Forests occupy a very small area 1% Of the area of Jordan, it is exposed to many attacks, fires, and logging annually, which limits the green space in the Kingdom.
Some local Jordanian media outlets do not cover the causes of forest fires in Jordan in a scientific and accurate manner. Several media outlets promote that the fires are a result of climate change, and this was confirmed by the Executive Director of the Dibeen Society for Environmental Development and environmental community activist Hala Murad, indicating that this issue has been addressed in the media. In this way, it is considered hasty, and is not based on scientific maturity in the correct expression of accurate information, and that there is a real problem in refuting the linking of forest fires to climate change as one of its results, and that media professionals must be more precise in dealing with this topic.
media coverage
In this context, we monitored media reports from 2014 until 2023 about the causes of forest fires in Jordan. For example, but not limited to, I used Local media outlet This title, “Jordan is vulnerable to drought, fires, and floods due to climate change,” was covered by a televised episode and attributed to the guest of the episode, but returning to the video interview itself, it turns out That the guest was not adopted Causation. And here A media outlet titled its article “Why do forest fires break out in Jordan?” To answer it initially in the words of an expert, “Climate change and high temperatures in the summer are a cause of fires.” Under this title, “Fires and climate change, which one ignites the other?” I concluded a page Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature Her post, at the end of which she said: “One of the fires that occurred today was due to high temperatures.” However, the association realized its mistake and amended it later. Here, too, the official news agency headlined: Petra Her article “Jordan restores what was damaged by climate change...planting 3 million forest trees annually,” indicating that forest fires are caused by climate change. On the “Hosni Radio” website, it is mentioned under the title “ The effects of climate change are sparking forest fires in regions of the world “, and other articles that highlight climate change as one of the main causes of fires in Jordan or in the rest of the world.
Exaggeration and exaggeration
It can be noted that all of these previously mentioned formulas make the recipient believe that climate change is the cause of forest fires in Jordan and around the world. Thus, formulas carrying a lot of exaggeration and exaggeration are used to link forest fires to climate change, not to mention using climate change as a “hanger” to evade direct responsibility. For causing fires, or treating this file seriously; This gives a safe way out for many parties to evade this responsibility.
However, the news about the arrest of people who caused these fires refute the narrative linking them to climate change, for example: “ Arresting a person who caused a fire of 50 dunams in Jerash “And as mentioned Environmental expert Omar Al-Shoshan “With regard to forest fires in general, at the global level and also at the local level, there are three main reasons. The first reason is related to direct human action,” and the Civil Defense says in an informative video published on its official page at minute 1:03, “The most important reasons for the outbreak of this type of fire.” This is due to the irresponsible practices carried out by some people, such as resorting to getting rid of some weeds by burning them, which often leads to the fire spreading and reaching neighboring areas, and some people throwing “cigarette butts”, which leads to fires igniting in the forest and burning it. Completely”
What do science and modern studies say?
At the scientific level and studies, the scientific journal was published Nature Nature, in a 2016 article examining the role of human activities in increasing the probability of wildfires in the United States and Canada between 1984 and 2014, pointed out that there is a close connection between human activities and fires: “Wildfires are rarely purely natural, and fire managers must consider “Keep this in mind when thinking about how fire risks will shift in a warming world.” He mentioned WWF and Boston Consulting Group In 2020, a report stated that humans are responsible for about 75% of all forest fires, and many fire incidents during the year 2020 can be directly linked to human actions. This ultimately leads us to the fact that climate change is not the main cause behind forest fires, but at the same time it may be It has a “correlative relationship” with the expansion of the fire’s spread or the speed of its spread due to the low rate of rainfall, drought waves and other reasons, as this research paper published in Nature magazine The year 2018 between drought waves and human factors that cause fires in the Amazon rainforest.
Forest fire violations
Returning to the annual reports published previously Royal Department for Nature Conservation, We were able to monitor forest fire violations in Jordan between 2014-2020, in addition to Interview with Ministry of Agriculture spokesman Lawrence Majali He said that 500 fires were recorded in 2021 and 190 fires were recorded in 2022. He also clarified that the preliminary results indicate the presence of a human culprit in starting the fire, pointing out that, as an estimate, “approximately 60% of fire incidents were contrived for clear and explicit criminal purposes. All of these data clearly showed.” The human factor caused the forest fires in Jordan, not climate change.
How do forest fires occur?
“I see that the causes of forest fires in Jordan in particular, as we observe them who live around the forests and also what we hear from forest neighbors, may most likely be contrived for the purposes of logging.” With this sentence, Hala Murad answered our question about the main causes of forest fires in Jordan. She adds that there are indirect human causes related to negligence, such as throwing waste, leaving barbecue stoves burning, and throwing cigarette butts. All of these causes may spark a fire, especially during a period of drought. The presence of a suitable environment for the spread of fire confirms once again that the human factor is the cause of these fires. During an interview with the report’s authors, the Director of the Forestry Directorate at the Ministry of Agriculture, Engineer Khaled Al-Manasir, summarized the causes of forest fires in Jordan in the following graphic:
Who bears responsibility?
Al-Manasir says that the Ministry of Agriculture launched a plan to support the forestry sector this year in addition to last year. Which led to a reduction in fires and an increase in the rate of afforestation, and on the other hand, some points of view indicate the presence of... Neglecting As described in addition To neglect procedures Preventive measures in case of high temperatures, the absence of fire lines, as well as the failure to activate and reinforce control towers, in addition to the difficulty of reaching the fire site. According to experts, some citizens also bear part of the responsibility as a result of irresponsible actions that unintentionally lead to a fire occurring and the outbreak of fire. Some farmers use logging or clean their farms near the forests, by burning the remains of the leaves and not paying attention to extinguishing the fire well, which causes the fire to spread to the forests due to the wind and leads to its ignition.
This report was completed as a graduation project for the ARIJ Diploma in Information Auditing from the Arab Network for Information Auditors (AFCN) within the Daleel project, with support from European Union In cooperation with my organization Sirin And JossaThe trainer, Rahma Diaa, founder of the Climate School, trained the graduates on checking climate information and provided them with advice while working on implementing projects. Link to the original report
