Jordan advances 23 positions on Natural Capital Index

AMMAN — Jordan scored 33.7 points and ranked 155 out of 180 countries on the Natural Capital Index of the 2021 Global Sustainable Competitiveness Index issued by SolAbility, a Swiss-Korean sustainable intelligence think-tank.

According to the report, Jordan has advanced 23 positions compared to its 2020 rankings on the Natural Capital Index. 

The natural capital of a state is determined by the natural physical environment, where the natural capital index includes the essence of the available resources that allow the country to be completely self-sufficient, the most important of which are land, water, climate, biodiversity, and production of food, energy, and mineral resources, the report said.

On the sustainable competitiveness index, Jordan scored 41.0 points, with a rank of 132 out of 180, the report showed. The index is based on measuring five factors: Agriculture, biodiversity, water sources, resources and pollution.

In the Arab region, Jordan ranked eighth on the Natural Capital Index, ahead of the UAE, Syria, Qatar, Kuwait, Yemen, Tunisia, Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon and Somalia, the report indicated.

The index revealed that natural capital is under pressure worldwide, as the large gap between the lowest and highest scores reflected the uneven distribution of biodiversity around the world, due to the absence of targeted policies that protect the biosphere, stimulate green alternatives, and limit environmental destruction, and expectations indicate an additional decline in environmental standards in the future.

Economist Wajdi Makhamreh, noted that the Natural Capital Index in Jordan is a “positive indicator”, as there are geological and biodiversity sites in Jordan, which is what distinguishes it from other countries, as well as not having pollution as other countries.

“There are definitely lots of resources which are not utilised in Jordan, therefore, the improvement on this index will give us directions to use these resources better in the future,” Makhamreh told The Jordan Times over the phone.

Despite the water scarcity issue in the Kingdom, along with some other environmental problems, Makhamreh expects that Jordan has the ability to use the available natural resources and thus progress further.

“The upcoming projects should be used to solve the water scarcity issue, such as the National Carrier Project and the agreement of intent, as these will help the Kingdom properly use its unused resources,” he added.