AMMAN — Jordan remains one of the most water
stressed nations in the world, and the continued impact of climate change is
only exacerbating the challenge. The
International Committee of the Red Cross
has reported that increases in temperature will only complicate existing water
scarcity for Jordan, especially when coupled with potentially inconsistent
precipitation patterns.
اضافة اعلان
While Jordan’s climate change issues are
mainly the concern of the
Ministry of Environment, the
Ministry of Youth plays
a notable role in raising awareness about climate change for Jordan’s youth, as
well supporting them in any innovative entrepreneurial projects that address
climate change issues.
A panel discussion followed by an exhibition
on Monday, hosted by the Ministry of Youth and funded by
UNICEF, under the
theme “Sustainability of
Climate Change”, aimed to promote recent environmental
projects and innovations by young Jordanian entrepreneurs and students, who
gathered at the event from various governorates to exchange knowledge and
experiences.
Secretary-General of the Ministry of Youth
Hussein Jbour told
Jordan News that
the ministry seeks to organize more events and conferences for Jordanian youth to
encourage entrepreneurship and the development of environmentally sustainable
projects and products.
“The Ministry of Youth is the primary
supporter and endorser of any and all youth initiatives in the Kingdom, and it
is our job to support and promote the latest entrepreneurial ideas of our youth,”
he said.
Director of the Innovation and
Entrepreneurship Center at the University of Jordan Ashraf Bany Mohammed, who
was one of the panelists, described the event as “successful,” having attracted
the attendance of Jordanian startups that have done impressive work. He told
Jordan
News that “these companies are licensed, and they are making some money
while emphasizing environmental sustainability as their core focus.”
There was no shortage of interesting environmentally
friendly innovations presented during the event, Bany Mohammed affirmed. “One
particular piece of work that was presented which especially impressed me was
this project that aims to use the algorithms of artificial intelligence (AI),
through image recognition, which help to identify certain types of solid waste
to help sort out these wastes by their type. This AI also helps with scheduling
processes, as well as the movement of waste trucks.”
The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center at
the University of Jordan has regularly collaborated in the past with the
Ministry of Youth in order to organize similar conferences. Another supporter
and collaborator is the
Jordan River Foundation, which organized a youth
conference on Monday, according to Bany Mohammed.
In addition to entrepreneurs, numerous
volunteer groups and students were also invited to the meeting and expo as the
ministry continues to focus much of its efforts on ramping up the youth’s
awareness on climate change, especially on Jordan's water scarcity issues.
“From 2016 to 2020, the amount of financial
investment in environmentally friendly companies that are involved in climate
change related work has increased by nearly 605 percent, globally,” said Bany
Mohammad, adding that some estimates suggest that the total investment globally
into these eco-friendly companies “could reach $2 trillion.”
Ministry of Youth spokesperson Firas Shawabkeh
told
Jordan News that “not teaching
our own youth about climate change is undoubtedly a negative thing that we must
avoid at all costs. Climate change today is something that is discussed in
every part of the world, we cannot simply ignore it. I cannot comment on
whether or not the topic is being sufficiently discussed in our public schools,
because I do not have the knowledge. But I can assure you that our ministry
takes issues like greenhouse gases and unemployment very seriously.”
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