US embassy cable - 05AMMAN6758

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 006758 
 
SIPDIS 
 
State pass USAID 
Interior for International/Washburn and for NPS/Krewson 
USDA for Forest Service/International/Mezainis, Peterson 
USDA/FAS for ICD/RSED/Li 
EPA for International/Medearis 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV, EAID, KPAL, IS, JO 
SUBJECT: Jordan's Environmental Priorities: Environmental 
Economist, Park Rangers, Waste 
 
Ref: A) Amman 5907        B) Amman 3358 
 
1.  Summary:   Minister of Environment Khaled Irani renewed 
his interest in hosting an EPA environmental economist under 
the Science Fellows program.  He also seeks National Park 
Service assistance in creating a park ranger corps for 
Jordan.  An EU-sponsored capacity building project at the 
Ministry will start soon.  The EU's preliminary report on 
the Ministry led to a reorganization along functional lines 
that created units for policy, information and monitoring, 
and inspection. End summary. 
 
Priorities Have Been Set 
------------------------ 
 
2.  A/DCM, ESTHOff and AIDOff paid a call on a typically 
buoyant and positive Minister of Environment Khaled Irani on 
August 16 to discuss bilateral and regional programs, and to 
learn about the Ministry of Environment's (MOE) plans. 
Irani's first priority has been creating a focus and a 
mission for his ministry (ref B), and the structure to 
support that mission.  He said that an 18-month EU-sponsored 
capacity building project at the MOE is now out for bids, 
and that he expects a decision in October on the winner. 
 
3.  The EU project meshes nicely with Irani's arrival in 
April 2005 as Minister.  Irani said that he had recently had 
a successful retreat for his top staff and department heads 
to identify MOE priorities.  Those priorities can be fed 
into the EU project so that capacity is developed in 
priority areas.  Irani said that he is reorganizing the MOE 
along functional lines, including new divisions for policy 
development, information and monitoring systems, and 
inspections. 
 
Science Fellows to Meet Key Needs in Finance, Waste 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
4.  ESTHOff told Minister Irani that post's request for 
Science Fellows to advise the MOE on environmental 
economics, industrial waste management and solid waste 
management (Ref A) was being processed in Washington by 
State and EPA.  Irani renewed his ministry's strong desire 
for an environmental economist (Ref B).  He also asked later 
about American programs to tax or recycle plastic shopping 
bags, a modern plague in Jordan. 
 
5.  Solid and hazardous waste management are two other 
important areas for Jordan that (Ref A) Science Fellows will 
assist in.  ESTHOff mentioned the arrival on August 21 of a 
Department of Energy team to evaluate physical security of 
nuclear materials at Jordan's Swaqa hazardous waste site. 
Irani responded by noting the importance of Jordan 
developing a comprehensive plan, perhaps with the help of 
the Science Fellows, for Swaqa and by extension for all of 
Jordan's solid and hazardous waste.  He mused that a Build- 
Operate-Transfer project for Swaqa is the only practical 
solution for Jordan's hazardous wastes; government "cannot 
do it alone," he said. 
 
Park Ranger Project - Close to His Heart 
---------------------------------------- 
 
6.  Irani, formerly head of the the Royal Society for the 
Conservation of Nature, an NGO, moved to a subject close to 
his heart, the development of a national park ranger corps. 
Irani said he had met that morning with the head of the 
Public Security Directorate (Jordan's police force) to 
develop ideas for the rangers.  Irani sees the rangers as 
fulfilling multiple roles in Jordan's forests and parks: 
enforcing natural resource laws on poaching, polluting, 
littering and illegal tree-cutting; providing traditional 
police services such as security and first aid; and acting 
as interpretive guides. 
 
7.  Minister Irani said that the King is interested in and 
supportive of the ranger program.  Irani is well aware that 
the mission for these rangers needs to be brought into 
sharper focus.  He said MOE will form a committee with the 
Ministry of Agriculture (responsible for national forests), 
the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (national 
park managers) and with the Public Security Directorate 
(police) to give shape to the park ranger program. 
8.  ESTHOff described the U.S. National Park Service's (NPS) 
International Volunteers in Parks (IVIP) program to Minister 
Irani, who was very interested.  The IVIP program arranges 
typically 2-4 month working visits by foreigners, including 
students and government officials, to get a hands-on look at 
operations in the U.S. National Park system.  Visitors pay 
their own way to the United States, and the hosting park 
provides housing.  Any salary would continue to be paid by 
the sending country.  ESTHOff also pointed out requirements 
for insurance and a J-1 visa, and the fact that these are 
working visits in sometimes difficult and remote areas. 
Irani nodded in assent and joked that the program should be 
arranged so that the participants "don't have any fun." 
 
9.  Irani was so taken with the program that he asked if it 
would be possible to send three individuals from Jordan.  He 
expressed hopes that the experience would provide a 
strategic overview of a ranger program that would include 
administrative and legal aspects in addition to operations. 
ESTHOff has contacted the International Office of the 
National Park Service to discuss the possibilities further. 
 
Peace Process Training Programs Planned 
--------------------------------------- 
 
10.  ESTHOff raised a planned workshop, organized under the 
Multilateral Peace Process's Working Group on the 
Environment, to discuss preventing pollution from gasoline 
stations and petroleum storage devices.  Irani was familiar 
with the proposal and approved, noting that gasoline is part 
of a larger constellation of hazardous chemicals that Jordan 
will need to manage better.  The workshop, tentatively 
planned for Israel during the fourth quarter of 2005, will 
include representatives from Israel, Jordan and the 
Palestinian Authority. 
 
11.  Comment: Irani noted the fact that the fledgling 
Ministry of Environment was created only in 2003.  But with 
a total staff that could comfortably fit in a Boeing 757, 
swift change should not be impossible.  With Irani settling 
in at the controls, we're starting to see the Ministry take 
off, finally. 
 
HENZEL