VZCZCXYZ0003
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAM #7727/01 2831233
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 101233Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4750
INFO RUEAEPA/HQ EPA WASHDC
RUEHDOI/DEPT OF INTERIOR WASHDC
RUEHRC/USDA WASHDC

UNCLAS AMMAN 007727 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
State for NEA/ELA, NEA/RA, OES 
State Pass USTR/Prescott 
EPA for International/Prather, Medearis 
USDA For Forest Service/International 
Interior for International/Washburne 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV ETRD EAID PGOV JO
SUBJECT: New Environment Law Creates Incentive Fund, Ranger Force 
 
¶1.  Summary: The Ministry of Environment has a new basic law, a new 
enforcement corps of environmental rangers, a new "Environmental 
Fund" to provide economic incentives for environmental protection, 
and has been fundamentally reorganized.  QIZs are a priority area 
for enforcement.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  In his September 18 meeting with DAUSTR Jennifer Prescott and 
EPA Trade and Environment official Tiffany Prather, Minister of 
Environment Khaled Irani noted two important aspects of Jordan's 
environmental protection: the GOJ's highly unusual delegation of 
protected area management to an NGO (the Royal Society for the 
Conservation of Nature) and the resultant marriage of conservation 
and socio-economic development.  Irani was pleased with the recent 
passage by Parliament of a permanent environment law that created a 
fund for environmental protection and a ranger corps for 
environmental enforcement.  Irani also reviewed important steps in 
his ministry's development, including recent capacity building 
efforts, merit-based personnel system, and process-based management 
by objectives.  He said that management of the Ministry of 
Environment could be a model for the rest of the GOJ. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
Enforcement and the Power of Positive Incentives 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶3.  On his environmental protection mandate, Irani noted the 
importance of enforcement, including coordinating with the Ministry 
of Agriculture and the Ministry of Industry and Trade.  He said that 
the laws of Jordan are of the command-and-control variety, and lack 
positive incentives.  The newly created environmental fund, he said, 
is an important step in creating an incentive-based system for 
environmental protection.  Another new incentive was the creation of 
a King Abdullah Prize for Environmental Protection.  Details of the 
prize are still being worked out. 
 
¶4.  Irani said the fund is a new tool for Jordan, and that it should 
provide incentives such as grants and soft loans for proper 
environmental planning and protection.  Irani is very interested in 
seeing that the fund maintain itself financially.  He suggested that 
environmental fines, license fees, grants, private sector 
contributions and perhaps an endowment would go into the fund. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
More Emphasis Now on Environmental Planning 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  Irani said when the U.S.-linked Qualifying Industrial Zones 
(QIZs) were formed, environment wasn't adequately taken into 
consideration and that the GOJ was not sufficiently prepared to 
manage industrial wastewater from the QIZs.  Now, he said, a Cabinet 
decision has made it impossible for new QIZs to be created until 
their environmental management is fully taken into consideration. 
 
¶6.  Prescott supported the GOJ's emphasis on enforcement and on the 
QIZs.  A USAID FSN suggested a program to strengthen and publicize 
environmental protection in selected QIZs.  One possible component 
of this program would be to use the QIZs as a case study, among 
several others, during the proposed February 2007 EPA regional 
training course on environmental inspections.  Particular emphasis 
would be placed on industrial wastewater treatment issues that are 
applicable to all MEPI countries.  Another suggestion was to promote 
regional cooperation, perhaps with Morocco, on all environmental 
issues related to the garment sector. 
 
