Jordanian Prime Minister, Omar Razzaz, stressed the importance of the Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program in providing students all around the world with the essential skills needed to conduct scientific research and in motivating them towards implementing research, analysis and investigation.

The Program, managed by GLOBE’s regional Office in the Near East and North Africa and in cooperation with the Jordanian Ministry of Education, is an environmental education program that trains students and teachers alike in order to measure, study and monitor the five environmental elements –water, environment, soil, vegetation and biodiversity.

Razzaz met with GLOBE Implementation Office Director, Dr. Anthony (Tony) Murphy, along with the Program’s Near East and North Africa (NENA) Regional Coordinator, Ms. Salma Al Zubi. The meeting discussed the means of cooperation between GLOBE and the local schools under the Ministry of Education, in a way that would allow both students and teachers to contribute to the environmental scientific research.

The meeting was also attended by the NENA Regional Trainer, Nahed Ajlouni.

Murphy praised the support that GLOBE is receiving from the Jordanian government as the Program is being implemented in 55 schools in Jordan, 14 of which are public schools, and is ready to expand its work further.

The data retrieved from Jordanian students will be joining tens of millions of data collected through the Program which is currently running in 120 countries. Collected data will enable NASA scientists to identify the challenges facing the environment in different parts of the world and help them to finding solutions, particularly with regard to desertification* and global warming.

The importance of the Program is to monitor the factors affecting the environment. For more than 20 years, the Program has been implemented in cooperation with the Ministries of Education in six regions around the world. Environmental data collection, analysis and online storing of these data on the GLOBE website –and accordingly to NASA’s– helps figuring environmental trends such as global warming, desertification* and climate change.

Al Zubi pointed out that the Regional Office in Amman currently has 13 NENA countries under its umbrella.

Desertification is a type of land degradation in which a relatively dry area of land becomes increasingly arid, typically losing its bodies of water as well as vegetation and wildlife. (Wikipedia)