We at APN condemn what took place in Karak Valley in late June, which harms the environment and tourism and threatens agricultural lands that farmers tend to near those areas.

Devastating images of dead fish and wastewater in the valley are being circulated by tourists and activists. Some farmers in Ghor Al Maszra and Numeira Valley who water their crops from the Karak Valley Dam told us that they fear the contaminated water will spoil their lands. Their crops will either die from lack of irrigation or become contaminated with wastewater, which is flowing from the Karak treatment plant into the stream and mixing with water that is meant to be used for irrigation.

Three months ago, APN distributed nearly half a ton of Molokhia seeds (500 km) to grow 100 dunums of agricultural land in the Jordan Valley. According to some recipients of the seeds, their crops might spoil if there is no quick solution to this problem.

We believe that what happened in Karak Valley rises to the level of an environmental catastrophe that calls for urgent intervention. We must redress the mistakes that were done and ensure that they do not happen again. Also, we have to work to clean the area of ​​the damage. To add to this, those who are responsible should be held accountable, and we need to strengthen the supervision of these areas which have rare natural resources.

At a time when the world is moving towards prioritizing environmental and agricultural issues because their importance has been realized during the Corona crisis, these sectors are still suffering from neglect and indifference by the relevant official authorities in Jordan.