Environmental Conservation contd

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION continued

The Noor Al Hussein Foundation and Environmental Conservation:

The Noor Al Hussein Foundation (NHF) integrates environmental training and education within its comprehensive development projects. NHF programs such as the Women-in-Development, the Quality of Life, the Children's Heritage and Science Museum and the Mobile Life and Science Museum, promote sound environmental practices. The Women-in-Development Project launched a pilot scheme to transform villagers' unexploited lands and home gardens into market gardens for aromatic and medicinal herbs as well as fruit orchards and vegetable gardens for local families' consumption.

Queen Noor helps in planting medicinal herbs, which in just one year, have yielded about 10% of Jordan's imports of thyme and sage. The Medicinal Herbs Scheme has expanded rapidly to benefit cooperatives and farmers throughout Jordan.

NHF's Quality of Life Project at Mukheibeh village in the north of Jordan symbolizes the Foundation’s concerted effort to integrate environmental concerns with development projects. Before the Foundation established its project at Mukheibeh, the farmers there were cutting down their abundant palm trees to plan other products. In order to maintain and preserve the environmental integrity of the area, the NHF's Jordan Design and Trade Center (JDTC) established a basket weaving and furniture production center to train village women to weave baskets and upholster furniture using raw materials indigenous to the region such as banana and palm leaves as well as the alfalfa plant. The production center has created a demand for these baskets and as a result, farmers have planted more palm trees. JDTC’s Mukheibeh project was implemented in cooperation with the Global Environmental Facility to establish a model replicable environmental program for effective preservation and efficient use of the local environment.

	Queen visiting the basket weaving and furniture production center at Mukheibeh in the north of Jordan. The center, which is supervised by the national Jordan Design and Trade Center (JDTC), was established in 1993 to train village women to weave baskets and upholster furniture using raw materials indigenous to the region such as banana and palm leaves as well as the alfalfa plant.

The JDTC is working on a water recycling project to re-use water in wool processing and dyeing centers in its rug-weaving projects in the south of Jordan. It has also initiated income-generating projects at a nature reserve in Dana, the site of a previously abandoned 15^th century village in the south of Jordan. The village’s original historic stone dwellings were renovated and income-generating activities for the villagers were implemented. Currently, the JDTC buys and markets jewelry manufactured in Dana using local semi-precious stones.

For more information on Dana, please see Web site.

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