Description:
Jordan is a small, middle-income, open
economy, with a limited natural resources base and active
trade flows. As the integration of Jordan in the World
Economy progresses, enhancing Jordan's environmental
management can not only improve the wellbeing of Jordanians,
but also enable the country to better compete in
increasingly environmentally conscious markets. To date
there has not yet been a comprehensive assessment of
Jordan's environmental agenda, particularly in terms of
providing indications on how to integrate long-term
environmental concerns into the development process.
Striking a balance between breadth and depth of the
analysis, this report intends to help fill such a gap and to
provide insights that can inform the dialogue between the
World Bank and the Government of Jordan on a selected number
of areas of particular relevance for continued sustainable
economic and social development. The report has been
prepared by a World Bank team that has worked in full
partnership and cooperation with a Jordanian team, led by
the Ministry of Environment, and representing a broad
cross-section of Government institutions. To achieve its
core objectives of identifying key strategic priorities for
improved environmental policy across sectoral boundaries,
the Country Environmental Analysis (CEA) analyzes
sequentially the country's key environmental concerns
and their relative priority; the linkages between
development and environmental pressure in selected themes or
sectors (water quality, road transport), and the capacity of
Jordan's institutions to reconcile development and
growth objectives. Most of the data and information used for
the report have been collected in the period 2007-2008,
although efforts have been made to take into account
selected a key developments in relevant policies occurred
since then.