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22 November 2007 As a globally important land bridge for mammals, birds and other animals, the Jordan Rift Valley, as part of the Great Rift Valley serves as connection between Africa, Europe and Asia. Lots of migrating birds go there to rest on their journey from colder regions to Africa. Unfortunately, the Jordan Rift Valley is in danger of loosing its natural assets, due to the construction of greater infrastructure to meet socio-economical development needs. As a solution for those imbalances, a project was initiated by The Royal Society for Conservation of Nature (RSCN) to establish a network of four Protected Areas and seven smaller Special Conservation Areas. Those areas will serve as connection between the bigger protected areas for the migrating birds, altogether representing a cross section of all key habitats and ecosystem types in the Jordan Rift Valley. Through this community-driven project, a wide range of stakeholders will be involved. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) West Asia/ Middle East will play a vital role in bringing its international connections and experience to the project's development. Technical advice and assistance for the field operations and the recruitment of special consultants will also be provided by IUCN. The Jordanian Ministry of Environment will be the government's focal point, whereas the partners implementing the on-the-ground activities are the Jordna Valley Authority (JVA) and the Jordan Hashemite Fund for Development (JOHUD) through its network of community development centers in the JRV. By applying the Integrated Ecosystem Management approach, the project will take into account the human needs, economic development as well as conservation of natural habitats. The project will promote economically viable, nature-based livelihood options in local communities in the Protected Areas and the Special Conservation Areas, such as eco-tourism and other socio-economic enterprises. The regional impacts of climatic change on the future distribution of some major floristic groups and ecosystem dynamics in the Jordan Rift Valley will be detected and incorporated into the conservation planning and management of Protected Areas and Special Conservation Areas. Therefore a forecast of vegetation shifts through modelling is needed as well as the continuous documentation of trends and impacts of climate change measured on previously defined key indicator species.For more information on IUCN WAME Protected Areas Programme, please contact Mr. Khaldoun Al Omari at: Khaldoun.Alomari@iucn.org |
Integrated ecosystem management in the Jordan Rift Valley