Last summer, we targeted Jordan as the focal country for our next mission. We selected Jordan since our working field/area is the MENA Region and our team prefers to align with the policies set by the Dutch Government (Ministry of BHOS) to concentrate on specific countries in the region.
The aim of the mission was to familiarize ourselves with organizations active in forestry and agriculture in Jordan and to assess the interest in Land Restoration and Cocoon Technology. Our main activities during the mission included the organization of a Land Restoration Workshop and the setting up of a Cocoon Demonstration session. In this news item, we will report briefly on the findings of the/this workshop.
On Tuesday the 13th of November 2018, we organized the workshop on Land Restoration and Cocoon Technology, which took place at the Landmark Hotel. Approximately 100 participants employed by the government, universities and private companies, and including individual farmers attended the workshop that consisted of a well-prepared, high-level program:
09:30 Opening of the Workshop, Herman van Campenhout, Senior Vice President MENAQUA
09:30 – 09:35 Introducing MENAQUA, Jeroen Kosterman, Director MENAQUA
09:35 – 09:45 Jordan-Netherlands cooperation, Sven van den Berg, NL Embassy
09:45 – 10:00 Welcome and outlook, Dr. Nizar Jamal Hadad, Director of National Agricultural Research Center
10:00 – 10:20 Land restoration and (re)forestation, Mohammad Chami, Arborist, American University of Beirut
10:20 – 11:00 Land Degradation types in Jordan, Dr. Mahmoud Al Fraihat, Ministry of Agriculture, Directorate of Land & Irrigation
11:00 – 11:20 The Cocoon technology and prospects for land restoration, Jan Nonner MSc, Expert MENAQUA team
11:20 – 11:40 Pilot project West Bank Wala’a Abdallah, Expert MENAQUA team, Sayel Attawneh, UAWC
11:45 – 12:15 Ideas, discussion and conclusions, Panel of Experts
We were pleased to notice the broad interaction between participants during the panel discussion. The participants and especially the farmers were really interested in the way the Cocoon Technology could make a contribution to water saving and a more efficient growth of their trees. Dr. Nizar Jamal Hadad, the Director of NARC made an essential observation by pointing out that he is receptive to any new technologies claiming to improve the landscape in Jordan. Unfortunately, he also has, in the past, experienced companies delivering their new product, after which they were, never seen again in Jordan. Therefore, he emphasized the importance of thorough testing, together with after-sales and close monitoring of the progress of any project.
Overall, we can conclude that the workshop was the outcome of 3 months of hard work by the whole team and can be considered a success in view of the large number of participants and the high level of commitment of the participants during the workshop.
Here/Below you can find the Keynote Speeches of:
Mohammad Chami, Arborist, American University of Beirut
Dr. Jan Nonner, Expert MENAQUA team
Wala’a Abdallah, Expert MENAQUA team
The following article about the Workshop was published (in Arabic) in Alkawn News:
