Jordan hosts workshop on Assessment of Ecosystem Services

SPNL participated in a workshop on Assessment of Ecosystem Services in Jordan organizedby IUCN regional office in Amman within the MAVA funded project “Nurturing NGO Capacity to Engage in Biodiversity Conservation in the Eastern Mediterranean”. Participants at the workshop were from several NGOs in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Palestine. In a world of urban sprawl, industrial revolution, and technological development, the landscape, biological equilibrium, and biodiversity have been modified, altered, and lost respectively. Decision makers see that natural assets are unlimited and they are there to create livelihood for local communities. Conservationists find in that total destruction to our environment. Both parties look at nature in different perspectives without considering reflective dependency on nature’s benefits. In the workshop, ways that help to improve decisions made by the governments, stakeholders, environmental NGOs, and local communities affecting Ecosystems Services were introduced. The objectives of the workshop were to understand the ecosystem services concept and its importance, engage in decision making that would impact the future of the ecosystem services, and methods and tools used in ecosystem assessment.