Global Environment Facility/ Small Grants Programme (GEF SGP) funds two projects to protect environment in Jordan
Amman, 23 April 2008 - Two grant agreements totaling US$ 94,000 to support environmental projects by non-government organizations were signed on 17 April 2008 by Mr. Luc Stevens the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Jordan, and representatives of the concerned organizations. This comes as part of the activities of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) -implemented GEF Small Grants Programme (GEF SGP) in Jordan, which supports community projects in the areas of biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation and persistent organic pollutants, simultaneously contributing to enhanced and improved livelihoods of the local communities and their capacities to manage their natural resources.
In this context, Al Amer & Al Jada’a Villages Women Cooperative in Karak governorate will implement the “Enhancing Land Productivity and Controlling Desertification by Using Grey Water in Home Gardens in Al Amer Villages” project. The project aims at enhancing, sustaining and expanding a grey-water initiative implemented by the Inter-Islamic Network on Water Resources Development and Management (INWRDAM) over the past three years. The initiative involved the introduction of grey-water treatment and use at the household level for irrigation of restricted agriculture, in order to contribute to saving scarce drinking water and sustainable management of lands in the project area. The project will work with a hundred households, supporting 50 of these households to install grey-water treatment units and plant home gardens with suitable plants, and another 50 households to implement income generation projects based on the sustainable use of natural resources in the area. The project also includes an awareness component that aims at transferring the idea of grey-water use in restricted agriculture to other areas in the country. Total grant for this project amounts to US$ 49,000.
In Ajloun area, the Union of Productive Women Farmers will implement the “Biodiversity Protection through Income Diversification and Raising Environmental Awareness in Ajloun Area” project, which aims contribute to the protection of biodiversity in Ajloun area through raising awareness and supporting interventions that would improve and diversify income family sources. These interventions would include construction of water collection wells, planting medicinal and herbal plants, installation of water solar heaters to alleviate pressure on forest wood, as well as other agricultural production interventions. The project will also build the capacities of the Women Farmers Union in order to become able to assume its desired role in local community development. It will also work to build an effective and sustainable partnership with the Ajloun Nature Reserve aimed at harmonizing conservation and sustainable agricultural development, and environmental awareness. Total grant for this project amounts to US$ 45,000.
By signing the above agreements, and over its lifetime stretching from the beginning of 1993 until now, the GEF SGP would have supported (145) projects in various parts of the country, for a total grant value of around US$ 5 million, with additional national contributions of at least triple that amount.