Environmental policy and administrative management

Tubnah Women Cooperative will implement the Community Livelihood and Improved Land Resource Management in Tubnah village, North Jordan . Tubnah is administratively part of Al-Koura district in Irbid governorate. It is located south west of Irbid and is surrounded by forest trees. The village is an agricultural area where the main crop is olive harvested from the old Roman olive trees, which still survive there, in addition to grapes, and other fruit trees such as figs and stone fruit trees. Land degradation and soil erosion have become observable in the area over the past years as a result of increased human pressure on the land, improper use of natural resources and over grazing. This situation has adversely impacted the significant biodiversity, as well as the traditional means of livelihoods of the local community in the area, which falls within a forest area of the arid to semi-arid ecosystem of the East Mediterranean. In order to assist the local community of Tubnah in addressing the above problem, the project will support activities that would control land degradation and increase soil productivity through various conservation measures such as stone terraces, under-cropping and water harvesting to provide complementary irrigation. Solar water heaters will also be supported by the project to reduce the community s dependence on tree cutting and wood burning. Improved living conditions will also be achieved through supporting income-generating activities such as bee-keeping and herbal plant growing and processing. Full technical assistance to this project is provided by the Poverty Alleviation through Community Development Project (PACD) implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture with support from the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ).

Jordan