Partners and memberships

The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature is a non-governmental organisation devoted to the preservation of Jordan's natural resources. Established in 1966 under the patronage of His Majesty the late King Hussein, the RSCN has been given the responsibility by the Government of Jordan to protect the Kingdom’s natural heritage. As such, it is one of the few organisations in the Middle East to be granted this kind of public service mandate. As a result of its pioneering conservation work, the RSCN has achieved international recognition.

RSCN introduced its people-centred approach to protected area management in 1994 in the Dana Biosphere Reserve near Petra. Working directly with local villages and Bedouin communities, income-generating projects have been created that utilise the Reserve's natural beauty and wildlife to generate employment opportunities. These include small handicraft enterprises and a range of tourism facilities, including a campsite, guesthouse and ecolodge. Such ventures continue to make nature conservation important to the lives of Dana residents and create a constituency of local support for the Reserve. Today, Dana is firmly on the ‘tourism map of Jordan’, attracting over 30,000 visitors a year. It has also won four international awards for sustainable development.

The RSCN is the owner of Feynan Ecolodge. The NGO entered a partnership with EcoHotels in 2009 in a private sector partnership to run and manage the tourism operation in Feynan.

The RSCN manages all the conservation work in all of Jordan’s nature reserves (with the exception of Wadi Rum).  Jordan’s nature reserves are:

  • Dana Biosphere Reserve
  • Mujib Biosphere Reserve
  • Azraq Wetland Reserve
  • Ajloun Forest Reserve
  • Dibeen Forest Reserve
  • Shaumari Wildlife Reserve
  • Yarmouk Reserve
  • Rum Protected Area
  • Fifa Protected Area
  • Qatar Protected Area

Wild Jordan is the socio-economic development and ecotourism division of the RSCN. Wild Jordan’s mission is to develop viable nature-based businesses within and around RSCN’s protected areas in order to bring tangible economic and social benefits to local communities and generate financial, political, and popular support for nature conservation throughout the Kingdom of Jordan. Through Wild Jordan, RSCN has been able to adopt a people-centred approach to protecting nature. Business ventures are being developed using the natural assets of protected areas to create economic and social benefits for local communities. Thriving ecotourism and handicraft enterprises have been established, bringing jobs to hundreds of people. Such ventures are making nature conservation important to the lives of local communities, while providing alternatives to hunting and overgrazing, which continue to pose threats to wildlife habitats.

The RSCN and Wild Jordan own and manage the following tourism/ecotourism facilities:

  • Dana Biosphere Reserve: Dana Guesthouse, Rummana Campsite, hiking and biking trails
  • Mujib Biosphere Reserve: Mujib Chalets, hiking and canyoning trails
  • Ajloun Forest Reserve: Ajloun Cabins and campsite, hiking trails
  • Azraq Wetland Reserve: Azraq lodge, visitor centre, walking trails
  • Dead Sea Panoramic Complex
  • Amman: Wild Jordan Café

The Jordan Tourism Board (JTB) was officially launched in March 1998 as an independent, public – private sector partnership committed to utilize marketing strategies to brand, position and promote the Jordan tourism product as the destination of choice in the international markets. The adopted strategies are tuned to reflect the true image of the Jordan tourism product, being a cultural, natural, religious, adventurous, leisure and MICE destination.

As part of its marketing strategies, the JTB plans and executes an integrated program of international promotional activities. This program includes the active participation in trade fairs, trade workshops, trade and consumer road shows, familiarization trips, press trips, brochure & multimedia production, and media relations. To carry out its goals, the Jordan Tourism Board utilizes the services of eleven offices in Europe, Asia and North America.

Founded by the Executive Directors of two US based sustainable travel organizations; Crooked Trails and Wildland Adventures, The TAP Campaign is an outreach initiative which aims to educate global travellers about the harmful impacts of plastic water bottles usage and encourage travellers to be prepared to clean their own drinking water. Our vision is to catalyse a self-sustaining global movement resulting it the near-elimination of travellers’ dependence on plastic water bottles. 

At EcoHotels we have minimised the disposable plastic bottles used in our operations by providing free water re-filling stations, re-usable plastic bottles and using locally produced clay water jars in guest rooms. All this means we save around 15,000 water bottles from the environment at Feynan alone. We encourage all our guests to consider their impact on the environment and using re-usable plastic bottles is a great small step that everyone can take. Check out more and make the pledge yourself at the Travelers Against Plastic website.

Baraka is a sustainable tourism development company working in Jordan on minimizing the negative impacts of tourism. The company specializes in creating and implementing site development strategies that ensure tourism sites are being developed responsibly and in cooperation with indigenous communities while giving high priority to the wellbeing of the environment.

Baraka partners with EcoHotels in community development programmes in Feynan. Maintaining the local cultural heritage and identity without getting in the way of development is at the heart of its programs in the area. Through multidisciplinary programs, Baraka brings to light a deeper understanding and knowledge of the local community and reflects this knowledge into the tourism experience as a means of empowering the local community.