Jordan Watershed Restoration Project

The Jordan Badia, comprising over 80% of the land mass of the Kingdom, is currently heavily degraded. There is potential in using targeted, sit-based rehabilitation strategies to increase native shrubs and biodiversity, thereby increasing soil quality and rainfall infiltration on the landscape. A healthy ecosystem and native plants are of critical importance to communities that rely on Jordan’s landscape for their livelihoods including traditionally semi-nomadic livestock producers. An improved ecosystem will help livestock producers increase resiliency, provide economic opportunities, and sustainably graze the Badia.

The USDA USFS funded donated project targets the restoration of gully areas and the out-planting of native shrub and tree species in approximately 50-100ha large watershed near Majidyya village, close to Queen Alia Airport, Amman. The final watershed treatment area is still under assessment and depend on the connectivity of fairly steep sloped upland areas (appr. 10-30% slope) with the downstream flood plains (<5% slope), where flood plain treatment and local WH based agriculture (barley) exists, designed and implemented by US Water and Livelihoods Initiative (WLI). The ‘Jordan Watershed Restoration Project’ strives for an integrated watershed approach including the local community in the landscape treatment decisions and management, watershed restoration activities, guarding and communication. In December 2016 one upland sub-catchment (appr. 25 ha) has been treated by mechanized WH measures (Vallerani) intersecting the hillslopes and increasing the retention of the rainwater within the WH structure. Thus reducing surface runoff and erosion and enabling deep infiltration of the harvested water into the soil profile boosting the initial growth of the out-planted shrub seedlings (Atriplex and Ratem) eventually outspreading and revegetating the landscape. Accumulation of detached soil in the Vallerani structures will increase local soil fertility and counter-measure massive land degradation and sediment yield from the watershed. The WLI team of ICARDA will develop a Rangeland management model that includes soil and climate baseline data in order to develop a site management plan including soil and water conservation structures and gully infilling. The SEED team of USFS will test native and new vegetation and breed seedlings to revegetate the degraded rangeland. A test with bio-solids will be carried out in order to increase the soil nutrient capacity. The combined use of this rangeland management, fertilising and seedlings planting will be carried out on a pilot site in Madiyya, South-East of Amman. The resulting hydrological system, soil erosion rate and selfsustaining regreening will be monitorred and evaluated. The project will reconfigure one gully sub-watershed inducing bio-physical changes in it's hydrology. Different mechanical and biological structures will be implemented. Another, control gully sub-watershed is not treated. Comparing the spatial distribution of soil moisture, soil erosion, vegetation density and vegetation regrowth and water outflow and sediment yield, will give evidence for the effectiveness of the taken measures. Remote sensing images can show the large scale water capturing and natural revegetation processes, and are able to differentiate between the decapitated upland, where the water will be slow down, the slope zone where the water will be retained on the fields and the gully conversion zone which will be mechanically filled up by soil.

The revegetated gully watershed will become a model site to show integrated watershed management in the Badia, evidencing the opportunities of a more sustainable managed agro-ecosystem (IDO 3.3) in terms of reduced land degradation and amplified carrying capacity. An increased amount of palatable scrubs will decrease the fodder shortage of the local livestock holders, who will rely less on external aid to feed their animals. Besides, medicinal and flavour herbs can be harvested. This improved local productivity enhances the benefits from the ecosystem goods and services (IDO 3.2) and will reduce poverty. The improved quality and quantity of animal related products can increase nutrition and food security. Moreover, the water-harvesting based restoration increases the water retention within the Vallerani pits, mitigating drought stress during the initial plantation period. The project will thus minimize or even reverse land degradation, therefore protecting this natural capital from climate change (IDO 3.1). Discussions with the government and the local communities need to ensure that the rangeland will be used in a sustainable way to preserve the improved natural resources system and ecosystem services (SLO 3), ensuring a long-term benefit for the livelihoods of the rural people.