Ammon News - HRH Princess Basma Bint Talal said that the relationship of humanity to the earth and to the land, is one that has dictated "our very evolution and progress and the way we treat the land, whether positively or negatively, is as important to our survival and existence."

The measure of our humanity is defined not only by our relationship to each other, but also our relationship to the land in which we live, and to all the other creatures and species and life that it contains, she said in an address to the Global land Forum, which is held at the Dead Sea and attended by Agriculture Minister Khaled Hanifat, Environment Minister Muawieh Radaideh, ambassadors and representatives of organisations concerned with earth issues.

Princess Basma, Chairperson of the Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development (JOHUD), said she was recently asked to become a board member for the UN Decade for Ecosystem Restoration, "an experience that already opened my eyes further to the plight of our planet, and all living things, today, and in the future, if we do not take action."

"Our meeting here (the Dead Sea) fittingly takes place in the lowest point on earth, 427 metres below sea level. This starkly beautiful landscape is a testament to survival, it features in the stories of the great religions, and it is a historical and geographical wonder. Yet this precious hypersaline lake, the deepest of its kind in the world, is shrinking, at the rate of about 1.2 meters a year. Some scientists believe that in just 25 years, it will have dried up completely," she said.

"As such the answers to the existential threat faced by the Dead Sea, belong to the same set of solutions required to remedy the predicament of our planet," she told the gathering.

"Solutions come from science and technology, they come from dialogue, from respect for nature and the environment, and they come from international law and regulatory frameworks that must reflect the principles and application of justice. Solutions come from creativity, innovation and vision. Crucially, they come when we LISTEN," she said.

As a long-time advocate for people-centred human development, the notion of participation, of the absolute importance of listening to individuals and communities, is crystal clear, she said.

She pointed out that societies, governments and service providers, international donors, the private sector, and civil society cannot have lasting, meaningful impact, unless they are truly responsive and reflective of the needs and opinions of the stakeholders and shareholders that they profess to uphold.

Contested spaces, she added, whether political, geographical, physical or social, require patience, reciprocity and a commitment to hearing what others are truly saying, even in their silence.

In the Arab world, contested spaces are often simultaneously physical, and social, as well as political and economic. In a region where populations are growing at a pace that is overtaking the ability of the environment to provide adequate arable land, water, and natural resources, land is a majorly contested site, she pointed out.

Jordan, Princess basma said, has provided a safe haven for people displaced by regional conflicts, as the Kingdom saw the most recent sharp rise in population between 2004-2015 from 5,103 million 2004 to 9,531 million, as a result of the large influx of refugees in 2012.

Over the years, this factor has put a tremendous strain on both resources and services within the country. Ownership, access, financial, legal, and geo-political issues interface with a multitude of imbalances resulting from gender, socio-economic status, nationality, citizenship and rights-based inequalities, Princess she added.

She also said occupation and conflict around land and sovereignty are one of the most glaring man-made problems endured for decades in this troubled region. Yet land issues do not only extend between countries of the region, they also pose strife within borders of the countries themselves. As cited by a World bank report, specific challenges to land and land reform in the MENA region include: outdated laws and regulations, unregistered land and poor services provision and high levels of state ownership, access issues, and unregulated market speculation.

She said conflict, displacement, land degradation, women’s rights, the rights of different ethnic and indigenous groups, politics, elites, weak institutions and weak civil society, the absence of strong and robust programmes and the absence of sufficient data and information are cited as main challenges to land reform in the region.

The princess said that land reform only represents one piece of a bigger puzzle facing many countries in our region, and all land issues must be viewed through a broader environmental lens.

Jordan, she noted, may be rich in bio-diversity (although threatened), but it is poor in water, arable land, and oil. This means that land and natural resources are contested, by the public sector, the private sector, and local communities themselves, she added.

As in many other countries, the pressure of wanting to achieve accelerated economic growth at the expense of the environment is a trade-off that some see to be worthwhile in the long run, she pointed out.

Rapid economic growth is not the only threat to the environment. Poverty, exclusion and conflict pose severe threats to both communities and fragile ecosystems everywhere. Problems are inextricably linked, as evident in the refugee crisis in Jordan, which has led to the pollution and degradation of invaluable natural resources in the north near the Syrian border, and strains in the social fabric within communities across the country, Prince Basma said.

She said water consumption by urban centres and large industrial and agricultural projects and from outside the Kingdom's borders poses an existential threat to the entire country as natural streams and man-made reserves and underground aquifers are drying up.

Today, His Majesty King Abdullah’s vison for our country is one in which community participation is of paramount importance. His belief in the vital role of women and young people is one that is opening exciting new windows of engagement to shape Jordan’s future. This vision gives us hope in the face of tremendous regional challenges, she told the forum.

Undoubtedly, civil society has an important role to play within this national process. Within the sphere of our own work as an NGO, JOHUD’s social and physical outreach and local presence at the community level across the country, places it in a unique position to act as a catalyst of transformative governance at the grassroots level, where community participation and environmental sustainability can intersect, she said.

Despite its own seemingly intransigent divides, the Arab region is in a unique position to address some of the most serious political and environmental problems in the world, she said.

In order to find solutions however, regional responses and regional cooperation, to develop alternative energy solutions, for water, desertification, migration and conflict, will be necessary, she stressed.