US embassy cable - 05AMMAN7943

UNCLAS AMMAN 007943 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV, KICR, KPAO, JO 
SUBJECT: Environmental Public Diplomacy in Aqaba: Baseball 
Hats, Plastic Bags, Coral Saplings 
 
 
1.  Summary: $1,500 still buys a lot.  Post used $1,500 of 
public diplomacy funds from the "R" Bureau through OES to co- 
sponsor "Clean up the World Day" in Aqaba, Jordan on October 
1.  The Great Seal of the U.S. was on baseball hats, 
posters, banners, and brochures all over town.  Embassy 
Amman and State Department staffers participated in trash 
pickup on the beach and on the reef.  Embassy sponsorship 
was highlighted in end-of-day speeches to over 1,000 excited 
students and local residents, and organizers presented a 
plaque, to polite applause from the crowd, to ESTHOff 
representing the Embassy.  Princess Basma and the Minister 
of Environment attended.  Follow-up contacts with school 
environmental clubs are being planned.  End summary. 
 
Embassy Supports, Participates in Beach and Reef Cleanup 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
2.   Amman-based NGO Royal Marine Conservation Society 
(RMCS) organized a beach and reef cleanup event in Aqaba on 
October 1 that was part of the global "Clean up the World" 
campaign.  Embassy Amman was one of five official sponsors 
of this event in Jordan.  Aqaba is Jordan's only port city, 
and its clean waters and beautiful coral reefs attract 
tourists and divers from around the world, as well as 
refreshing local residents. 
 
"The Eagle" Flies Around Aqaba 
------------------------------ 
 
3.  As a result of Embassy sponsorship, the bald eagle on 
the Great Seal of the U.S. appeared on enormous "Clean up 
the World @ Aqaba" banners at key intersections around town, 
and on countless posters and brochures, put up and carefully 
taken down following the event by well-organized teams of 
RMCS volunteers. 
 
4.  Over 500 school students, 100 of them wearing white 
baseball hats adorned with the Great Seal participated in 
trash pickup along the main public beach and surrounding 
areas on a hot, sunny day in Aqaba.  The students were 
augmented by seven volunteers from the Embassy community and 
from the State Department.  Organizers took care to make 
this an event for local people, not something done for the 
benefit of wealthy foreigners.  The trash pickup was done in 
the dusty lots, public gardens and beach frequented by Aqaba 
residents.  Student participants wore white t-shirts and 
baseball hats provided by the organizers.  The students 
filled trash bags with discarded water bottles, cigarette 
butts, plastic bags, tea bags, diapers, pop tops, bottles 
and cans.  ESTHOff began arrangements with a local 
schoolteacher for follow-up visits to her school's 
environmental club. 
 
Divers Pull Trash from Water; USAIDOff Takes the Cake 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
5.  Following the beach cleanup, thirty scuba divers went 
into the bay just outside the yacht harbor to pick up 
underwater trash.  The area is the site of an artificial 
coral reef of coral "saplings," small natural corals rescued 
from unstable underwater trash and permanently anchored to 
sunken concrete bases.  Embassy participants jumped in with 
fins and snorkels, and a USAID officer produced the largest 
piece of trash found all day, a discarded plastic chair. 
 
"Environmental Evening" Draws Over 1,000 People 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
6.  Following the day's events, over 1,000 excited students 
and ordinary Aqabans gathered in a public amphitheater near 
Aqaba's towering flagpole for two hours of games, music, 
theater, speeches and awards on an environmental theme. 
With the Great Seal and other sponsors' emblems projected on 
the backdrop, Embassy support was noted by several speakers. 
Princess Basma and Minister of Environment Khaled Irani 
presented plaques to participants and sponsors.  ESTHOff 
received a plaque for the Embassy, and received polite 
applause, consistent with other awardees. 
 
HALE