Nature Training Centre to open next year

AMMAN — Construction has commenced on the region's first eco-tourism academy, which is scheduled to receive its first batch of students next year, according to the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN).

Located in the heavily wooded Ajloun Governorate near the forest reserve, the Nature Training Centre will train eco-guides, rangers and students on the management of eco-lodges and other environmental and tourism issues.

“The project will not only improve guiding services in the RSCN’s reserves, but it will also elevate eco-tourism standards across the country,” Nature Training Centre Project Director Chris Johnson said in a statement issued by the RSCN.

The training centre will generate job opportunities for the local community in Ajloun and nearby villages, produce qualified eco-guides to fill a gap in the eco-tourism industry, and ensure effective enforcement of environmental laws and regulations, he noted.

The training centre will be part of a multi-purpose facility that will serve as a tourism hub for the Ajloun area, Johnson added.

"We envision it to be the first stop for tourists arriving in Ajloun. It will not only provide tourists with information about nature trails, accommodations and archaeological attractions, but also run shuttle buses to and from the various attractions and connect them with guide services," the project director underscored.

Rand Jammal, a marketing coordinator at the RSCN, said that construction on the project has started and is expected to end later this year.

"The centre is expected to receive the first group of students in mid-2013," she told The Jordan Times yesterday.

Jammal noted that the project is expected to cost JD6 million and will be co-funded by USAID and the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Fund, an affiliate of the Ministry of Labour.

The centre will be operationally linked with Ajloun Forest Reserve and its tourism facilities to create a single integrated eco-tourism complex, Johnson said.

It will also offer vocational programmes in different environmental disciplines for practitioners across the region, including courses in protected area management, ecological research, nature conservation and green building design, according to the RSCN statement.

The location of the centre was chosen carefully after an extended study of its impact on the forest area. It is being built on a deserted quarry that had damaged the forest area's landscape in the past in order to avoid destroying any trees.

The centre will be built using green building practices, reusing rubble-stone from the quarry for construction and incorporating up-to-date technologies in renewable energy use, including geothermal heating and cooling, solar energy and water recycling systems, the RSCN statement said.