Over the last three decades, the National Park Service has assisted several Middle Eastern countries with development of park protected areas and management of parks.
In the late 1970's, the NPS provided technical expertise to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the establishment of Asir National Park, their first national park. The NPS provided guidence and support in the drafting of Asir's managment plan and assisted with the design and production of the park brochure.
The NPS has also assisted Jordan with protected area management issues. Since 1998, the Service has provided support to the Petra World Heritage Site. NPS specialists have conducted workshops on Sustainable Tourism, provided support in drafting management plans and NPS archeologists have completed anaylsis of Petra radar data (taken by the Space Shuttle Endeavor).
During the past year, the NPS has been working with the international offices of the US Forest Service (USFS) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide support to a new initiative by the Jordanian Government. Jordan's Ministry of the Environment recently created an Environmental Ranger Force, which has been tasked with the responsiblity of protecting the country's natural resources. The new agency will be in charge of a variety of environmental law enforcement programs including the checking of vehicle emissions, food inspections, wildlife protection and to insure that all environmental laws and regulations are followed.
In November, 2007, an NPS law enforcement specialist traveled to Amman, Jordan, along with specialists from the USFS and EPA, to share lessons learned at a three day conference with managers and senior Jordanian governmental officals from the Environmental Ranger Force. The goals and objectives of the conference were to create a mission statement and map out long-term strategies for the force.
In 2000, the government of Qatar, through the US Embassy and Qatar Gas, contacted the US National Park Service and requested advice in establishing its first national park. The NPS responded by sending a three person team to assist Qatar's Supreme Council for the Environment and Natural Resources with selecting appropriate sites as possible national park units. Ultimately the Inland Sea region was selected from an initial list to become Qatar's first national park. This area is a large tidal bay stretching nearly 25km into the interior. In early October 2002, Qatargas again invited a second NPS team to Qatar to conduct a site-specific feasibility study of the Khor Al-Adaid region (Inland Sea) to develop the resource information and management framework needed to establish the area as Qatar’s first National Park.
To further the project and continue the close relationship the two countries have enjoyed, the Supreme Council for the Environment was invited to send two of its employees to the US to participate in a study tour of US National Parks. The tour was focused on developing management plans for new parks and was designed to show the thoughts and processess that go into the creation of a newly protected parkland. Two senior staff members from Qatar's Supreme Council were selected: Director of Wildlife and Conservation Ghanim A. Mohammed and Director of Human Resources Sultan al-Jamali. They visited the US for two weeks in September, 2006, and had opportunities to meet with a wide-range of NPS park and office employees. Meetings focused on a variety of topics, including management of off-road vehicle use, environmental education and interpretation, general park management plans, protection of marine coastal zones, and volunteer programs. Several national park areas and program offices were visited including the NPS National Headquarters in Washington, DC; Assateague Island National Seashore; Denver Service Center; Intermountain Regional Office; Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument; Great Sand Dunes National Park; Joshua Tree National Park and Channel Islands National Park.
Qatar's Supreme Council for the Environment and Natural Resources invited the NPS to send another small team of specialists to the country in January, 2008, to assist the government with preparing general management plans for the park. A three person team traveled to the country to visit the park, meet with local stakeholders, and to discuss possible management guidelines for Khor Al-Adaid National Park with SCENR staff.
Upon completion of the visit, the NPS team met with His Excellency Khalid Al-Ali, Secretary General of SCENR, Mr. Ghanem Mohammed, Director of the Conservation Department, and other staff to provide them with suggested recommendations on management strategies for the new park.
This spring, 2008, the National Park Service (NPS), in partnership with the Department of the Interior's International Technical Assistance Program (ITAP), invited three Middle Eastern endangered species specialists to the US. Two Jordanians and one Bahraini were selected and were placed into US national parks to work alongside NPS wildlife biologists to learn and observe how the Service manages its threatened and endangered species.
One Jordanian interned at Mojave National Preserve while the other one was in Death Valley National Park. The Bahraini underwent an internship at Biscayne National Park.
The NPS/ITAP fellowship is a new opportunity to provide for exchanges of information between Middle Eastern and US NPS personnel on the issue of endangered species conservation and management. The selected participants arrived to the US in mid-May and first underwent a short introductory program overview in Washington, DC. They then transited to their hosting parks and spent seven weeks learning about endangered species management. Upon completion of their park internships, they returned once again to Washington, DC for a close-out program. For more information, click here.
Links:
Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency
Israel Nature and National Parks Authority
Petra World Heritage Site, Jordan
Qatar Supreme Council for the Environment
Saudi Arabia's National Commission on Wildlife Conservation and Development
