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Ecotourism in Jordan

The early history of ecotourism in Jordan is attributed to the King Hussein of Jordan, who was behind the creation of the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) in 1996, which is a non-government organization devoted to the conservation of Jordan’s natural environment. Jordan was one of the countries that responded to the declaration of the International Year of Ecotourism in 2002. Ecotourism practices were considered when planning for tourism destinations in order to improve its contribution to the local and national economic development. The Jordan Tourism Board (JTB) published an ecotourism booklet in April 2004 with the cooperation of the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature and the Jordan Royal Ecological Diving Society. The booklet includes all the ecotourism sites in Jordan with a brief description of each site location, what it is, and what has been done to enhance and develop the site. Six nature reserves including the Ajloun Forest Reserve, Dana Biosphere Reserve, Mujib Nature Reserve, Azraq Wetland Reserve, Shaumari Wildlife Reserve, and Wadi Rum in addition to the Dead Sea, Bethany Beyond the Jordan, and the Gulf of Aqaba are distinguished. The booklet also provides some important and useful guidelines for visitors; the guidelines include:

1. Respect the culture and the traditions of the local community
2. Purchase local products
3. Use energy conservation practices
4. Follow directions and rules of the reserves
5. Use water conservation practices
6. Do not use natural water resources as they may not be clean
7. Do not hike alone in the dark

The booklet also encourages tourists to become members of the RSCN, providing them with a membership form. A person can become a regular member with several benefits or can “adopt” an animal by paying a fee which provides some benefits such as a “parent” certificate and free entry to the reserve to visit the adopted animal.

Jordan uses tourism as a tool for conservation. By promoting tourism throughout the country, business owners and hoteliers contribute to conserving Jordan's landscape. The ecotourism scheme has provided job opportunities and a market for local products, bringing much needed economic stability to some of Jordan's poorest rural communities.

Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature

Wild Jordan

Wild Jordan was created in Amman as a branded division of the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature to formulate and enforce ecotourism programs and practices in the preserved sites in order to promote the socio-economic well-beings of local communities surrounding specific nature reserves. Their main purpose is "to develop viable nature-based business within and around RSCN's protected areas in order to bring tangible economic and social benefits to local communities and generate financial, political, and popular support for nature conservation throughout the Kingdom." Wild Jordan displays all products of the local communities involved in ecotourism such as hand-crafted silver jewelry, organic jams and fruit leathers, painted ostrich eggs, sandblasted frames, environmental board games, natural olive oils, and goat leather nature boxes as this helps generate more sales. Wild Jordan of the RSCN is responsible for charging entrance fees to all the reserves and sites and for routing the income from these fees and from tourism and crafts to support the local people and conservation programs. It has also built a Food Café and Internet Café to increase sales as the revenue of these two cafes is used directly to assist local communities. The Wild Jordan center, located in Amman was funded by USAID. The RSCN has 100% local employment policy in all their protected areas, resulting in ecotourism directly supporting upwards of 160,000 families throughout Jordan. Wild Jordan's position in the RSCN allows for control over ecotourism through the management of income generating programs that build on local products and skills. Wild Jordan's success in linking nature conservation to rural development through the employment of locals and the promotion of local goods is attributed to its "organized business strategy and engagement with the private sector." The environmental entrepreneurship that Wild Jordan has engaged in has allowed the RSCN to produce more popular support in conservation, reduce its need for financial support from the government, and grow into a leader in sustainable development. In 2010, Wild Jordan won the prestigious Guardian-Observer "Ethical Travel Award," which is given for outstanding work in responsible tourism.

Feynan Lodge

Feynan Eco Lodge

Feynan Ecolodge was constructed at the western edge of the Dana Biosphere Reserve, the only reserve that includes four different bio-geographical zones of the country: Mediterranean, Irano-Turanian, Saharo Arabian and Sudanian penetration. Feynan Ecolodge was developed to provide economic opportunities for local communities and generate revenue for the conservation of Jordan's wild places. Feynan was also developed to provide a sustainable alternative to open cast copper mining as Wadi Feyan was historically one of the main copper mining hubs in the world and copper mining in Feynan is no longer economically viable and is environmentally disastrous. Feynan Lodge consists of 26 rooms, which can accommodate 60 people. It was constructed in the shape of an ancient caravanserai. Electricity is generated through solar panels, which is only used in the reception office, bathrooms, and kitchen. The rest of the building is lit by candles, which are made locally by hand. Local springs are the source for water used at the lodge. Vegetarian food is only served and is prepared from products purchased within a 40 km radius of the lodge. Alcohol is banned as a courtesy to cultural sensitivity. Feynan Ecolodge exclusively employs locals. Additionally, Feynan employs local women, which is unusual especially in rural Jordan. Feynan EcoLodge provides employment in an area where there are few jobs and poverty is an issue facing the community. Feynan Ecolodge directly benefits over 80 families in the local Bedouin community, which equates to about 400 people. Locals and Bedouins incorporate culture in the lodge by introducing their way of life and providing genuine cultural interactions. Um Khalid is a Bedouin woman who bakes all of Feynan's bread fresh daily. Feynan Lodge is considered "the emblem of the Jordan's conservation crusade and the heart of sustainable tourism in Dana."

