Statement by Ms. Christine McNab
UNDP Resident Representative
Sustaining Dibeen Forests Reserve through the Socio-Economic Projects
DIBEEN’S PRODUCTS
Wild Jordan, Thursday, 27 April 2006, at 6 p.m.
Excellencies,
Ladies & Gentlemen
First of all, may I say on behalf of the United Nations Development Programme and the Global Environment Facility, how pleased I am to be part of this event. The exhibition of today is a milestone of our project “Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity in Dibeen Nature Reserve”.
Allow me at this occasion to express my appreciation and admiration for all the continuous efforts of the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature. We are happy to have you as our partners again.
Through our previous experiences with you, especially the capacity building components for the Dana and Azraq projects, we consider the RSCN staff are now among the most knowledgeable and experienced in the region in protected area management and we are glad to see that the acquired expertise is now transferred to Dibeen’s project.
There is an important link between biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihood of people, and Dibeen Nature Reserve project could be one of the examples of how the best interest of local communities residing in vicinities of biodiversity rich areas is kept in the core of any programme.
Much of the biodiversity is disappearing as a result of human activities. And as it degrades, the opportunity to achieve the eight Millennium Development Goals in less than 10 years is slipping away. We must slow or reverse the damage to natural systems if world leaders and policymakers are to achieve many of the MDGs and especially in our case of today, the first goal, of eradicating poverty and the 7th goal of ensuring environmental sustainability.
We have to remember that most of the world’s poorest people live in rural areas and depend heavily on the natural environment. If these systems are mismanaged, poor people suffer, lose their livelihoods and source of food, and often cannot survive.
I am delighted to see many representatives of the local community of Dibeen here with us today and I am sure that all of you here as I am are eager to see the products of the local communities.
The socio-economic programme of our Dibeen Nature Project comes from the belief that the Millennium Development goals will not be reached without securing the ability of the rural poor to feed their families and supply growing markets while also protecting the biodiversity and ecosystem services that sustain their livelihoods.
The environmental income can act as a fundamental stepping stone in the economic empowerment of the rural poor. Therefore, the local communities surrounding Dibeen Nature Reserve were engaged in the whole process and are part of the Project Steering Committee. With this, they are provided with the opportunities to manage their ecosystems so that they support stable productivity over time. Attention should also be given to activities that women from the local communities can participate in and benefit from.
The exhibit of today is a market testing for products of local communities that were created based on sustainable use of forest resources. The exhibition is a start-up phase with the aim to improve the local communities’ chances of long-term, commercial viability.
But, at this stage, let me remind you that it is hard to imagine successfully commercializing ecosystem goods and services, without the substantial participation of the international and bilateral donors, the private sector, the government and hopefully the GEF Small Grants Programme.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to confirm UNDP’s commitment to always help Jordan maintain and benefit for the biodiversity and ecosystem services that underpin human welfare and economic development.
Thank you.