Environmental Compliance and Enforcement in Jordan: Reaching Out to the Future
By , Director of Policy and Development, Ministry of Environment, Amman, Jordan

As part of its overall environmental reform process, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is developing and reforming the legal and institutional frameworks for environmental inspection, enforcement and compliance. This is of particular significance to Jordan as a signatory to most of the Multilateral Environmental Agreements and to a considerable number of free trade and association agreements, including those with the United States and the European Union.

Jordan is a semi-arid country that lies between three continents, namely Europe, Asia, and Africa, which gave the country a variety of habitats with enormous biodiversity. Jordan is facing a number of challenges including those associated with water and wastewater, energy, land degradation, unplanned urbanization, waste management, etc. In addition to a dedicated chapter for environment in the National Agenda, our national strategic roadmap, whose ultimate purpose is to achieve sustainable development through a transformation program that puts Jordan on a trajectory path toward fast economic growth and greater social inclusion, several legislative acts have been adopted to address environmental challenges—namely, the new Environment Protection Law (No. 52 for 2006) and the amended Agricultural Law (No. 44 for 2002). However, enforcement of legislation is still weak due to the scattered efforts between different ministries and organizations that directly or indirectly enforce the laws.

In a marked step towards enhancing environmental enforcement, Jordan launched its Environmental Rangers Directorate in June 2006, aimed at gathering all enforcement-related efforts under one qualified agency. The Rangers will be responsible for enforcing all relevant laws across the Kingdom including the Environment Protection law, the Agriculture law, Health law, Municipalities law, etc. The Ministry of Environment is exploring potential assistance to implement a long-term capacity building programme for the Rangers to ensure quality and high-standard service in various fields and to prepare for the establishment of a Regional Centre for training on inspection and enforcement. In addition, a specialized division was established within the Ministry to coordinate and follow-up the overall inspection and enforcement plans. The division will cooperate closely with the environmental licensing/permitting division as well as the monitoring division to ensure optimum performance.

While the Environmental Protection Law No. 52 for 2006 provides the legal basis for inspection and enforcement rights, the Ministry of Environment is committed to complete the legal framework for monitoring, inspection, and enforcement through a by-law that is being drafted in coordination with line Ministries and with contributions from the private sector and non-governmental organizations. The by-law is expected to clarify and legalize the role of inspectors and rangers as well as describe the detailed procedures for compliance and inspection to enable the operator to take necessary measures for avoiding non-compliance and its consequences.

Recently, Jordan hosted seniro officials from the Ministries of Environment and the Environmental Enforcement Authorities in the Arab region, including Jordan, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Oman, Yemen, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, to discuss and agree upon cooperation in the field of environmental enforcement and compliance in the Arab region. The meeting, which took place on 9-10 May 2007, was attended by observers from INECE, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement in the Maghreb, the Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Network for Accession, and the United Nations Environment Programme. With the intention of enhancing Arab Regional cooperation in the field of environmental enforcement, the participants discussed partnership opportunities and agreed on the need for an Arab Enforcement Network to facilitate the exchange of experience and know-how and support environmental protection efforts among the countries of the Region. [See Arab Regional Networking Meeting on Environmental Compliance and Enforcement held in Jordan.]

Besides working on the command-and-control side to ensure environmental compliance, Jordan is also developing soft and economic instruments to promote both economic development and environmental protection by harnessing the impact of technological innovation and capital investment to promote energy and water sources, and utilization and means of production that are cleaner, more efficient, cheaper, and more sustainable. The Ministry of Environment is establishing the Jordanian Environmental Protection Fund and a special Award of Environmental Excellence, the latter of which will be opened on a competitive basis and within pre-specified criteria to a variety of interested sectors.

We in Jordan are becoming more and more aware of the importance of protecting and sustaining our environment to ensure a better quality of life for us and for the coming generations. Nevertheless, we do believe that this is a process of change–change in attitude, behavior and the way the environment is prospected by policy-makers and the public.