When Princess Basma bint Ali of Jordan began establishing her countrys first botanical garden in the mid-2000s, local sheep and goat herders were worried. They feared the sanctuary, located just outside of Jordans capital, Amman, would compromise their traditional grazing areas, and with that their livelihoods.
Two decades later, the opposite is true. Local communities have benefitted from a drive to restore rangelands around the 180-hectare botanical garden, which had long been plagued by overgrazing.
After the garden was established and fenced off and specially protected, the plant cover grew more and more, said Jameel Mesallam Al Megardbi, a herder from a nearby village. In summer, we started finding good pasture there, and we could graze for a longer period.
Collaboration has been key to the success of the Community-Based Rangeland Rehabilitation initiative, an effort to restore the Royal Botanic Garden and apply the lessons learned across the Middle East.
The United Nations has designated the initiative as a World Restoration Flagship, an award extended to outstanding examples of ecosystem revival.
The Royal Botanic Garden and its neighbours have not only avoided a potential conflict, said Natalia Alekseeva of the UN Environment Programme. They have turned degraded rangelands into a sustainable asset, providing a win-win solution for both people and nature.
Experts say efforts like that are crucial in Jordan and the wider region. West Asia is one of the most water- and land-scarce regions on Earth. For decades, it has struggled with drought and desertification, which have led to food insecurity, biodiversity loss and forced migration.
The botanical garden was founded on the initiative of Princess Basma bint Ali in Tal al-Rumman, a mountainous wooded area north of Amman. Along with building a seed bank, plant nurseries and a visitor centre, officials set out to restore the 180-hectare site, which had been severely degraded by overgrazing.
About Desertification and Drought Day
The International Day Against Desertification and Drought is observed annually on June 17. Designated by the United Nations, the day raises awareness about the global challenges of land degradation and promotes sustainable solutions to restore ecosystems and build drought resilience. It is an opportunity to remember countries commitments to Land Degradation Neutrality - a globally adopted framework aimed at securing a balance between human impacts on land and the earth's ability to regenerate. It ensures that the total amount of healthy, productive land remains stable or increases, balancing any unavoidable degradation by restoring an equal area elsewhere.
About the UN World Restoration Flagships
Countries have already promised to restore1 billion hectares an area larger than China as part of their commitments to theParis climate agreement, the targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, theLand Degradation Neutralitytargets and theBonn Challenge. However, little is known about the progress or quality of this restoration. With the World Restoration Flagships, the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration is honouring the best examples of large-scale and long-term ecosystem restoration in any country or region, embodying the 10 Restoration Principles of the UN Decade.Progress of all World Restoration Flagships will be transparently monitored through the Framework for Ecosystem Restoration Monitoring, the UN Decades platform for keeping track of global restoration efforts.
