Countries

Forests and the forestry sector

Resources
Jordan is very lightly forested; forest cover is 86 000 ha or about 1 percent of the country¿s land area. This includes 45 000 ha of plantation forests. Jordan¿s network of protected areas includes three national parks, 23 range reserves, and 12 wild nature reserves. The natural forests are fragmented, undemarcated, unmapped and degraded forests of poor density. Because of the low percentage of forest cover, the arid Mediterranean climate, past deforestation, heavy grazing and frequent fires and droughts, the forests and rangelands are unable to provide the needed environmental benefits.

Jordan¿s forests mainly occur in the northern and southern highlands. In the north, forests are mainly of mixed-evergreen type dominated by Pinus halepensis and oak (Quercus spp.). To the south the forests give way to cultivated lands with woodlands comprising cedar (Cedrela odorata), cypress (Cupressus sempervirens), wild olive (Olea europaea) and modest areas of Eucalyptus spp. plantations. The Gulf of Aqaba contains some of the most northern mangrove stands in the world. Millenia of human occupation in the Near East has resulted in drastic changes to the environment and vegetation cover, leading to the replacement of natural vegetation by secondary species and the resulting in altered plant associations over most of the country.

Forest planting started in Jordan more than 60 years ago. Plantation activities are carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture and the private sector. Most of the afforestation activities are carried out around urban settlements in addition to roadside plantations, windbreaks and plantations in wadi courses. Trees are also planted as an integral part of agroforestry systems. As of 1995, plantations included some 1 000 km of trees along roads, 7 000 km of windbreaks and shelterbelts and 500 km of trees along streamsides.

Indigenous species (mainly in the genera Pinus, Cupressus, Ceratonia, Tamarix and Pistacia) are used as well as introduced exotic species that have been found to grow well under the environmental conditions of Jordan, including species of Pinus, Acacia, Eucalyptus, Casuarina, Cupressus and Prosopis.

Rangelands, State owned, undemarcated, make up about 90 percent of the total land area and can be broadly classified as: semi-arid areas (yearly rainfall 300 to over 450 mm), arid areas (100-300 mm annual rainfall) and desert areas (less than 100 mm rainfall per year). Almost all of these areas are heavily grazed and highly degraded, providing subsistence grazing at annually decreasing levels.

Products
The forests are generally not capable of producing straight, clear-boled, large-sized trees for commercial purposes and are managed primarily for protection and environmental benefits. Jordan produces very little wood for either fuel or industrial purposes. Local production, mostly from plantation forests, is limited to some fuelwood, a few items of furniture, joinery and fruit boxes. Almost all wood products, including charcoal, have to be imported. Moderate volumes of wood and paper products are imported to meet domestic demand. Imported pulp is used in Jordan for limited production of paper for the domestic market.

Products derived from forests are therefore larely non-wood, particularly food from leaves, roots, fruits and seeds, pine nuts, palm nuts, carob, edible wild mushrooms, honey, browse material for livestock, reeds, sumac and medicinal and aromatic products.

Last updated: May 2001