This is a crucial institutional and social breakthrough for organic farming in Jordan. waiting for proper laws and policies. With Queen Rania putting her strength behind the initiative, we can hope for a non-traditional fast track approach. This is the report from Jordan Times of the launching of the national organic farming programme in Jordan   By Hana Namrouqa   Her Majesty... [read more]

The Badia Research and Development Center (BRDC) in Jordan has recently launched its landmark publication "Jordan's arid Badia: deepening our understanding". The publication, edited by Rederic Dutton and Mohammad Shahbaz includes an exquisite scientific and practical journey into research and development for the Badia region conducted by the BRDC over the past 20 years. The publication has been commissioned... [read more]

One of the most promising environmental programmes in Jordan will start delivering results later this year. The Integrated Badia ecosystem restoration programme funded by the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) will launch its first demonstration projects in April 2009. This is the report from Jordan Times   By Hana Namrouqa   Implementation of projects seeking to improve... [read more]

Rural communities and livestock herders/owners are facing the dire consequences of gradual removal of susbsidies and increase of fodder price. A traditional way of life is threatened with severe socio-economic impacts. IRIN reports http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80695   High fodder prices, drought and government policies have caused a sharp drop in livestock numbers in Jordan... [read more]

Another alarming article published by the New York Times (July 21st) about the precarious effects of the combined water and food problems in the Middle East.   By Andrew Martin   Global food shortages have placed the Middle East and North Africa in a quandary, as they are forced to choose between growing more crops to feed an expanding population or preserving their already scant supply... [read more]

This is a well researched and balanced feature from the Jordan Times about one of the most chronic patterns of water mis-management in Jordan. Social considerations, however are still used to cover up a system of unsustainable water utilization by a strong lobby of farmers.   By Taylor Luck Jordan Times July 25th 2008   AMMAN - Domestically produced bananas cost the Kingdom... [read more]

The FAO conference for near east starts with a call to use huge oil revenues in supporting agricultural activities. This is a good idea that need to be realised. This is the news item by FAO media   Increased revenues from oil exports could provide an excellent opportunity to boost public investment in agriculture in the Near East, a region faced by food insecurity, land degradation, water... [read more]

The dream of development in the Arab World is to manage to produce sustainable mechanisms to turn deserts into productive land on the long run without polluting it with pesticides and ending up in irreversible salinization of the land after a few years, let alone water resource depletion. Experiments are always important to study, and Egypt has emerged in the past few years with some very promising... [read more]

A huge national project to green the desert north of Cairo is still stirring some controversey from environmentalists. On the other hand it holds a lot of socio-economic and development potentional. This story tells the two points of view   Will Rasmussen Reuters   It looks like a mirage but the lush fields of cauliflower, apricot trees and melon growing among a vast stretch of sand... [read more]

Talking about designing environmental innovations from indigenous creativity, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) has proposed setting up of camel farms to fight desertification in Qatar and the other Gulf countries. This is a novel idea that can be replicated, providing successful implementation in other Arab countries of arid environments, almost all of... [read more]

It is about time that a coherent action be done in Jordan to encourage organic farming. The practices of oraganic farming have been widespread in many countries in almost all continents but are still not penetrating the Arab world. This news item from the Jordan Times provides some hope for a transition based on sound regulations.   By Hana Namrouqa   AMMAN - The Ministry of Agriculture... [read more]

Source: Gulf Daily News By: Rebecca Torr   BAHRAIN is taking strong measures to combat desertification following its loss of agricultural land to development projects, it emerged yesterday. "We have been losing agricultural land for the last 30 years due to development," Municipalities and Agriculture Ministry Under-Secretary for Agriculture Kadhem Hashim Al Hashimi told the GDN. "We... [read more]

Source: Gulf Daily News   By: Rebecca Torr   BAHRAIN's farms are under threat from owners who are selling them to building developers for high prices, say local environmentalists. They claim in many cases owners who sell their farms are violating laws that protect palm trees and land that falls within the green belt. Environment Friends Society (EFS) founder and president Khawla Al... [read more]

Source: Innovations report   The pre-Saharan region of Jeffara, located in the South-East of Tunisia, is particularly exposed to the risk of desertification, like most of the arid or semi-arid regions of the Mediterranean Rim. Anzeige It is also prey to deep socio-economic changes. This situation raises the major challenge of ensuring the balance between... [read more]

In view of the high importance of sustainable management of renewable resources in arid lands throughout the Arabian Gulf region, the Gulf Research Center, Dubai, UAE and the Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands, Damascus, will organize an executive training program in Arabic. Titled 'Toward Sustainable Management of Renewable Resources in Arid Lands,' it will be held in Damascus... [read more]

