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(MENAFN - Jordan Times) While a threat to the country's water resources, global warming could serve as an opportunity to enhance Jordan's economy, Minister of Environment Khalid Irani said on Saturday.
At a seminar yesterday on climate change in Jordan, Irani noted that the Kingdom's greenhouse gas emissions are already within the legal limits set out by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which the country is signatory to.
"Climate change is a challenge that we can turn into an opportunity," he told The Jordanian Times on the sidelines of the seminar.
The minister said earlier this year that Jordan's contribution to global greenhouse gases did not exceed 0.1 per cent.
Any further drop in the Kingdom's greenhouse gas emissions would add to the country's credit, which could then be sold to countries that do not meet the limits set by the Kyoto Protocol, Irani explained.
"Local measures of advanced industrialised countries are not usually enough to reduce their industrial emissions," Irani noted, adding that, according to the Kyoto Protocol, countries can pay Jordan for crediting them for the emission reduction.
The Kyoto Protocol, which came into effect in February 2005, obliges member countries to keep greenhouse gas emissions within certain limits in order to reduce global climate change.
The government has its own measures for reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases in this developing country, Irani said, citing as an example the utilisation of natural gas instead of fuel at the Aqaba Thermal Station and several other energy plants.
Earlier this year, the Environment Ministry said it approved five projects to reduce 3.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually at a total cost of 120 million euros, under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism.
The projects come as a step to address climate change, which would have negative effects on Jordan, one of the four poorest countries of the world in terms of availability of water resources, according to Irani.
"We are affected by this phenomenon," Irani told experts at the seminar, which was organised by Philadelphia University.
The Kingdom's water per capita stands at 15 per cent below the international water poverty line of 1,000 cubic metres.
Jordan Meteorological Department Director General Abdul Halim Abu Hazim said the country already suffers from climate change, which affects rainfall levels.
"In terms of water resources, Jordan depends mainly on rain."
In 2100, the average mercury levels in Jordan are expected to increase by four degrees Celsius, predicted the official.
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