Environmental Law and Policy

Jordanian policy makers should be aware of the importance of the environmental dimension in the business climate. Although environmental concerns might not affect all economic activities, it still remains important to bear in mind concerns regarding the appropriateness of certain investments as they regard environmental policy.

The environmental dimension should be considered carefully while designing a sustainable development strategy. One should not ignore the facts that affect Jordan in this regard. For example, the agricultural area in Jordan is almost 3.1 million dunums, representing 4% of the total area of the Kingdom with forests covering no more than 760 thousand dunums. This is combined with scarce water resources that depend mainly on rainfall and a quality of water that is affected by industrial and agricultural waste, and by wastewater treatment plants. It should also be noted that water allocation policy in Jordan implies that 20% of the total consumption is for potable use, 79% for irrigation and 15% for industrial purposes. Investment strategies must take into account these and other environmental realities when generating policy.

There is a complicated relationship between investment and the environment. It is the joint responsibility of public and private institutions to reach an ideal situation regarding the best practices in terms of attracting more investments while protecting the environment.

Currently there is a set of laws and regulations that govern environmental issues. Environment Protection Law No. 52 of 2006 is the primary legislation that organizes the environmental issues in Jordan. There are other regulations that organize specified areas such as water protection, air protection, nature protection and environmental impact. This legislative framework is essential to preserve the environment in Jordan and might affect the investment process in many cases. This suggests that policy makers should pay some attention to the relationship between investment and environmental law and policy.