In September 2009, EcoHotels took over the management and operation of the lodge. EcoHotels is privately owned Jordanian startup company based in Amman; it has been internationally recognized by the AllWorld Network in 2011 and 2012 and was named as one of the Arabia 500 companies in 2012. EcoHotels manages and operates the ecolodge in a unique private sector/NGO partnership with the RSCN, an arrangement that USAID encouraged. This partnership allows RSCN, mandated by government to manage all of Jordan's nature reserves and to concentrate on conservation work, while EcoHotels focuses on tourism development and guest eco-experiences. Since EcoHotels has taken over, visitor numbers increased by 130% in the first 18 months of operation. The Wadi Feynan eco-lodge now runs at 80 percent occupancy in season. The founder of EcoHotels, Nabil Tarazi, a former CEO of a company in the technology sector of London, stated, "Feynan was transformed to offer a plethora of new experiences, its environmental footprint decreased, the number of staff doubled; benefiting more families in the local community, and the lodge received much acclaim in the international media." Ecotourism activities in the Dana-Feynman area generated about $565,000 in revenue. Tarazi attributes Feynan's success to the ecotourism model that "generates profit while also improving the surrounding area." A portion of Feynan's income is spent on conservation efforts at the Dana Biosphere Reserve managed by the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature. In 2013, over 50% of what guests paid remained within the local community. National Geographic's Traveller magazine selected Feynan Ecolodge as one of the best "twenty five spots to sleep in the wild," making only one of five lodges in the world to make both the 2009 and 2013 list.

RSCN Funding and Partnerships

USAID

Since 2000, USAID has supported development of Jordan's eco-tourism industry as a way to promote and fund environmental protection, while providing needed economic opportunities in remote rural communities. The RSCN is one of USAID's major environmental partners. USAID has supported RSCN's work in nature reserves and ecotourism as a way to promote and fund environmental protection. USAID has helped the RSCN become a regional pioneer in ecotourism. Over the years, USAID support has helped RSCN expand offerings in and around the Dana Biosphere Reserve, which now include a campsite, hiking trails, a Dana Village guest house, renovated heritage village houses for tourism facilities, handcraft workshops, a conference center, a museum, and an international award-winning eco-hotel, Feynan Lodge. USAID supported construction of the Wild Jordan Center in Amman. A recently new component of USAID support for RSCN is creating an academy for training Jordanian nature guides to enhance protection, working with young Jordanians in nature clubs and junior ranger programs, and improving eco-tourist experiences at all the RSCN reserves and sites. USAID has brought more than $1 billion in new investment into Jordan through economic development zones and targeted sectors since 2006.

Other Funding

In addition to USAID funding, the RSCN and its network of nature preserves has been supported by a series of World Bank-implemented Global Environment Facility projects over the last 15 years. The United Nations Development Programme has also funded some of the RSCN conservation projects.

Partnerships

The RSCN was the first Birdlife International partner in the region, and has worked in association with Birdlife to carry out many conservation efforts, fulfilling Birdlife International's main goal, to conserve birds and their habitats on an international level. Currently, all of RSCNs nature reserves have been classified as Important Bird Areas (IBA), which is dedicated to identifying the most important areas for bird conservation in the world. The RSCN is also a valuable member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Finally, the RSCN has worked in cooperation with the International Fund for Animal Welfare(IFAW), working toward to enhance biodiversity protection in Jordan.

Conflicts with the RSCN

Many experts have found faults within the RSCN model. According to Geraldine Chatelard, a social anthropologist and historian of the contemporary Middle East, in the case of Wadi Rum and more specifically, the work of the RSCN, she states "although efforts were made to gain the support of the indigenous Bedouins and involve them in the project [Dana Biosphere Project], local-community participation is extremely limited and opposition is widespread." In examining the diverse nature of the problems and possibilities that NGOs, may face in the context of a national push for economic development, Laurie Brand demonstrates that the tourism related projects in Wadi Rum, pioneered by the RSCN,were ineffective and not conducive toward local Bedouin life. Brand states, "the RSCN's central mission, at least initially, was not so much advocacy of the locals' concerns as it was the preservation of the environment. The two sets of goals--protection of the locals' interests and safeguarding the environment--are not unrelated, but they are not completely coincident."