Jordan

Jordan’s terrain is primarily desert plateau. A broad north-south rift in the west also includes highlands, the Jordan River Valley, and the Dead Sea. Jordan is nearly landlocked, with a relatively small coastline at the Gulf of Aqaba in the northern Red Sea. Most of the country is used for human activities, in its majority by rangeland. Jordan has high biodiversity rarity of terrestrial land vertebrates at a global scale. When analysed as single taxons, the rarity of amphibians, mammals and reptiles is also high. The rarity of marine mammals is also high. Challenges to biodiversity include freshwater insecurity; salinization; deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; and desertification.