Jordan starts report on evaluation of biodiversity programmes

AMMAN — Work on Jordan's sixth national report on biodiversity began on Monday with the aim of tracking the Kingdom’s progress on the implementation of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD).

Issued every three years, the report evaluates the efficiency of programmes in the conservation of biological diversity, biologists and environment experts said at the report's inception workshop.

Jordan submitted the first national report to the UN on biodiversity in 2001, as part of its commitment to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which the Kingdom ratified in 1993.

HRH Princess Basma, president of the National Committee on Biological Diversity, said that, although preparation of national reports on biological diversity is a requirement under the CBD, the reports are an opportunity to evaluate the status of biological diversity in Jordan.

"We can benefit from the national reports to build an environmentally sound and safe future for Jordan," she said at the event.

Princess Basma noted that the reports are also a tool to assess what has been achieved in the field of biodiversity conservation over the past years and the way forward.

On its website, the CBD indicated that the sixth national report should provide a final review of progress in the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 based on information concerning the implementation of national biodiversity strategies and action plans and to implement the convention.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will prepare the sixth report, while the Ministry of Environment will oversee the preparation process, according to Nidal Awran, UNDP's Environment and Climate Change Programme Director.

Awran highlighted that the Global Environment Fund is financing the preparation of the sixth report, highlighting that the deadline for submitting it is December 31, 2018.

"We will focus our efforts with all stakeholders to have it ready by October, when it will also be shared with stakeholders for further validation. We also plan to have it reviewed in the next conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change," Awran said.

In its first report, Jordan indicated that the CBD is the first global convention that relates to all aspects of biological diversity, including genetic resources, species and ecosystems.

By joining the convention, states obligate themselves to preserve the biological diversity of their countries. In addition, the provisions of the convention have ramifications on the world market and on Jordan in terms of international agreements on trade and bio-technologies, access to genetic resources and gene banks, development of agricultural products, use of natural resources and rehabilitation of ecological systems, according to Jordan's first national report.

The country's fifth national report in biodiversity, submitted in 2015, indicated that "the status of biodiversity in Jordan remains unsatisfactory and facing numerous challenges and constraints".