By Khalid Neimat

WADI RUM - A process to place Wadi Rum as the first natural site from Jordan on the UNESCO World Heritage List began this week.

Three sites in the Kingdom are already on the list, but as cultural sites: Petra, Qasr Amra and Um Al Rassas (Kastrom Mefaa).

Wadi Rum's nomination file will focus on the major aspects that characterise it as a natural site, including the local community and the bedouin lifestyle, in addition to prospects of labelling the area as a natural reserve, according to Moawiyah Ibrahim, Jordan’s representative to the World Heritage Committee and president of the Friends of Archaeology and Heritage.

"If Wadi Rum is selected, it will be the second natural site from the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula to be on the UNESCO list, after the Yemen’s Socotra Archipelago," he told The Jordan Times.

Earlier this week, the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the USAID/Jordan Tourism Development Project (JTDP) II to prepare a nomination dossier for Wadi Rum's World Heritage listing.

The USAID/JTDP and ASEZA have already conducted a preliminary assessment of Wadi Rum's eligibility as a World Heritage site, according to USAID/JTDP Chief of Party Ibrahim Osta, who signed the MoU with ASEZA Commissioner for Environment Salim Mughrabi.

Work to prepare the dossier will start immediately in accordance with UNESCO guidelines and will be ready in time for submission by November 2009, Osta added.

The local community will play a central role in this initiative, with a representative from area serving as a member of the dossier preparation committee, according to Mughrabi.

"This is an exciting initiative that will offer Jordan the chance to gain widespread international recognition for another one of its world-class attractions," Osta said.

Once the nomination is submitted, a UNESCO committee will assess the site, he added.

“The process is a lengthy one and it is not guaranteed that Wadi Rum's nomination will be awarded on its fist attempt,” Osta said.

However, he noted that "the nomination will be useful", because if Wadi Rum is not selected the first time, UNESCO will prepare a report highlighting the site's weaknesses in terms of World Heritage listing criteria, and this information will be used to guide the development of the site in the right direction.

But Wadi Rum's listing as a World Heritage site will increase its prominence on an international level, which could lead to an increase in visitor numbers, Osta added.

Success in this initiative will improve conservation and restoration of the site through the support of UNESCO, which eventually enhances sustainable tourism and supports local communities in the area, he noted.

The World Heritage List includes 878 properties forming part of the cultural and natural heritage which the World Heritage Committee considers as having outstanding universal value.

These include 679 cultural, 174 natural and 25 mixed properties in 145 state parties. As of April 2009, 186 state parties have ratified the World Heritage Convention, according to the UNSECO website.