–13 in Water Pollution in Jordan—Causes and Effects (Ed. Salameh, E.). Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Amman, Jordan: 140pp.Google Scholar
Shuval, H. (1992). Environmental Management of Transboundary Groundwater Systems: a Case-study of the Mountain Aquifer Shared by Israel and the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. Paper presented at the Workshop on Environmentally Sound Management of International Water Systems, Sophia, 28–30 April, United Nations Environment Programme/International Office for Water: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Udluft, P. & El-Naser, H. (1992). Some aspects of modern alternatives and principles of water resource use. Pp. 37–48 in Jordan's Water Resources and Their Future Potential (Eds Garber, A. & Salameh, E.). Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Amman, Jordan: 122pp.Google Scholar
Williams, E. & Bunkley-Williams, L. (1990). Coral reef bleaching alert. Nature (London), 19. [Not available for checking.]Google Scholar
World Bank (1988). Jordan Water Resources Sector Study Report. The World Bank, Washington, DC, USA: ix + 106 pp.Google Scholar
World Bank (1991). World Development Report 1991: The Challenge of Development. Oxford University Press, New York, NY, USA: xii + 290 pp.Google Scholar
Worldwatch Institute (1992). State of the World. W.W. Norton & Co., New York, NY, USA: xv + 256 pp.Google Scholar