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This study investigates the traditional and local knowledge of Bedouin (Badu) communities in the Badia region of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan with regard to livestock production, medicinal plant use and rangeland management, and examines how such knowledge has changed over time. Badu customs and practices from the last 50 years are compared with current realities in order to get a clear picture of how modernization, social change and environmental factors have negatively affected the land, the people, livestock and plant biodiversity in the Badia. The findings indicate that the rangeland environment has become severely degraded, herd sizes have decreased, plant species are in danger, and traditional Bedouin lifestyles have changed radically, due to unrelenting pressure on the land, water scarcity, manufactured livestock feed, government intervention, artificial borders, and the abandonment of natural water harvesting and hima practices.

A significant worldwide challenge is to increase the food supply to accommodate a population growing to 9,000,000,000 in the face of climate change. Per capita water supply in Jordan is among the world's lowest. Despite this scarcity, three-quarters of Jordan's water use is consumed by irrigated agriculture, while producing low economic values from additional water used compared to urban uses. However, irrigated agriculture supports Jordan's food security, so its policymakers continue to examine measures to produce more crop per drop in irrigated agriculture, to permit scarce water to meet growing urban demands. This paper examines economically efficient measures to conserve water in irrigated agriculture to sustain growing urban water demands. Using a sample of one-third of the farms in Jordan's Mafraq Basin, an econometric model is formulated to identify factors influencing irrigation water use and economic productivity. Findings show that the price of water is the overarching factor influencing both. A low water price discourages water conservation even if other institutions promote it. A high price of water encourages conservation even in the presence of other discouraging factors. Results suggest that water-conserving policies in Jordan's irrigated agriculture can be more effectively implemented where water institutions and programs are designed to be compatible with the underlying economic scarcity of water. Results carry significant implications for the design and implementation of development programs affecting the use of water in the world's dry areas.

This paper discusses the qualitative impact of a grazing/herding management program on the profitability of Small Ruminant (SR) herds near the protected area of the Royal Botanic Garden (RBG) in Tell Ar-Rumman, Jordan. As the ultimate goal of establishing a protected area is to rehabilitate and enhance vegetation cover in a sustainable manner, a unique program was set up to meet the needs of local herders and enable the RBG to pursue its biodiversity conservation goals. Financial data pertaining to five local herders were recorded using the accrual accounting system and analyzed for the years 2009 and 2010. Significant changes occurred in the productivity and profitability of the SR herds, with the herders' net incomes increasing by 6% to 159% as a result of direct and indirect support provided by the RBG in 2010. The grazing/herding management program is not only improving the income of participating pastoralists, but is also contributing to the growth and conservation of vegetation and wildlife in Tell Ar-Rumman.

Abstract. Most rangelands in Jordan are degraded and contain almost no perennial vegetation. A study was conducted near Tal alRumman, Jordan to evaluate grazing behaviour of sheep under typical sheep management conditions where supplemental barley provides the majority of the intake by sheep. The objectives were to determine if sheep preferred herbaceous or woody vegetation and to evaluate a management system that utilises limited areas of ungrazed perennial vegetation in expanses of heavily-grazed and severely-degraded rangeland. Twenty-five Awassi ewes were placed in three 0.1-ha paddocks of ungrazed native rangeland for 2.5 h each day for 3 consecutive days and observed. The three paddocks were grazed for 9 days during each of four seasons: winter, spring, summer and autumn. Sheep were herded to and from the experimental paddocks in the morning and were fed 0.5 kg of barley in the evening. Virtually all grazing occurred in the experimental paddocks because rangeland areas where sheep were housed were severely degraded and contained very little herbage (<40 kg DM ha -1 ). Herbage mass of herbaceous perennial vegetation in the study area averaged 165 kg DM ha -1 and potentially edible portions (leaves and twigs) of shrubs averaged 82 kg DM ha -1 . Sheep spent more time (P < 0.05) grazing than browsing, chewing, standing or ruminating during all seasons. Sheep spent most of their time grazing during the first hour of grazing, and then the time spent grazing declined (P < 0.05) and time standing and ruminating tended to increase near the end of the 2.5-h grazing period. Under typical management in Jordan where sheep are supplemented with barley, sheep clearly preferred herbaceous vegetation over shrubs. To meet sheep preferences, rangeland restoration efforts in Jordan should focus on establishment of mixes of grasses, forbs and shrubs rather than planting only shrubs. This study suggests that allowing sheep access to perennial vegetation for 2-3 h per day can potentially extend the grazing period of limited areas of restored rangeland while providing sheep sufficient time to complete a grazing bout.