Conference documentation
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Conference participants
Contact
Dr. Ismail Al Baz
Senior Project Manager
Deutsche Gesellschaft für
Internationale Zusammenarbeit
(GIZ) GmbH
Lützowufer 6-9
10785 Berlin
Tel. +49 (0)30 25482-107
Tel. +49 (0)30 25482-103
E-mail: ismail.albaz@giz.de
Website: www.giz.de
Conference Secretariat
Mj. Mohammed Al Rahahleh
THE ROYAL DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION / RANGERS IN JORDAN: GENERAL TASKS AND MISSION AND SPECIFIC ROLES IN WATER RESOURCES PROTECTION
Mj. Mohammad Al Rahahleh
Royal Department for Environment Protection (Rangers), South Abdoun, Zahran Area, Amman, Jordan
E-mail: rahahleh2001@hotmail.com
Harald Kirsch, German International Cooperation (GIZ), P.O. Box 92 62 38, Amman 11190, Jordan
E-mail: haraldcm@hotmail.com
1. Introduction and Background
With The Endorsement of His Majesty King Abdullah II, the Environmental Police Department was established on 15th June 2006 and started to operate 3 months later. On 15th December 2008 it became the Royal Department for Environment Protection (RDEP). Being a unique institution in Jordan – and perhaps in the region - the Rangers are the executive arm of the Ministry of Environment (MoE). Administratively the Rangers are a unit of the Public Security Directorate (PSD). They act on directives from PSD and MoE; they bring violator of environmental laws to the court and enforce court decisions. The Rangers are operating in coordination and cooperation with nine strategic partners consisting of govt. institutions and environmental conservation organizations.
Today about 650 officers are assigned to 15 branches in the six police regions in Jordan. Since the end of 2009 a technical adviser from the GIZ Entwicklungsdienst (former German Development Service / DED) is supporting the Rangers in the fields of:
- Institutional support and liaison with strategic partners
- Identification and documentation of water pollution
- Preventive measures in water protection zones
- Data acquisition and processing
- Awareness creation
2. Goals and Mission of the Royal Department for Environment Protection
The mission of the Rangers is to improve the quality of Jordan’s environment through proper and effective enforcement of environmental legislations, enhance cooperation with and between relevant authorities, and increase national support and advocacy for environmental issues. To achieve the goal to reduce damages on the Jordanian environment and its elements, the Rangers need to develop partnerships with governmental and civil society organizations to enforce environmental legislations.
3. Tasks and duties in environmental protection
Due to the steadily incasing number of officers the total number of pursued cases of environmental violations has increased from 7781 in 2007 to 52072 in 2009. The Rangers conduct their duties jointly with representatives from the partner institutions. These duties comprise:
- Control of acts which constitute a violation of the environment laws and take legal action against the perpetrators
- Implement decisions of the competent ministries on removal of environmental violations/hazards and precautionary closure of facilities
- Control irregularities on grazing, logging, over-fishing and encroachment on wildlife, marine and forest resources
- Control the import of environmentally harmful materials through border posts
- Controls of vehicle exhaust fumes
- Protection and control of natural and pastoral reserves
- Handover of cases and evidence to the responsible courts
- Support ministries and other partners with campaigns and the dissemination of materials on awareness creation
- Participation in seminars and conferences
4. Roles and activities in Water Resources Protection
Water is a limiting factor in Jordan’s development efforts. Natural factors such as arid to semiarid climate as well as demographic changes (caused also by migration intake), socio-economic growth and the subsequent intensification of irrigated agriculture are all aspects that strain a sustainable management of scarce water resources in the country. To ensure that drinking water of good quality and sufficient quantity is made available to the people of Jordan, all water resources have to be protected efficiently.
Hereby the Rangers are cooperating closely with the Ministry of Health / Environmental Health Directorate and the Ministry of Water and Irrigation; in particular they are involved in the Water Aspects in Land Use Planning Project of the MoWI and the German Federal Institute of Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR). One major role of the Rangers in this project is the support of the implementation of regulations in the groundwater protection zones through patrolling and awareness creation.
Institutionally and technically this is done through a Water Resource Protection Team at the Rangers’ HQ in Amman. The team is directly supported and coached by the GIZ adviser in the subjects of Hydrology and the application of GPS and GIS. It acts as an extension team to the branches in the whole Kingdom.
Keywords: Environmental and Water resources protection, Awareness creation, German – Jordanian Cooperation, GIS, Rangers