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