The General Coordinator of the Arab Network for Environment and Development RAED, Dr. Imad Al-Din Adly, presented an objective assessment, considered the first of its kind, of sustainable development paths in the Kingdom of Jordan, including the opportunities for achieving sustainable development goals in the Arab country, as well as the challenges that may prevent them from being achieved. Goals, and how to face and overcome those challenges.

The General Coordinator of “Raed”, in an interview published by the Jordanian newspaper “Al-Dustour”, in its issue of Monday, November 15, 2021, confirmed that sustainable development in Jordan is on the right path. He also considered that the city of Aqaba represents a unique pioneering experience on the path to sustainable development, at a time when In which he stressed that the Arab countries still lack the integration of the environmental dimension into the development system.

Adly also drew attention to the mechanisms of the green economy, stressing that they are among the matters that require political decisions, and must be implemented gradually. He added that the Corona pandemic showed that the economic dimension was more concerned than other development dimensions.. “Bridges 2030” reviews the following text of the dialogue. Conducted by Al-Dustour newspaper with the general coordinator of the RAED network:

The General Coordinator of the Arab Network for Environment and Development in a special meeting with Al-Dustour:

Adly: Sustainable development in Jordan is on the right path.. “Aqaba” is a unique pioneering experience that is on the path to sustainable development

In the Arab world, we lack the full integration of the environmental dimension into the development system. Implementing the green economy requires a political decision and is implemented gradually.

Dealing with the economic dimension is more important during the Corona pandemic.. The cost of security in light of instability prevents reaching a green recovery

He spent more than two-thirds of his life fiercely defending the reality of the Arab environment, and calling for the implementation of a mechanism for sustainable development. He did not stop despite the great challenges and the wide scope of the problems, and even the Corona pandemic slowed down the process and did not stop it.

Dr. Emad Adly, General Coordinator of the Arab Network for Environment and Development RAED, was born in Cairo, the Arab Republic of Egypt and is 64 years old. He spent nearly 43 years working in the environment and development sectors. Adly was interested in the issue of the green economy, and believes that the city of… Aqaba will be a unique pioneering economic investment experience on the path to sustainable development, if what is said about it in local and international conferences is true.

In an exclusive interview with Al-Dustour, Adly said: In countries like Jordan and Egypt, our economic capacity cannot achieve everything we wish for in the environmental aspect. We live in an unstable region, and therefore the cost of maintaining security is high, even if we transfer part of the costs that we use to the sector’s security purposes. Environmentally, it will make a big difference, so we use what is available as much as possible, and no matter the size of the grants, it will not be able to cover all aspects to reach green recovery, or the green economy and sustainable development.. Below is the text of the dialogue:

Al-Dustour: How do you read the environmental map in the Arab world? In Jordan and Egypt in particular? Are we doing the right thing, and to what degree?

• Adly: The environmental map in the Arab world has changed over the past 40 years. The features of the environmental map were simple and included some environmental initiatives in a number of countries, such as environmental associations. I remember that Kuwait was one of the first Gulf countries to be concerned with environmental affairs at that time, and in Africa it began Sudan and Egypt paid attention to environmental affairs in the seventies of the last century, and Jordan also had features of environmental work in the same period, and began establishing environmental associations, but there was no coordinated work, but things began to develop and crystallize and ministries and environmental bodies appeared, and it was a turning point in the map. Environmental.

In the first decade of the twenty-first century, Tunisia was one of the most environmentally distinguished countries, and despite all the political and economic problems that happened in the Arab region in the past ten years, there is a rule that we have begun to rely on, which is the existence of laws and legislation in most Arab countries, which It now includes ministries, agencies, associations, and national plans concerned with the environment, but what is certain is that the environmental dimension is fully integrated with the development system, so that the idea of ​​sustainable development is achieved in its correct form.

As for Egypt and Jordan, they have the tools that allow them to be among the distinguished countries in the environmental sector, despite the presence of great challenges. In Egypt, for example, the most serious challenge is the population increase at a rate of more than two million people annually, and this in itself is an extraordinary burden, and I believe that This challenge does not exist in Jordan in the same way, but there is a need for the political will to pay attention to the environmental sector in the two countries to a work method that is present within all the different sectors, and the preservation of resources and achieving sustainability is a primary goal, and I believe that in the two countries we are on the right path, but Maybe not as quickly as I would like, which I personally hope.

Al-Dustour: Green Economy: Are we still able to achieve it?

• Adly: The green economy depends on the mechanism of thinking, and we must learn the style and method of dealing with it, and it is not a difficult thing. The green economy is an economy that depends on the optimal use of resources, achieving the highest rate of benefit, and dealing with waste correctly. Solutions exist, technology is available, and experiences Similarities that can also be measured exist. Therefore, the green economy can be implemented. In the end, it needs a political decision, knowing that we cannot implement the green economy in all sectors at the same time, but rather gradually, and it cannot be implemented completely at once, but rather gradually and with Time, and increasing the capabilities to implement it in more sectors and at the highest level.

Al-Dustour: Has the Corona pandemic changed the course of the relationship between humans and the environment? And between humanity and sustainable development on the other hand?

• Adly: The Corona pandemic was important in awakening people to how to deal with the environment, and it is assumed that the pandemic gave us lessons, especially in a time