¶7.  Irani and Prescott discussed the importance of promoting support 
for environmental protection in both countries' legislatures.  They 
agreed that exchange visits or meetings between Congressmen and 
Parliamentarians, perhaps drawn from the Health and Environment 
committee, on environmental issues would be very productive. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
Outline of Environmental Laws and Bylaws 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  In a separate meeting at DAUSTR Prescott's request, Enforcement 
Director Adnan Zawahreh described Jordan's environmental law. 
Zawahreh outlined the development of the Environment Ministry.  It 
started as a bureau within the Health Ministry, became the "General 
Corporation for Environmental Protection" (GCEP) in 1995, and 
eventually blossomed into a full ministry in 2003.  Jordan's first 
environmental law was passed in 1995, and was based on other 
environmental protection laws from around the world.  When GCEP 
turned into the Ministry of Environment in 2003, the Cabinet passed 
a temporary law that took the original 1995 environmental law and 
made it applicable to a ministry.  The Ministry of Environment has 
been operating under this temporary law since 2003.  The new 
environmental law passed in September 2006 did not, except as noted 
below, substantially change the temporary law; it simply gives it 
permanent status.  However, Parliament added articles to create the 
environmental rangers and an environmental fund.  A draft investment 
law contains provisions for tax breaks for environmental projects, 
Zawahreh noted. 
 
¶9.  The environmental law is a framework, Zawahreh explained. 
Detailed bylaws and Ministry-drafted directives are two other levels 
of regulation.  Jordan has bylaws on Environment Impact Assessments 
(EIAs), air pollution, natural reserves and parks, emergency 
situations, soil protection, solid waste management and hazardous 
waste management.  New bylaws are being developed by the Legislation 
Bureau of the Prime Ministry for auditing, for inspection and for 
the rangers.  The basic direction for all environmental laws is 
developed through a multi-stakeholder committee organized and 
chaired by the Ministry of Environment.  The policy directions 
developed through that process are then converted into legal 
vehicles by the Legislation Bureau at the Prime Ministry. 
 
-------------------------------- 
Governance Structure for Rangers 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶10.  Prompted by Prescott for further details on the role of the 
environmental rangers in enforcement, Zawahreh said that there is a 
steering committee headed by the Ministry of Environment that will 
create and define their role.  Administratively, he said, the 
rangers are a unit of the Interior Ministry's Public Security 
Directorate (PSD), but the steering committee will control the 
policy.  Note: The steering committee includes the Ministry of 
Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Public Security 
Directorate, the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, the 
Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, the 
Ministry of Municipalities, and Greater Amman Municipality.  End 
note.  For example, he said, on inspections, the Ministry's 
Inspections Directorate will provide policy and training to the 
rangers, and the rangers will do the actual field work. 
 
------------------------------------ 
New Focus on Inspection, Enforcement 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶11.  Zawahreh praised his recent USG-supported trip to 
Massachusetts, New York and EPA's Denver regional office to look at 
environmental enforcement.  He will form a committee of his 
colleagues to review manuals and other documents that EPA provided, 
which he later called "solid gold."  Zawahreh asked for EPA support 
for both basic and advanced enforcement training for Jordan's 
environmental rangers, perhaps through EPA's National Enforcement 
Training Institute (NETI).  "On-the-job training" in pollution 
prevention for environmental inspectors would be helpful, he added. 
Prather noted that EPA's February 2007 regional inspectors training 
course will address basic inspections issues, and suggested that 
additional time could be allocated for a "train the trainers" 
component. 
 
¶12.  Zawahreh and his colleagues noted the Ministry's recently 
completed institutional reorganization and strategic planning.  The 
streamlined structure, he said, will promote enforcement, capacity 
building, policy development, cooperation with industry, and public 
outreach.  Previously, he said, different directorates did their own 
enforcement.  That function is now unified, he said.  He also 
proudly described new merit-based personnel procedures for selecting 
and assigning staff within the Ministry. 
 
------------------------ 
Outreach Department Weak 
------------------------ 
 
¶13.  On public participation and outreach, the Director of the 
Outreach Department in the Ministry of Environment said that her 
directorate is small but has a large mission, including coordination 
with donors, embassies, the private sector and NGOs.  This is a 
function that cross-cuts many directorates at the Ministry.  The 
outreach department will also maintain information resources, such 
as a library and a website.  Prescott and Prather reviewed USG 
mechanisms on outreach, including the "Administrative Procedures 
Act" requiring publication of draft laws, public comment periods, 
public hearings, interagency coordination and testimony on Capitol 
Hill. 
 
¶14.  USTR and EPA cleared this message. 
RUBINSTEIN