Middle East and North Africa Regional
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News & Announcements in the MENA Region
Establishment of Arab Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (ANECE)
On 18 June 2009, at the Dead Sea in Jordan, the Arab Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (ANECE) was established to promote cooperation between environmental enforcement officials throughout the Arab world.
H.E. Khalid Irani, the Minister of Environment of Jordan, H.E. Mrs. Joanna M. Van Vliet, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and Mr. Lawrence C. Mandel, Deputy Chief of Mission for the United States Embassy in Amman, Jordan opened the meeting by stressing the role for enforcement to promote the implementation of environmental laws.
The three keynote speakers joined participants from Jordan, Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Lebanon, Morocco, and visiting experts from other regional networks worldwide in recognizing the ability of ANECE to share experiences and build the capacity of national enforcement program and to raise awareness of the importance of enforcement and compliance. The outcomes from the meeting include the “Dead Sea-Jordan Statement” documenting the agreement of the participants on the fundamental principles of the network, a workplan for the network outlining priority areas of common concern, and the terms of reference for the structure and management of ANECE and its secretariat. Access the meeting sub-site.
Jordan Adopts Formal Name for Environmental Police, Releases 2008 Enforcement Statistics
 On 31 December 2008, the Jordan news agency Petra reported on a recent decision to rename Jordan's environmental police department. The department was named the Royal Environment Protection Department (Rangers), and a new logo was also released, pictured to the right. According to Petra, Rangers Director Colonel Mahmoud Turk announced that the department aims at improving the Kingdom’s environment through the efficient enforcement of environment-related regulations and by advocating local support for solving environment issues.
A seperate report recently released indicated that Jordan's Ministry of Environment and the Royal Environment Protection Department (Rangers) dealt with 17,674 environmental infractions in 2008, with industrial violations and illegal logging constituting the majority of infringements.
Canada and Jordan Free Trade Agreement Negotiations
On 25 August 2008, Canada concluded free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with Jordan, as well as negotiations for an Agreement on the Environment and a Labour Cooperation Agreement (see News Release and Backgrounder). Following the legal review, the agreements will be signed by the parties, released to the public, and proceed to each country’s respective legislative bodies for ratification.
The Environment Agreement under the Canada-Jordan Environment Agreement will commit the Parties to comply with, and effectively enforce, their domestic environmental laws; not weaken domestic environmental laws to encourage trade or investment; ensure that proceedings are available to remedy violations of environmental laws; increase public awareness of environmental laws and policies by ensuring that information regarding environmental laws and policies is available to the public; ensure that environmental impact assessment processes are in place; and encourage the use of voluntary best practices of corporate social responsibility by enterprises. See also Jordan Times.
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