NGOs, Chamber Satisfied with Progress on Environmental

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 AMMAN 007734 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS State for NEA/ELA, NEA/RA, OES State Pass USTR/Prescott Interior for International/Senhadji and for FWS USDA for Forest Service/International EPA for International/Prather, Medearis DAMASCUS for Westphal E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV ETRD EAID PGOV JO SUBJECT: NGOs, Chamber Satisfied with Progress on Environmental Governance ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Leaders from two of Jordan's largest environmental NGOs and from the Jordan Chamber of Industry are satisfied with the transparency and engagement of the GOJ on environmental policy issues. One major NGO noted its pleasure at the creation of the "Environmental Rangers" enforcement unit affiliated with the Ministry of Environment. The two major NGOs are concerned - but not alarmist - about environmental issues in the Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZs). End summary. -------------- RSCN - NGO Enforcing CITES, Hunting Laws -------------- ¶2. (U) DAUSTR Jennifer Prescott and EPA Trade and Environment official Tiffany Prather met Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) Acting Director General Yehya Khaled on September 20 to discuss environmental enforcement, public participation and regional training. Note: Current Environment Minister Khaled Irani worked for 17 years at the RSCN, and was its Director General when he was called to serve as Minister in April 2005. RSCN may well be the largest environmental NGO in the Middle East, and is twice the size of the Ministry of Environment. End note. ¶3. (U) Khaled began by noting that the GOJ has given a mandate to the RSCN to operate Jordan's national parks, to issue hunting licenses, and to act as both the scientific and management authority for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). As part of its duties, RSCN trains customs officials in recognizing endangered species. RSCN receives a total of 7% of its budget from the GOJ for performing all of the tasks delegated to it by the GOJ. The RSCN raises the other 93% itself. It remains very much an independent NGO. Note: USAID has been a major supporter of the RSCN for many years, including an endowment and many individual projects, e.g. protected area management training provided by the U.S. Forest Service. ¶4. (SBU) On enforcement, Khaled said that RSCN occasionally butts up again political heavyweights when important visitors from the Gulf visit Jordan and bring falcons for hunting. He did not elaborate, but implied that rules are occasionally bent for such guests. He went on to say that he sees RSCN's role as pressuring the government to abide by the rules. -------------- RSCN Sees Rangers as a Good Step -------------- ¶5. (U) Khaled said the creation of the environmental rangers was "very good," and he noted that RSCN has been working with the police for seven years. RSCN now has a staffer who works full-time at the Public Security Directorate. Khaled said he wants to see the environmental rangers succeed, and he endorsed EPA support for that effort. RSCN is on both the steering committee and the management committee of the environmental rangers, where it works to define procedures and roles. Khaled said he had advocated for the rangers to be unarmed, but that the decision had been made for the rangers to carry weapons. -------------- Outreach and Transparency Seen as Adequate -------------- ¶6. (U) On outreach, Khaled noted that the Ministry of Environment has established an advisory group that meets every two or three months to discuss policies and regulations. He added that the outreach department at the Ministry of Environment was weak and that the Ministry needs support on this issue. Khaled felt that there is "enough" transparency from the GOJ in environmental governance, but with the caveat that some government employees don't want the process to be transparent. AMMAN 00007734 002 OF 004 -------------- RSCN Working Throughout the Region -------------- ¶7. (U) Regional training and outreach are becoming major components of the RSCN's work. Khaled said that the RSCN works with either Environment Ministries or NGOs in Syria, the West Bank and Gaza, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iraq, and the UAE. Khaled speculated that current Minister of Environment Khaled Irani was selected as Minister in part because of Irani's regional connections developed as Director General of the RSCN. RSCN's training goals are to develop awareness programs, build institutional capacity in NGOs, support protected area management, and improve enforcement capacity. Some countries pay their own way for the training; others are supported by outside donors, such as Germany's Hanns Seidel Foundation, which supports training for Syria. Khaled said RSCN provides training in topics where it has particular expertise. The institutional and cultural setting for NGOs in the Middle East is weak, said Khaled. Syria has only one environmental NGO, he claimed. This is why the RSCN devotes significant resources to institutional development of NGOs. -------------- Role for RSCN in EPA Course? -------------- ¶8. (U) EPA's Prather told Khaled about the upcoming environmental inspection course in Amman, and about the creation of a network of Middle East environmental enforcement officials through the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE.) She speculated that there are many ways that RSCN could support and be involved in these projects, such as helping to design the program, assisting with logistics, doing case studies, delivering the course, identifying participants and training trainers. Khaled embraced these ideas warmly and invited his Training Director Rami Jihad to join the meeting. Jihad noted the importance of empowering the environmental rangers and making them proud of their work. He said that even a simple certificate or a small object from EPA would make a big impression. -------------- RSCN - QIZs "Not Perfect" -------------- ¶9. (SBU) Khaled said that the environmental picture in U.S.