'Suspects detained for uprooting centennial olive trees'

AMMAN — Authorities have apprehended a group of people in Ajloun Governorate, some 70km northwest of the capital, who allegedly uprooted centennial olive trees for trade purposes, an official at the Ministry of Agriculture said on Wednesday.

"Officials from the Ajloun Agriculture Directorate and other agencies referred the violators for legal action. They uprooted 13 olive trees which are over 100 years old," the ministry's spokesperson, Nimer Haddadin, said.

The circumference of each tree is over three metres, Haddadin said, highlighting that the trees were uprooted from Arjan area, which is rich with centennial olive trees.

"The trees as well as the vehicle carrying them were seized and confiscated. The Forestry Department will replant the trees, which, if planted properly have a 100 per cent chance of living," he told The Jordan Times.

The trees are sold for hefty amounts of money and were likely to be sold to hotels or companies for landscaping purposes, Haddadin noted.

"Those centennial olive trees are locally referred to as Roman olive trees, because some of them are over 1,500 years old. They are a cultural legacy and people must protect them," he underscored.

The official said laws and regulations prohibit the uprooting of centennial fruit trees, which can only happen by obtaining official approval from the ministry.

Ajloun Governorate contains 140,000 dunums of forests that cover 34 per cent of its total area.

Earlier this month, the ministry said 479 trees were chopped down illegally in February, and the violators were caught and referred for legal action. 

A total of 1,982 violations on forest lands have been registered since 2002, when an agriculture law was drafted with penalties on those who allocate, designate, sell or barter forest lands, according to the ministry.

Forestry lands amount to 1.5 million dunums, of which 250,000 dunums are bare, 400,000 dunums are natural forests, 500,000 dunums are planted forests and 350,000 are nature reserves, according to the ministry's figures.

Under environmental regulations, those who cut down forest trees without a licence face a three-month prison term, a JD100 fine for each tree chopped down from state-owned land and a JD50 fine for each one from private land. In addition, their equipment is confiscated.