Bonny Mascarenhas Bahrain Tribune   Manama Municipalities Council Chairman voiced concern yesterday over the possible sale of a vacant plot in the Diplomatic Area. During his last term as councillor he had made request to the Ministry of Works and Housing to purchase the land with the intention to build 1,460 housing units. Speaking to the Tribune, Majeed Milad the Council Chairman, said: “I... [read more]

As shortage of irrigation water is a common environmental problem in all Arab countries, experimentation in designing landscapes with water conservation plants is becoming an essential tool for water conservation and fighting desertification. One of the most promising experiences has been conducted by the Center for the Study of the Built Environment (CSBE) in Jordan where a special programme on water... [read more]

By Thuria Ghaleb Yemen Observer   Pesticides banned in the rest of the world are finding their way across Yemen’s borders and into its shops, said the Yemen Society for Consumer Protection, a non-governmental organization in Sana’a.  The statements came as a warning to the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation on Jan. 13. It’s not enough for the General Department for Plant Protection, which... [read more]

By Hani M. Bathish and Maher Zeineddine Daily Star staff BEIRUT: The numerous unregulated sand and rock quarries dotting Lebanon's picturesque landscape make up the single largest local source of income for many political parties, according to Habib Maalouf, head of the Lebanese Environmental Party. Many politicians themselves own quarries, he says. Maalouf told The Daily Star that, aside from... [read more]

The IUCN WESCANA Regional Office has just published the full proceedings of the conference it had hosted in Amman 26-27 June 2006 under the title :"Dryland's Hidden Wealth: Integrating Drylands Ecosystem Services Into National Development Planning". The conference was organized by IUCN WESCANA Office, IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management, UNESCO and the UNESCO Chair for Desert Studies in Yarmouk... [read more]

ALGIERS: The UN International Year of Deserts and Desertification has ended with stark warnings from experts about the expansion of uninhabitable zones and an increase in climate-driven migration. Desertification -- the expansion of desert areas, caused by growing populations and climate changes -- is one of the most important global issues, UN Under Secretary-General Hans Van Ginkel said at the... [read more]

JAYYOUS, West Bank - Jayyous's farmers are used to surveying their land from their commanding hilltop village in the northern West Bank. But for many, gazing is now all they can do. Israel’s West Bank barrier has separated the village of Jayyous from 9,500 of its 13,600 dunums (a dunum is 1,000 square metres) of land, and the Israeli authorities have denied them permits to access it. “In the... [read more]

The comprehensive assessment on water management in agriculture is being finalised and the book "water for food, water for life: the comprehensive assessment" will be available at the end of the year. The first in a series issue briefs that summarise the key messages coming out from individual chapters is now available here. The first issue brief is about agriculture and ecosystems and entitled 'Reaping... [read more]

This policy brief has been prepared by Mr Theib Oweis who is the director of the Management of Scarce Water Resources and Mitigation of Drought research programme at the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), in Aleppo, Syria.   The summary of the policy brief states that "water scarcity and drought affect over one billion people in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid... [read more]

During last year I had the pleasure and honor to oversee the final stages of developing the National Action programme to Combat Desertification in Jordan as an acting project manager and editor of the final document. Now, the NAP for Jordan is available online from the website of the UNDP country office that provided the technical backstopping and financial support of the production of the action... [read more]

Keep your eyes open for an important new conference on Dryland Ecology. Dubai will host the nternational Symposium on Drylands Ecology and Human Security (ISDEH) between 4-7 December 2006. The event is organized by GCC Network for Drylands Research and Development (NDRD) and the Ajman University (AUST) Institute of Environment, Water and Energy.   ISDEHS 2006 is meant to be the first of a series... [read more]

This report presents a panorama of the environmental status of the world's deserts: their location and extent, uniqueness and vulnerability, biodiversity and natural resources. The report provides a balanced picture of deserts as ecosystems which form a special part of the world's natural and cultural heritage, and not simply as land that is the end result of the process of desertification. The... [read more]

SciDev.Net website, the comprehensive portal of science in developing countries maintained by SCience magazine has published a collection of articles on deserts and drylands in its online desert science resource. These include peer-reviewed policy briefs written by leading stakeholders on issues such as human impact, access to water, conservation of biodiversity and the role of international conventions... [read more]

The website of The Association of Agricultural Research Institutions in the Near East and North Africa (AARINENA) www.aarinena.org/ is a very impressive location for updated information on agricultural research in the Arab World. AARINENA was established in 1985 to strengthen cooperation among national, regional and international research institutions and centres through the dissemination and exchange... [read more]

Source: Gulf Times By Arvind Nair Published: Friday, 6 October, 2006   PROLONGED use of saline water severely affects irrigated soils, and that contributes to the global land degradation process with a direct impact on biomass production, says a book published by Unesco Doha. ‘Biosaline Agriculture and Salinity Tolerance in Plants’ is an important scientific contribution towards the... [read more]