Rangeland restoration in Jordan: Restoring vegetation cover by water harvesting measures

Haddad, Mira; Strohmeier, Stefan; Nouwakpo, Sayjro K.; Rimawi, Omar; Weltz, Mark A.; Sterk, G.

doi:10.1016/j.iswcr.2022.03.001

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…ICARDA and NARC established the BRS together with the local community of Al Majeddyeh village (31°43′12.69″ N, 36°7′52.06″ E) located around 30 km southeast of Amman. The climate is arid, and the BRS landscape is covered by degraded rangeland and barley cultivated areas (M. Haddad, Sterk, & Strohmeier, 2022; M. Haddad, Strohmeier, et al, 2022). The long‐term average annual rainfall is estimated around 150 mm and it was 149 mm for the period 2010–2022 based on Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) meteorological station data.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to QAIA meteorological data (2010–2022), the average daily temperature is 7.5°C in the coldest month (January) and 25.0°C in the hottest month (August), respectively. The elevation of the site is approximately 820 m a.s.l (M. Haddad, Sterk, & Strohmeier, 2022; M. Haddad, Strohmeier, et al, 2022). The soil type is a Calcisol above a chert‐limestone formation with variable soil depths, degradation stages, and textures changing from upstream to downstream areas.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Water harvesting is defined as the collection of runoff flows for productive purposes (Critchely, 1991); WHTs aim to collect and store water in times of excess (e.g., heavy rainstorms and flood events) and release it in situations of shortage (Mekdaschi Studer & Liniger, 2013). This results in better water availability over time and represents one of the most important approaches for coping with water shortages and temporal variation in arid and semi‐arid regions (Castelli et al, 2018; M. Haddad, Sterk, & Strohmeier, 2022; M. Haddad, Strohmeier, et al, 2022; Rockström & Falkenmark, 2015; Strohmeier, Fukai, et al, 2021; Strohmeier, Haddad, et al, 2021). The ratio between the water‐collecting Catchment size and targeted Cultivated Area (C:CA) is commonly used to classify water harvesting systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, erroneous reports on dryland threats, their causes and consequences, unsustainable management of natural resources (Al‐Adamat et al, 2010) and the lack of well‐targeted methodologies and design (Ziadat et al, 2012) slow down the implementation. However, increasing efforts are being undertaken to evaluate the performance of WHTs in Jordan's Badia under local communities' management, including the scientific assessment of mechanized micro water harvesting conducted by M. Haddad, Sterk, and Strohmeier (2022), M. Haddad, Strohmeier, et al (2022), Strohmeier, Fukai, et al (2021), Strohmeier, Haddad, et al (2021) and Tatsumi et al (2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With the aim to enhance indigenous knowledge‐based technologies' performances and to fill the gap between actual and potential rainfed production, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and the National Agricultural Research Center (NARC) of Jordan, together with the local community, developed a pilot watershed in the Jordanian Badia: the Badia Research Site (BRS) (Dhehibi et al, 2020; M. Haddad, Sterk, & Strohmeier, 2022; M. Haddad, Strohmeier, et al, 2022; Mudabber, 2017; Strohmeier, Fukai, et al, 2021; Strohmeier, Haddad, et al, 2021; Tatsumi et al, 2021, Figure 2).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modeling‐based performance assessment of an indigenous macro‐catchment water harvesting technique (Marab) in the Jordanian Badia

et al. 2023

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Water resources management is fundamental for rural communities in drylands, where water harvesting technologies (WHT) can be used for intercepting surface runoff and storing water in soils. The so‐called “Marab” WHT was initially developed by Middle Eastern agro‐pastoralists that reside or commute in semi‐arid and arid rangelands. The Marab WHT is a macro‐catchment measure consisting of earth dams and stone spillways along the contours of a lowland depression or floodplain. Dependent on the local context (i.e., climate, soil, management, etc.), the established Marabs show highly variable effectiveness and little scientific evidence is supporting the scaling out of the technology. This study aims at filling the knowledge gap on the Marab performance in different environments by simulating its hydro‐agrological effects for different soils and climatic conditions using the AquaCrop model. A case study performed for a Jordanian Marab over three seasons (2019–2022) confirms its huge improvement potential for barley production. Through Marab‐based farming, barley production reached 8.37 t ha−1 on average, versus highly variable 0.34 t ha−1 without the WHT. The simulation‐based assessment of soil textures identified that silty soils have the largest potential for producing up to 9.25 t ha−1 barley, compared to 6.60 t ha−1 produced in clay soils. Assessing different climate scenarios, a slight increase in daily average temperatures (+0.5°C) led to a considerable production decline of 4%–8%, while a significant reduction of precipitation (−20%) decreased biomass production by a similar rate (4%–10%). This underlines the robustness of the “Marab” WHT to rainfall amount variation. However, simulations also highlight the sensitivity of timing and frequency of flood events: removing the last and the first flood event reduced biomass production by approximately 50% and 80%, respectively, while the barley fails to develop if both events were suppressed.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modeling‐based performance assessment of an indigenous macro‐catchment water harvesting technique (Marab) in the Jordanian Badia

et al. 2023

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Long-term passive restoration of severely degraded drylands — divergent impacts on soil and vegetation: An Israeli case study

2023

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Land degradation affects extensive drylands around the world. Due to long-term misuse, the Israeli Sde Zin dryland site has faced severe degradation. The study objective was to assess the feasibility of passive restoration in recovering the site. The study was conducted in four land-units along a preservation-degradation continuum: (1) an area that has not faced anthropogenic disturbances (Ecological land); (2) an area that was proclaimed as a national park in the 1970s (Rehabilitation); (3) an area that was prone, until recently, to moderate anthropogenic pressures (Triangle); and (4) a dirt road that was subjected to long-term off-road traffic (Dirtroad). Soil was sampled and analyzed for its properties. The soil physical quality followed the trend of Ecological land > Rehabilitation > Triangle > Dirtroad. Specifically, high soil salinity in the latter three land-units is attributed to long-term erosional processes that exposed the underlying salic horizons. Herbaceous and shrubby vegetation cover was also monitored. The herbaceous vegetation cover followed the trend of Ecological land (86.4%) > Rehabilitation (40.3%) > Triangle (26.2%) > Dirtroad (2.1%), while the shrubby cover was 2.8% in the Ecological land-unit, and practically zero in the other land-units. It seems that despite the effectiveness of passive restoration in recovering the soil's physical properties, the recovery of vegetation is limited by the severe soil salinity.

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Suitability mapping of micro and meso scale rain water harvesting for vegetation-Based restoration in arid degraded areas of Jordan

Haddad,

Worqlul,

Strohmeier

et al. 2024

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Rangeland restoration in Jordan: Restoring vegetation cover by water harvesting measures

Cited by 10 publications

References 28 publications

Modeling‐based performance assessment of an indigenous macro‐catchment water harvesting technique (Marab) in the Jordanian Badia

Modeling‐based performance assessment of an indigenous macro‐catchment water harvesting technique (Marab) in the Jordanian Badia

Long-term passive restoration of severely degraded drylands — divergent impacts on soil and vegetation: An Israeli case study

Suitability mapping of micro and meso scale rain water harvesting for vegetation-Based restoration in arid degraded areas of Jordan

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