Crafting Vulnerability Response Strategies for Climate Change in Jordan

Climate change is having widespread and adverse impacts on the West Asia- North Africa region. As this phenomenon progresses, the most damaging affects will include drought and increasingly variable precipitation patterns, conditions that will adversely impact agricultural productivity and water scarcity in much of the region. Key vulnerability rests with groups in countries where impacts are most severe and adaptive capacity is most weak, such as those whose access to water resources needed for livelihoods is already precarious. Many such groups have pre-existing vulnerabilities, such as rural and nomadic populations.

Research to date has tended to focus on the vulnerability of large geographic areas, particularly river basins, rather than specific groups. This project therefore seeks to identify those groups most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change – whether they be urban, rural, displaced and nomadic (or semi-nomadic) – and characterising the principal drivers behind such vulnerability in the chosen area. The study will make relevant, practical and cost-ef cient policy recommendations to address these groups’ needs. Sensitivity to droughts, the dependency on affected resources and the political marginalisation of different groups will be specifically assessed.

The study will also examine ways to increase local community climate change resilience by identifying gaps in the resilience framework. The evidence gleaned will enable decision makers, donors, international bodies and national agencies to develop targeted programs to mitigate climate change impacts on vulnerable groups.

Activities

• Joint participatory and action planning to identify vulnerable groups and study location
• Action-learning and research to identify climate change resilience framework gaps and establish a knowledge base with the chosen group

• Climate Change Adaptation in Jordanian Communities: Limitations, Opportunities and Incentivisation