Water policy in Jordan

Alqadi, Khaled A.; Kumar, Lalit

doi:10.1080/07900627.2013.876234

Cited by 11 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Jordan experiences growing freshwater demands that already exceed availability and surface and groundwater resources are polluted [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. At the same time, Jordan heavily relies on water resources outside its borders, in the physical sense through the sharing of rivers and aquifers with neighboring countries as well as indirectly through Jordan's strong dependence on virtual water imports [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sharing water resources with Israel and Syria has led to tensions in the past [9][10][11][12]. On top of this, Jordan has experienced large influxes of refugees as a result of the ongoing conflicts in the surrounding countries [12,13], which increases Jordan's struggle to meet domestic water needs [1,2,[4][5][6]14,15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Climate change has caused a decline in precipitation and hence surface water flows [4,6]. Based on model simulations for different climate change scenarios, Abdulla et al [18] found that decreases in precipitation will lead to significant decreases in runoff and groundwater recharge in the Zarqa river basin (Figure 1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both the Jordan River and the Yarmouk River have been depleted by upstream (over)consumption in Israel and Syria [2,4,6,21]. The sharing of trans-boundary water resources has led to difficulties and tensions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Agricultural water demand is growing (by 38% in the period 2000-2010 [4]) despite efforts to improve irrigation efficiency and encouraging farmers to grow less water-intensive crops [1]. Domestic water demand is unmet and still increasing (by 40%-46% in the period 2000-2010 [4,6]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mitigating the Risk of Extreme Water Scarcity and Dependency: The Case of Jordan

Schyns

Hamaideh

Mekonnen

et al. 2015

Water

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Jordan faces great internal water scarcity and pollution, conflict over trans-boundary waters, and strong dependency on external water resources through trade. This paper analyzes these issues and subsequently reviews options to reduce the risk of extreme water scarcity and dependency. Based on estimates of water footprint, water availability, and virtual water trade, we find that groundwater consumption is nearly double the groundwater availability, water pollution aggravates blue water scarcity, and Jordan's external virtual water import dependency is 86%. The review of response options yields 10 ingredients for a strategy for Jordan to mitigate the risks of extreme water scarcity and dependency. With respect to these ingredients, Jordan's current water policy requires a strong redirection towards water demand management. Actual implementation of the plans in the national water strategy (against existing oppositions) would be a first step. However, more attention should be paid to reducing water demand by changing the consumption pattern of Jordanian consumers. Moreover, unsustainable exploitation of the fossil Disi aquifer should soon be halted and planned desalination projects require careful consideration regarding the sustainability of their energy supply. OPEN ACCESSWater 2015, 7 5706

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mitigating the Risk of Extreme Water Scarcity and Dependency: The Case of Jordan

Schyns

Hamaideh

Mekonnen

et al. 2015

Water

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Food security under water scarcity: a comparative analysis of Egypt and Jordan

et al. 2022

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Although there seems enough water available for our global food needs, there are large areas with growing water scarcity. Food security in these water scarce areas cannot be met through self-sufficiency. The only option is to become more dependent on food imports which is increasingly risky due to volatility in production and food prices. Before 2008, declining food prices and increasing global cereal production favoured the food import strategy. The 2008 world food crisis represented a shock to this strategy and renewed attention was paid to the self-sufficiency strategy. The aim of this paper is to compare the food security strategies of Egypt and Jordan, two water-stressed, increasingly populated, oil-poor countries, pre and post 2008, by means of a food-water analytical framework using FAOSTAT data. Findings show that Egypt and Jordan have many similarities in their food security situation as both are highly dependent on food imports (Egypt 50%, Jordan 95%), and both have a reduced capacity to absorb future price increases. As food imports are inevitable under the water scarce context of Egypt and Jordan, it is important to focus on how to cope with volatilities. Our analysis shows that Jordan has better absorbed the costs of rising food imports than Egypt and that Egypt is trapped by its high domestic cereal production. Having revealed the limited options available to water-scarce countries for food security, we discuss the potential of grain reserves to cope with future price hikes and production shocks.

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