Restoration efforts target degraded land
Efforts to restore damaged but once fertile land in Jordan’s desert are sprouting hope for one of the world’s most water-scarce nations, as a land assessment report last week warned of the growing scale of global degradation.
Jordanian organisations believe projects that reintroduce native plants and implement smart water harvesting systems will cushion the impacts of climate change and desertification, which are only set to worsen, according to the United Nations report.
Mira Haddad, from the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, said several other factors, including ‘‘overexploitation of vegetation cover, overgrazing, and new land practices’’ as well as climate change are also contributing to land degradation in Jordan.
But environmentalists are already pursuing options to ward off further damage. One of the efforts, run by the Watershed and Development Initiative, is introducing four native plants to 41 square kilometres of desert in the Sabha reserve, 90km east of Amman.
‘‘We’re working on the water, we’re working on the green cover and we’re working also with the habitats of the creatures, from insects to animals and all living parts of that ecosystem,’’ said Deyala Tarawneh, a WADI founding member.
‘‘The success rate of these plants is 85%, which is considered a very high percentage, and they only need to be watered once, which is also reducing the amount of water needed for the irrigation of the green areas.’’
Despite the success of WADI’s planting initiative, land restoration in Jordan is still facing several challenges: the number of land unit areas available for restoration is lacking, and the willingness of local communities to leave the land for at least one or two rainy seasons without grazing is also hindering efforts, said Haddad.
Jordan is one of several countries already grappling with the effects of degradation. More than 2.3 billion people currently live in water-stressed countries.
The UN warned that more food supply disruptions, forced migration and greater pressure on species survival are also expected as climate change intensifies and poor land management practices continue. By 2030, it warns that 700 million people could be displaced by drought.
‘‘The situation we have right now is unhealthy and certainly not acceptable,’’ said Ibrahim Thiaw, the executive secretary of the UN desertification agency.
The report calls for financial support to bolster conservation and restoration in developing countries.
It says the expansion of protected areas and conservation hotspots, better water management, smart agriculture, and the rewilding of biodiversity can be boosted by appropriate funding.
If these kinds of measures are implemented on a wider scale, the UN agency’s restoration scenario predicts reduced biodiversity loss and improved soil health. The benefits will be particularly felt in North and Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.
Inaction would lead to 16 million square kilometres – almost the size of the entire South American continent – of land degradation by 2050.
The report also recommends scaling up land rights for Indigenous peoples and local communities, urging farmers to draw on ample lessons about land restoration, crop adaptation and livestock from established customs and traditional knowledge.
‘‘We welcome new allies to this battle but we must make clear that we will not be used for greenwashing,’’ said Jose Gregorio Diaz Mirabal, the leader of the Congress of Indigenous Organisations of the Amazon Basin.
‘‘Partnering with Indigenous peoples requires embracing transformative change.’’ –