-linked Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZs) is "not perfect," but he noted that the QIZs are not in biodiverse areas which would be of concern to RSCN. In response to a question from Prather, Khaled replied that it "makes sense" for the EPA course in February to include a case study on the QIZs. -------------- -------------- Marine Conservation Society Wants Proper Valuation -------------- -------------- ¶10. (U) In a separate meeting, Fadi Sharaiha, Executive Director of the Royal Marine Conservation Society (RMCS),said that RMCS is one of three NGOs (the others are the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature and the Jordan Environment Society) with a seat on the Ministry of Environment's Advisory Board. RMCS, which focuses on marine protection along Jordan's 27-kilometer coastline, works closely with the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority. RMCS also works regionally, he said, and is engaged in Oman with protecting turtle nesting habitat from encroachment. -------------- NGO: QIZs Are Putting Stress on Environment -------------- ¶11. (SBU) Sharaiha's primary concern is economic valuation of resources. When asked about the QIZs, Sharaiha painted a picture of AMMAN 00007734 003 OF 004 foreign investors and foreign workers operating an industry in Jordan where the full environmental costs of the industry are not taken into account. He said that he felt the QIZs were "stressing" Jordan's resources, and that the economic value of those resources was not adequately counted. "Are QIZs worth it?" he asked rhetorically. He voiced special concern over groundwater and solid waste, although he said the Al-Hassan QIZ looks "neat" (clean) on the surface. -------------- - NGO: Jordan Needs More Planning and Enforcement -------------- -- ¶12. (U) What Jordan really needs, Sharaiha said, is a master plan for land use. RMCS wants economic development, he said, but linked with strengthened planning, environmental protection, and labor protection. He commented on the gap between good legislation and good enforcement. He went on to cite two cases where two real estate projects had been stopped because of public attention brought to the environmental costs. ¶13. (U) Sharaiha suggested that training for judges on environmental law would be an important contribution to strengthening environmental enforcement in Jordan. He went on to suggest that the judges' training should not be technical in nature, but should show judges the results of environmental crimes and demonstrate there are real consequences. This would stiffen the judges' willingness to impose real costs on firms and workers who break environmental laws. Most people still see the environment and the economy as being in opposition, he said. Prather said that under EPA's regimen, training for judges would be the next step to follow the February 2007 course for environmental inspectors, if funding could be found. -------------- Public Diplomacy - Show Local Benefits -------------- ¶14. (SBU) Following Prescott's comments on possible USG support for the environmental fund and the environmental rangers, Sharaiha cautioned about the public relations effect of USG support for the rangers. People will perceive this as the USG empowering "state agencies," he said, in effect another arm of the state's police authority, albeit one with humanitarian motives. On public diplomacy, he stressed the need to do local activities and to have non-USG partners talking about the local benefits of USG-supported activities on environment, a concept he called "social marketing." He admitted the presence in Jordan of the donor mentality, where people are used to receiving things from donors with little or no effort on their own part. He stressed the importance of building awareness and support among stakeholders for an activity. He specifically recommended more engagement of community-based organizations (CBOs). There needs to be a real sense of ownership of a particular decision so that there is continuity, he said. -------------- -------------- Jordan Chamber of Industry Has Policy Role with GOJ -------------- -------------- ¶15. (U) On September 20, Prescott and Prather met Dr. Zaki Ayoubi, Chairman of the Board and Acting President of the 12,000-member Jordan Chamber of Industry. The Chamber now has a formal role in industrial policy, including environment. This was a change, Ayoubi said, from the old days when the private sector was excluded from policy development. Ayoubi seemed pleased with the level of transparency in the policy-making process. -------------- Environment Issue, Ministry Both New -------------- AMMAN 00007734 004 OF 004 ¶16. (U) Ayoubi described the environment as a new issue in Jordan, and the Ministry of Environment as being in learning mode. The Minister of Environment had recently visited the Jordan Chamber of Industry and had met the Board. Cooperation on environment is developing, Ayoubi said, but so far, industry is "not part of the system." He supported market-based instruments for promoting environmental protection, saying that the old command-and-control methods "won't work." He noted Jordanian skill at evading such mechanisms, but said that if regulations made business sense, they would be implemented quickly. Note: USAID is promoting adoption of Environmental Management Systems among selected industries in Jordan to offer a voluntary system of improved environmental management that makes good business sense. ¶17. (U) Ayoubi also discussed the composition of Jordanian industry, saying that many firms are tiny and would not be able to individually afford expensive pollution control equipment. He agreed with the assertion that this is a market opportunity for business-to-business environmental services. ¶18. (U) USTR and EPA cleared this cable. RUBINSTEIN