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Mammals lost and at risk of extinction in Jordan

12-01-2025 09:59 AM


Ammon News -

By: Ehab Eid and Sadam Abu Azam

 

A study was published on the development of hunting legislation in Jordan and its impact on mammal species.

The study was based on 37 legal documents related to hunting, reflecting three key stages in developing hunting law in Jordan.

The three constitutions issued for Jordan – the Basic Law of 1928, the Constitution of 1946 and the Constitution of 1952 (which remains in effect today) – do not include any provisions referring to environmental rights or specific articles related to nature and biodiversity.

This study is the first to comprehensively review the legislative landscape of hunting in Jordan, spanning from the Ottoman period (1881–1931) through the introduction of specific hunting laws (1933 1972) to the enactment of agricultural laws (1973– present).

The Study evaluates the effectiveness of these legislative frameworks and their impacts on the conservation status of mammalian species. By identifying legislative shortcomings and their ecological consequences, we aim to support Jordan’s modernization vision by providing insights that could improve the protection of and sustain species populations at risk of mass extinction and inform legislative reforms that address ongoing species declines.

With the establishment of the Emirate of Transjordan, the country entered a new phase of legislation that extended from 1933 to 1972. In 1931, a bylaw was issued to suspend the Ottoman-era hunting regulations, marking the beginning of a new legislative stage.

In 1933, the first hunting law specific to Jordan was issued. The Hunting Law of 1933 in Transjordan banned hunting of cape hare from late February to early September and prohibited the use of hooks, nets, traps and other hunting tools. The law was revised in 1934, maintaining the original articles while adding gazelles to the list of protected species.

In 1936, two appendices were introduced under the 1934 Hunting Law: Appendix I imposed a 5-year hunting ban on cheetahs in eastern Jordan and Nubian ibex (C. nubiana) in southwestern regions of Jordan, and Appendix II extended protection to the Arabian oryx. Despite these regulations, certain species, such as the oryx and cheetah, became extinct, and populations of Nubian ibex and gazelles continued to decline.

Hunting Law No. 28 of 1957 replaced earlier hunting legislation and granted the Minister of Agriculture authority to enforce its provisions. The Minister was empowered to determine hunting seasons, designate hunting areas and establish bag limits for game species; gazelles, Nubian ibex and other game animals (excluding the cape hare) were classified as game species. Using military rifles for hunting was generally prohibited, except under licensed conditions for Nubian ibex and wild boar. Special permits allowed the hunting of gazelles during a limited season between August and October, with a restriction of two male gazelles per hunting period and a maximum of six annually per hunter. A significant shortcoming of the 1957 law was its explicit allowance for killing predatory species without a licence, which probably contributed to the extinction of apex predators such as the Arabian leopard. In 1958, three bylaws were introduced under this law: one restricted gazelle hunting to specific regions in eastern Jordan (Al Jafr and Al-Wesad) and required a licence, while the other two addressed regulations for bird hunting.

This pattern continued until the Hunting Act of 1972, which imposed fines for hunting species such as the sand gazelle and mountain gazelle, but did not make any radical changes to the previous legislation.

In 1973, legislation entered a new phase with the incorporation of hunting laws into the Agriculture Act, which reduced their effectiveness in protecting biodiversity. This approach continued until the Agriculture Act of 2005, which reduced the hunting provisions to only two items, which greatly reduced the impact of the legislation on species protection.

39% of Jordan’s mammalian species are threatened and 6% are near threatened. Hunting has been a major driver of mammalian species decline in Jordan, affecting 73% (17 species) of those recorded within the carnivores, artiodactyls, hyracoids and lagomorphs. However, environmental degradation caused by livestock grazing and habitat loss has also significantly reduced wild fauna. Additionally, species depletion has been exacerbated by various factors, including human population growth, urbanization, infrastructure development, land-use changes, agricultural expansion, deforestation and weak governance in biodiversity conservation. While these pressures are globally recognized as significant drivers of wildlife decline.

Despite these legal shortcomings, Jordan’s modernization vision provides hope for reform, including the potential restoration of the Hunting Law under the Ministry of Environment and incorporating the right to a healthy environment into Jordan’s constitution to help prevent a mass extinction of mammals.






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