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Adapting To Climate Change In The Jordan Valley: A Need For A Regional Cooperation?

Published 14th October 2010 - 2 comments - 1147 views -

In the case of Jordan, adaptation measures have been taken mainly in the field of water and agriculture. In fact, climate change in the Jordan Valley will affect mainly the water resources and therefore several other fields related to water. According to the UNFCCC, the raising of temperatures will increase in Jordan the water demand for agricultural purposes by 18%, while the decrease in rainfalls will increase the water demand for irrigation by 5%. For this reason, measures in water and agricultural practices are urgent in this area.

It is important to have good cooperation between the local communities affected by the same problems because the best adaptive strategies take place at the community-local level. It is therefore important to share the “best practices” of adaptation among these communities, as well as it is important the role that the civil society could have in raising awareness on the impact of climate change, and therefore on the importance of the efficient use of water and natural resources.

A good project that has been established in the Jordan Valley in 2001 by the Israeli - Jordanian - Palestinian NGO Eco Peace / Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) is called “Good Water Neighbours”. This project started in 2001 involving only 11 communities, while today it involves 25 different Israeli, Jordanian, and Palestinian communities of the Jordan Valley. This project aims at educating and raising awareness concerning environmentally common issues, in particular focusing on water resources and on the effects of climate change. In this way, these communities are sharing the best practices and the successful practices to adapt to climate change and to the decrease of water.

 

Source: www.foeme.org Map of the communities involved in the project

In this area there are NGOs involved in environmental protection and climate change adaptation, as well as the national authorities such as the Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation and the Jordanian Ministry of Environment. In addition, the Jordan Valley Authority, that was established in 1977, since 1988 has been delegated by the Ministry of Water and Irrigation in order to work on the development of the valley in all the aspects concerning development and the daily life of the Jordanian citizens in the valley.

The Jordan Valley Authority focuses its action for adaptation to climate change on water resources because water, as previously seen in this paper, is related to biodiversity, agriculture, etc. For this reason, the Jordan Valley Authority is already implementing a number of projects to face climate change and to help the valley to adapt to it. These projects concern mainly the following fields: water efficiency, awareness raising and training, international and regional/bilateral agreements, water tariff system, virtual water, and Red-Dead project.

The Jordan Valley Authority, therefore, has focused mainly on water and water-related issues, including agriculture. However, another important field taken into consideration by some local NGOs concerns biodiversity. One type of solution proposed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) concerns protected areas. Climate change will mainly have an impact on biodiversity because it will shift in a neighbouring area the distribution of ecosystems and species. It has to be studied, therefore, how climate change will impact the ecosystem of the Jordan River Valley, to better know how to intervene to help the rich biodiversity of the area to adapt to it. According to the UNEP, it is important to focus not only on single sites, but on a regional one. In fact, in this way it would be simpler to intervene to conserve biodiversity, because animals and plants would be facilitated in moving and shifting from a protected area to a nearer one with better specific environmental and climate conditions.

However, in the Middle Eastern countries, regional coordination and cooperation concerning eco-parks and protected areas is not very developed yet. As a matter of fact, usually in this area projects and programs are developed on a country basis, or even in isolated sites. There is also a lack of places where networking could be done and therefore the possibility of sharing successful experiences, as far as eco-parks, protected areas, and conservation of biodiversity are concerned.

Category: Climate Reporting, Sustainable Development, | Tags:



Comments

Line Leonhard on 28th October 2010:

Good Water Neighbours? that sounds interesting! So the Israeli wall around the settlements does not interfere with this project then? I understand that the wall in some places cut off the water supply to the Palestinian areas?

I visited Jordan a few years back, and I was told by a friend of mine that Queen Noor had done a great deal to help the environment in Jordan, as well as Queen Rania. Is the latter somehow involved in this Neighbour-project?

Hussam Hussein on 29th October 2010:

Hi Line, Thanks for your interest. This project focuses on the communities of the Jordan River Valley, and the wall around the settlements you are refering to is mainly on the other side of the West Bank, and not in the Jordan Valley. Check points, special permits and other issues, however, do affect negatively the water situations of Palestinians. The project of cooperation between the local communities of the Jordan Valley, however, is a great success and is strongly supported by the local Israeli, Palestinian, and Jordanian authorities of the valley. For more info: http://www.foeme.org
Queen Noor and today Queen Rania are involved in social issues, in particular education and environment, however, this specific project I was refering to is promoted by the civil society and in particular by the NGO Friends of the Earth Middle East smile

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