Conference sheds light on Kingdom’s biodiversity

AMMAN — The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) on Sunday held the Scientific Conference of Biodiversity Observation Centre for the 5th consecutive year.

The meeting focused on biological diversity studies presented by RSCN researchers and participants from various scientific and environmental entities.

“There must be a solid scientific foundation for the management of the natural reserves’ protection programmes. Therefore, this firm platform is being upgraded and improved by the RSCN in order to expand the national database on all biodiversity studies,” Director General of the RSCN Yahya Khalid said during the conference.

“We have reached an outstanding level, but we have still got a long road ahead of us. Therefore, we aim at providing further efforts towards protecting biological diversity,” Khalid added.

During the conference, Daoud Iswai, a botany professor, highlighted the importance of the scientific conference, stressing that biodiversity and the environment are topics of global concern due to their relationship with climate change.

Iswai, who is also a scientific adviser to a biodiversity area project, said: “Supplemental to what we accomplished years ago, the RSCN continues to document the diversities across the Arab Region, and in the Kingdom in particular.”   

Discussion during the conference covered an array of issues, such as the geological evolution of the Azraq Basin, the biodiversity value of the archaeological landscapes and updates on freshwater fish in Saudi Arabia, according to RSCN statements shared with The Jordan Times.

The conference took place amid researches on flora and fauna in the Kingdom’s nature reserves, with the aim of assessing biodiversity in Jordan, the statement added.

The conference was attended by RSCN representatives, professors from various Jordanian universities and specialists from Jordan and abroad, in addition to media personnel.