The studies will be implemented under an $81,000 agreement signed between Jordan and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change secretariat on the sidelines of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Environment Minister Hazem Malhas said on Monday.

The Environment Ministry also announced the launch of two projects, supported by UNDP, to boost the Kingdom's adaptation to the impact of climate change and hasten its implementation of global environment conventions.

Briefing the media on Jordan's participation at the Copenhagen conference, which concluded on Saturday, Malhas said the Kingdom was selected to represent Asia as a member of the Kyoto Protocol compliance committee and the Clean Development Mechanism committee.

Some 190 countries assembled in Copenhagen to agree on a new accord on climate change to replace the Kyoto Protocol due to end in 2012.

Under the new, nonbinding agreement, richer nations, including the US, are to list their individual emissions targets, while developing countries must list what actions they will take to reduce the growth in their global warming pollution by specific amounts.

The Copenhagen accord gives billions of dollars in climate aid to poor nations but does not require the world's major polluters to make deeper cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions.

Malhas said Jordan's position is in line with that of other developing countries, who are "calling for extending the Kyoto Protocol, obligating developed countries to honour their commitments to channel funds to the climate change adaptation fund and assist developing countries in the transfer of environment-friendly technologies".

During the conference, rich countries pledged $30 billion in "fast-track" finance for the 2010-2012 period, including $11 billion from Japan, $10.6 billion from the European Union and $3.6 billion from the United States.

They set an ambitious goal of "jointly mobilising" $100 billion by 2020.

Environment Ministry Secretary General Fares Juneidi said Jordan is one of the countries to benefit from the fund, designed to assist developing countries with the costs of adapting to climate change.

"Within months, the ministry and its partners will come up with projects that address the impact of climate change on Jordan, mainly water shortages, and refer them to the adaptation fund," he noted.

So far, climate change has caused a 30 per cent reduction in the Kingdom's surface water resources, as well as a decrease in the volume of rainfall and agricultural production, both of which the country and the Arab world rely on heavily.

If climate change continues at its current pace, the Kingdom is expected to witness a 1-2°C increase in temperatures by 2030-2050, resulting in diminished aquifers and oases, reduced green cover, and the transformation of semi-arid lands, some 80 per cent of the country's total area, into arid deserts, according to environment experts