Kingdom 'a leading country' in using treated water — Khasawneh

AMMAN — Deputising for His Majesty King Abdullah, Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh on Tuesday participated in a session to launch the Climate Change Initiative in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean at the COP27 Climate Summit in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

The session was chaired by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in the presence of Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

In an address delivered in the presence of Environment Minister Muawieh Radaideh and Jordan's Ambassador to Egypt Amjad Adaileh, the prime minister expressed appreciation to Egypt for hosting the conference and to Cyprus for "this important initiative", stressing Jordan's support for the initiative and its executive plan.

The prime minister said that the initiative comes at a critical time, with an urgent need to immediately respond to the regional impacts of climate change, which includes major environmental challenges. 

The premier also stressed the importance of "taking this global momentum to work for our countries, the region and the world."

He said that the climate change crisis in Jordan has posed several economic, environmental and social challenges, on top of the country’s scarce resources, a sharp population increases due to regional political crises and a “large and sudden” hosting of refugees from neighbouring countries.

In this regard, Khasawneh spoke about the Kingdom’s initiative to launch interrelated climate and refugee initiatives to shed light on these "unique challenges", referring to the intersection of climate change and population displacement.

The premier said that Jordan is intensifying efforts towards comprehensive environmentally and socially sustainable green growth to address development challenges, as well as achieve national ambitions and international commitments.

He said that this day constitutes an important opportunity to underline collective action at the regional level to face common climate challenges, and for “our voice in the region to be heard”, pointing out that environmental and climate challenges do not recognise borders, which necessitates regional cooperation to face them.

The premier also stressed the importance of capacity building, technology transfer and exchange of expertise as key tools for cooperation, in addition to implementing joint projects based on complementarity among regional countries.

He said that comprehensive and sustainable growth cannot be achieved for all unless developed countries commit to their financial pledges to enable developing countries to deal with the environmental challenges that are increasing day by day.

Khasawneh also participated in a roundtable discussion panel on water security, where he said that Jordan belongs to the Mediterranean Basin, adding that several global reports show that the area is warming at a rate of 20 per cent higher than the global average.

The premier said that higher temperatures, lower precipitation, heatwaves, floods and drought are climate change effects already being felt by the water sector in Jordan.

He added that water scarcity in Jordan has always been a barrier for economic and development growth in the Kingdom, stressing that the population increase, which has doubled over the past two decades due to the hosting of refugee, has exacerbated the water crisis in Jordan, leading it to become one of the water-poorest counties in the world.

Khasawneh said that Kingdom is a leading country in using treated water, where 90 per cent of treated water, which accounts for 13 per cent of available water, is used for agricultural and industrial purposes.