National Climate Change Policy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan 2013-2020.

The present policy was been developed by the kingdom of Jordan in order to strengthen Jordan’s capacity to respond to the detrimental impacts of climate change expected to add a multiplying effect to current challenges in sectors like water and agriculture in 2013.
During the consultation process for this policy, all national stakeholders were engaged in a healthy discussion that reflected the importance of the topic and the need to optimize the policy document to a level that guarantees maximizing Jordan’s role in the global fight against Climate Change and providing best conditions for gaining opportunities for enhancing Jordan’s technical, human and institutional capacities to adapt to Climate Change impact.
The long-term goal of this policy is to achieve a pro-active, climate risk-resilience Jordan, to remain with a low carbon but growing economy, with healthy, sustainable, resilient communities, sustainable water and agricultural resources, and water thriving and productive ecosystem in path towards sustainable development.
The objective of this Policy is to build the adaptive capacity of communities and institutions in Jordan, with consideration for gender and addressing the needs of vulnerable group, to increase the resilience of natural ecosystems and water as well as agricultural climate change, and to optimize mitigation opportunities.
The national priorities and pillars of climate change policy are adaptation to climate change and mitigation of greenhouse emissions, with an emphasis on adaption as the imperative track.
Regarding the reduction of the rural poverty, the government is planning to implement the following strategies: (i) build capacity at all levels to design and implement gender responsive climate change policies, strategies and programs, (ii) ensure that financing mechanisms on mitigation and adaptation address the needs and conditions for implementation of poor women and men equally, (iii) develop, compile, and share practical tools, information, and methodologies to facilitate the integration of gender into policy and programming, (iv) low levels of education and professional skills that prevent members of poor households for shifting to climate-resilient sources of income.
To increase the resilience of livelihoods to disasters, the government plans measures of adaptation to climate change in agriculture, food security/production, desertification, and land-use planning among others, the following strategies: (i) to further increase the knowledge and insight of climate change impact on agriculture/food productivity/food security, and desertification, which is necessary to identify the priority adaptation measures. This includes improving the understanding of climate change impacts on rural community livelihoods in the Jordan, and addressing food security in an international regional context, (ii) to integrate climate change impact considerations and the related adaptation priorities in the overall strategies and policies of the agricultural sector, currently under development, (iii) to increase the insight in the linkages between the adaptation strategies in the agricultural sector and in other sectors, particularly the water sector, (iv) to strengthen the link of agriculture sector planning with planning in other sectors, especially the water sector, (v) to promote resource efficiency and sustainable agriculture, (vi) to engage local communities, farmers, farmer associations, local experts, and local and national government representatives in helping craft response options to climate change in agricultural ecosystems, (vii) to work with communities to integrate climate change concerns into sustainable rangeland and agricultural management practices, and work with local water users to integrate climatic change concerns into irrigation regime for sustainable agriculture, (viii) to incorporate climate change impact and adaptation consideration in the national policies, strategies and action plans against desertification; and to incorporate climate change adaptation considerations in land use planning.
Furthermore, the government also plans measures of adaptation to climate change in biodiversity. Activities to be developed are: (i) to advance the understanding of climate change impacts on biodiversity as well as on the GHG mitigation potential of ecosystems, in particular protected areas, (ii) improve the monitoring of encroachment of urban and rural development on prime agricultural lands, green spaces, open spaces and forests, (iii) to facilitate adaptation of biodiversity to climate change by increasing resilience of, in particular, the protected areas; and (iv) to develop capacity within responsible institutions and communicate to relevant stakeholders.
In the context of governance, the National Communications and the biannual update reports to the UNFCCC will evaluate the implementation of the Policy and measure progress of implementation. It will provide the background information and analysis as input for the evaluation of the Policy.