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← Terraforming · Desert greening

Desert greening

Jordan Badia restoration

Gulf War environmental compensation paid for dryland repair in Jordan’s Badia. Contour furrows, ponds, native fodder shrubs, and resting pastures: community grazing rules, not a belt of trees across Asia.

Saltbush (Atriplex) in the White Desert / Wadi Dahek of north-eastern Jordan: the class of native fodder shrub Badia restoration plants, not a photograph of a named UNCC plot
Image: Iainsimpsonstewart ( CC0 )
Desert greening Partial Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Badia rangelands)

Jurisdiction: Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Badia rangelands)
Years / status: UNCC Claim 5000304 award; Community Action Plan submitted 2013. Watershed works and grazing rules through the 2010s-2020s. Status: partial: award-funded programme, not a finished green wall.

The plan

UNCC Claim 5000304 funded cooperative rangeland restoration in Jordan’s Badia after Gulf War environmental damage awards. National Focal Point submitted a Community Action Plan (CAP) in 2013, accepted under the Follow-up Programme for Environmental Awards. CAP targets degraded Badia watersheds with water harvesting (ponds, earth dams, contour furrowing), planting of indigenous fodder shrubs, managed grazing / resting, and community-run fodder production. Best-scenario planning language aimed at restoring on the order of 10% of the Badia (~ 7,100 km²) via selected watersheds: not a continuous planted wall.

Construction / status

Ministry of Environment programme unit through the 2010s; UNCC follow-up oversight transferred to Jordan after Governing Council decisions in 2013-2014. ICARDA and partners: mechanised micro-catchments (e.g. Vallerani), native shrub planting, watershed sites such as Al Majeddyeh. Twelve watersheds in CAP planning; delivery uneven by basin. This is rangeland rehabilitation, not the African Great Green Wall and not China’s Three-North shelterbelt.

What went wrong, or only partly worked

Overstocking incentives remain; survival and monitoring quality vary; long-term resting needs community buy-in after award oversight thins. Treat official hectare claims as programme targets under audit, not a finished desert greening.

Lessons

An award can fund contour pits and still leave stocking incentives in place. A selected watershed is not a green wall. Count surviving shrubs and rested pasture under community rules: not award dollars or target hectares. The 10 percent Badia figure is a planning ceiling, not a finished canopy.

Sources

UNCC Claim 5000304 cooperative rangeland restoration; UNCC Follow-up Programme for Environmental Awards; ICARDA watershed restoration in Badia areas of Jordan.