From the majestic city of Petra to the crystal-clear waters of the Red Sea and the red rocks of the Wadi Rum desert, the wonders of Jordan attract almost 5 million travellers every year. Tourism represents 20% of the GDP of the small kingdom of 11 million inhabitants. But this influx of tourists threatens the ecological balance and the way of life of certain Bedouin tribes. In Petra, the ancient city that attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year, the last of the tribes living there have been slowly displaced.
Despite this, a handful of resistance fighters refuse to move. Some are still living in caves just a stone’s throw from the spectacular rock-cut temple. In the Wadi Rum desert, tensions between tourists and Bedouins are on the rise. With its spectacular rock formations, the desert has seen a proliferation of luxury tourist camps in recent years. There are now over 200 of them! A development of high-end tourism that doesn’t benefit everyone. The Bedouin tribes who live in the desert are gradually being driven off their land. The other problem is water consumption. Tanker trucks regularly come to the camps to fill the Jacuzzis that tourists love. And the region is thirsty! With global warming, the country is in desperate need of water. Jordan is one of the driest countries in the world, and the Dead Sea, another jewel in the country’s tourist and economic heritage, could well disappear. Located between Israel, the West Bank and Jordan, this sea has lost a third of its surface area since the 1970s. The cause is the dams upstream from the river…
A real geopolitical issue, the sharing of water is more than ever a source of tension in the region. Before October 7, Jordan was renowned for its unique security and stability in the Middle East. But since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, the situation in the country has become much more tense. Half the population is of Palestinian origin, and in Amman, the capital, demonstrations in support of Gaza are multiplying. The crowds are calling for an end to the peace agreement signed with Israel in 1994. The royal family plays a balancing act to avoid angering its Western allies while supporting the Palestinian people.
Jordan is a constitutional monarchy. King Abdullah II inherited the crown in 1999 on the death of his father, King Hussein, who had ruled the Jordanian kingdom for almost half a century…