by Hana Namrouqa | Jun 12,2012 | 22:41

AMMAN — The Ministry of Environment is preparing a national report identifying the sectors that produce greenhouse gases, the quantities of these emissions and strategies to reduce them, a government official said on Tuesday.

The Third National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) — an inventory of sectors that emit the highest amounts of greenhouse gases — is scheduled to be completed in 2014, Environment Ministry Spokesperson Isa Shboul said.

The third national report will evaluate the effect of climate change on socio-economic conditions, the country’s vital sectors — mainly agriculture, energy, waste and industry — land use, and forests,” Shboul told The Jordan Times.

National communications by each state party to the convention measure their greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, predict the rise in these emissions in 30 years and lay the foundation for an analysis of the way forward on climate change.

“Climate change issues will be added to school curricula, while national development plans will be formulated taking into consideration the impact of the global phenomenon,” Shboul said, outlining some of the steps the Kingdom plans to take to address the issue.

The report, which will cost $480,000, is supported by the United Nations Development Programme and the Global Environment Fund, and will be prepared by the environment ministry in cooperation with several other ministries and institutions.

Jordan issued its first national communication to the UNFCCC in 1998, becoming the first developing country to submit such a report, and the second in 2009.

The 2009 national communication indicated that the energy sector was responsible for 74 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions in the Kingdom, with carbon dioxide constituting 98 per cent of these emissions.

The waste sector came second, accounting for 13.5 per cent, followed by industrial processes (7.9 per cent), land use conversion and forestry (3.7 per cent), and agriculture (0.9 per cent).

The Middle East, one of the driest regions in the world, will witness shifting rainfall patterns due to climate change, which will result in less freshwater for the region’s growing population, according to recent reports.

As experts predict effects of climate change to start affecting the region within 50-100 years, reports indicate that Jordan, among other countries including the Palestinian territories and Israel, are already experiencing changes.

http://jordantimes.com/jordan-preparing-third-climate-change-report