There Goes Our National Forest
The plan to construct a JD100 million tourism complex on a 500 dunum area in Dibbeen was announced in today’s Jordan Times (May 8, 2006). This information shocks me and compels me to speak out.
The reason a country designates unique wonders of nature or forests as national parks is to preserve them and safeguard them for future generations.
How is it possible to take 500 dunums from Dibbeen National Park and develop them for tourists? Who has the right to do this? The Social Security Investment Corporation does not own Dibbeen, does it? We have no forests to speak about, and we are definitely not going to grow any in the near future. The forest area of Dibbeen belongs to the entire country and for the benefit of all.
The article in today’s Jordan Times said that The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature will set guidelines and insure that the integrity of environment is kept. I doubt that this will happen. The RSCC is a non-governmental society and will not be able to exert pressure on the investors, especially now that these investors have already signed. Certainly the RSCC objected to this project when they first knew about it, and if not, they should have.
No matter what the article said, I am not convinced that the foreign investors and the proposed resort they envision will in any way benefit Jordan. The investors will reap whatever profit is made, and since they are ‘foreign,’ the money will go to foreign quarters. Five star hotels are not within the budget of the average Jordanian. Also, tourists don’t pay 5 star prices to justify building this standard of hotels. Jordan’s tourism market does not cater to tourists who will stay in a resort, because they spend their precious few days seeing the archeological and religious sites dotted throughout the country. So we are to believe that a few hundred jobs for local Jordanians will compensate our children and grandchildren for destroying part of their national heritage!
We must assume, then, that a part of our national forest is being ‘developed’ for the use of the inhabitants of the gulf countries. They are most welcome to come to Jordan, to visit, and to invest, but not to damage or change a national heritage that we have vowed to safeguard. ASH
The reason a country designates unique wonders of nature or forests as national parks is to preserve them and safeguard them for future generations.
How is it possible to take 500 dunums from Dibbeen National Park and develop them for tourists? Who has the right to do this? The Social Security Investment Corporation does not own Dibbeen, does it? We have no forests to speak about, and we are definitely not going to grow any in the near future. The forest area of Dibbeen belongs to the entire country and for the benefit of all.
The article in today’s Jordan Times said that The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature will set guidelines and insure that the integrity of environment is kept. I doubt that this will happen. The RSCC is a non-governmental society and will not be able to exert pressure on the investors, especially now that these investors have already signed. Certainly the RSCC objected to this project when they first knew about it, and if not, they should have.
No matter what the article said, I am not convinced that the foreign investors and the proposed resort they envision will in any way benefit Jordan. The investors will reap whatever profit is made, and since they are ‘foreign,’ the money will go to foreign quarters. Five star hotels are not within the budget of the average Jordanian. Also, tourists don’t pay 5 star prices to justify building this standard of hotels. Jordan’s tourism market does not cater to tourists who will stay in a resort, because they spend their precious few days seeing the archeological and religious sites dotted throughout the country. So we are to believe that a few hundred jobs for local Jordanians will compensate our children and grandchildren for destroying part of their national heritage!
We must assume, then, that a part of our national forest is being ‘developed’ for the use of the inhabitants of the gulf countries. They are most welcome to come to Jordan, to visit, and to invest, but not to damage or change a national heritage that we have vowed to safeguard. ASH
posted by joladies at Monday, May 08, 2006
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