Arabic marine app facilitates public participation in conservation

AMMAN — The Royal Marine Conservation Society of Jordan (JREDS) and Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) on Sunday launched the Arabic version of the Marine Debris Tracker (MDT) application, with the aim of involving citizens in preserving the marine environment.

The application was established through a joint partnership between the Marine Debris Division of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Southeast Atlantic Marine Debris Initiative of the University of Georgia (UG), JREDS’s Executive Director Diala Alami told The Jordan Times on Tuesday.

After discussions on marine debris in Aqaba with representatives of the NOAA and UG in 2019, JREDS translated the mobile application into Arabic to enable Jordan and other Arab countries to use it, Alami said.

She added that the MDT encourages citizens to be part of positive transformation in the marine environment. Jordanians are asked to collect and discard litter they find on the beach or in the sea and insert the information of found items in the application.

On the application, debris is divided into different categories to help national and international entities determine types of globally discarded waste and provide solutions on how to reduce problems at different geographical sites, she said.

In cooperation with the UNDP and the private sector, ASEZA on Sunday placed two recycling machines on Aqaba’s south shore to help preserve the marine environment, Alami said. She added that ASEZA is working on regulations and procedures to prevent shore pollution.

JREDS works with the Aqaba Diving Association and different entities to organise campaigns aiming to clean the beach and the seabed, she said.

She added that JREDS plans to organise information sessions, establish awareness campaigns and participate in the Environment Ministry’s national campaign on environmental awareness that was launched on Monday.