(MENAFN - Jordan News Agency) Amman, December 12 (Petra)- The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) has on Wednesday evening held a celebration marking the 20th anniversary of joint cooperation with the German Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF), at the Wild Jordan Center in the capital, Amman, in the presence of the RSCN's Chairman Khalid Irani, the foundation's regional director, and the society's board members.
The RSCN-HSF partnership has contributed to training and rehabilitating several Jordanian stakeholders in the nature conservation field, in addition to coaching locals and Arab peers interested in this sector through the programs, implemented by the society, in partnership with the German research institution.
During the ceremony, Director General of the RSCN, Yahya Khaled, said the twenty-year partnership has contributed to developing the society's capabilities and its employees, adding the "positive" impact of this cooperation has extended to include Arab trainees, who received training through the collaboration with the HSF.
The total number of trainees participating in the regional training programs supported by Hans Seidel Foundation has reached 3476, Khaled said, adding the RSCN has implemented, in cooperation with the HSF, a set of programs in a number of Arab countries, including Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, Egypt and Morocco through educational grants.
For his part, the HSF's regional representative, Kristof W. Duwaerts, said this partnership would not have continued without the "firm and serious" desire of the RSCN and its employees, who showed "remarkable" keenness to make this partnership a success.
The RSCN, since its establishment, is concerned with setting up and managing natural reserves, preserving biological diversity in Jordan, and enhancing capacity-building for staff working in the field of preserving biological diversity.
In 2010, the RSCN launched the Royal Academy for the Conservation of Nature (RANC), with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), to operate as a professional center specializing in training in nature conservation programs.

Source: Menafn