Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC)

This Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) is a nationwide sectoral document aiming at two targets (i) the unconditional outcome target, aiming at reducing Jordan’s greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions by 1.5 % by 2030 compared to a business as usual scenario levels; and (ii) the conditional outcome target, aiming at reducing Jordan’s GHGs emissions by 12.5 % by 2030. Both targets are in line with the UNFCCC and include both mitigation and adaptation measures. The mitigation actions regard the following sectors (i) energy; (ii) transport; (iii) waste management; and (iv) agriculture and food security. While the adaptation actions focus on (i) water sector; (ii) health sector; (iii) biodiversity, eco-systems, and protected areas; (iv) agriculture and food security; and (v) sustainable development-oriented socioeconomic.
To help eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition, the proposed measures are (i) identification and dissemination of climate resilient techniques; and (ii) agronomic and crop strategies to offset either partially or completely the loss of productivity caused by climate change through the application of defense tools with different temporal and spatial scales.
In order to make agriculture and forestry more productive and sustainable, the INDC envisaged actions are (i) environment friendly agriculture and permaculture designs as well as conservation and sustainable utilization of plant and animals genetic resources for food and agriculture that are adaptive to climate change especially landraces; (ii) development of the soil-less and hydroponic agriculture for medicinal and herbal plants and vegetables for water saving; (iii) implementation of supplemental irrigation, water harvesting techniques, maximizing treated waste water re-use, improving water use efficiency and the augmentation of drip irrigation and utilization of saline water in the irrigation of crops tolerant to salinity, and treated wastewater re-use; (iv) selection of crop varieties to shift to cultivating crops that are more tolerant to droughts or with lower water requirements; (v) introduction of water saving technologies in irrigation schemes such as drip, micro-spray, and night irrigation, etc; (vi) more efficient use of groundwater; (vii) adaptation measures for rain-fed areas such as improving soil water storage by maximizing infiltration of rainfall; application of conservation agriculture, which encompasses land preparation techniques that improve soil fertility; managing crop residue and tillage; using of supplemental irrigation from harvested rainwater in the critical stages of crop growth achieved through on-farm rainwater harvesting and management system, i.e. small farm ponds for micro irrigation using drip or sprinkler irrigation systems, build rainwater storage structures to provide supplementary irrigation water to a number of small farms or fields by using the micro-dams; (viii) ) utilization of renewable energy and uses in agricultural and food production sector for cooling and heating purposes ; (ix) restoration of the degraded forest ecosystem, protection of forest and reforestation to increase the green land area for compensation and equilibrium purposes for CO2 fixation and release of O₂; and (x) afforestation of 25% of barren forest areas in the rain belt areas on which the rate of precipitation exceeds 300 mm.
Rural poverty will be tackled through (i) crop diversification, including integration of different varieties of crops, both food and cash crops which will increase farmers’ income; and (ii) improvement of rural sector adaptive capacity to changing environment to reduce the effects of the climate impacts on the vulnerable rural areas because of their greater dependence on agriculture and their relatively lower ability to adapt.
To enable more inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems, the document proposes (i) to provide support to civil society organizations and NGOs active in climate change from community-based organization (CBO) Support Fund; (ii) to integrate gender considerations and the interest of vulnerable group in climate change policies and strategies in all relevant sectors particularly in national strategies for social development, poverty eradication, childhood and early childhood development and develop practical tools, information, and methodologies to facilitate the integration of gender into policy and programming; (iii) ensure that financing mechanisms on mitigation and adaptation address the needs and conditions for implementation of poor women and men equally; and (iv) build capacity at all levels to design and implement gender-responsive climate change policies, strategies and programs.
The resilience of livelihoods to disasters will be increased by (i) a surface water development, including 1.construction of dams for storing flood waters during the wet winter seasons and releasing the water gradually during the summer seasons and 2.maintenance of reservoirs, so called desert dams for water harvesting to help increasing groundwater recharge; (ii) researches on vulnerable ecosystems and communities and appropriate adaptation priorities, in addition to identifying indicator species and carry out monitoring programs on climate change impact on key species; (iii) enhancing the resilience of local communities impacted by climate change, including community-based pilot adaptation projects; (iv) a land use planning as a tool for adaptation to climate change to reduce the future carbon impact of new developments as well as improving resilience against natural hazards associated with climate change; (v) establishment of an integrated national monitoring center for climate information and data based linking weather and climate information from all deployed centers; (vi) improving the drought prediction and mitigation system; (vii) educating and informing the public of the needed measures to protect health from the adverse impacts of climate change; (viii) intervening in the health sector, also providing access to real-time air quality monitoring data to establish the link between respiratory diseases and air pollution and climate change. All these actions are added to the mitigation interventions aimed at reducing emissions.