UNESCO Chair for desert studies and desertification control
The UNESCO Chair for Desert Studies and Desertification Control (the
Chair) was established through support of the UNESCO in the end of 1995
as a center of excellence in desert studies. The idea of the Chair was
to become a focus for interdisciplinary efforts aimed at understanding
the process of climate change and desertification, and at the same time
understand the potentials and limitations for various development
scenarios in the Jordanian Badia in particular. This includes the study
of the various natural resources present in the Badia region.
The Chair seeks to provide an umbrella under which geologists,
biologists, archaeologists, social scientists and other interested
parties can work on joint research and educational opportunities. As
the activities of the Chair gain momentum, new avenues of cooperation
are developing between interested faculty at Yarmouk University as well
as between Yarmouk University and a number of national, regional and
international parties. The purpose of this report is to highlight the
achievements, current projects and future outlook of the Chair.
The Chair has grown to become a well respected institution both on the
national and international scene since it's inception. This status has
been earned through a large number of activities including concluding
important cooperation agreements, two international conferences and a
number of research projects.
The Chair works closely with the Badia Research and Development
Programme which is affiliated with the Higher Council of Science and
Technology (Jordan). A joint cooperation agreement by which the Chair
has full access to the field station at Safawi is an important
achievement by which field access is easy and inexpensive. The kind
donation by HRH Prince Hassan of a field vehicle has provided workers
with the Chair unrestricted access to the field, an important factor for
all of our projects. The Chair has completed an important survey of the
chemical and isotopic nature of the upper aquifer in the Badia region.
This data was placed in the context of the recharge, age and movement of
groundwater in the area. Another, ongoing project aims to determine the
nature of climatic changes in the region using sedimentology and
geochemistry of the sediments of the Qa's (playas) of the region.
Another approach to this, namely the reconstruction of hydrological
conditions in the region, will help to quantify climate change during
A memorandum of understanding between the Chair and the
Desert Research Institute (DRI) in Nevada (USA) allows for exchange of faculty,
scholarships for Jordanian students and development of joint research
projects. Since the signing of the MOU, DRI scientists have actively
participated in the two conferences organized by the Chair and faculty
for Yarmouk have attended a conference organized by DRI in the United
States. Moreover, faculty from both sides are planning on spending
sabbatical leaves at the counterpart institutions, and a number of
Yarmouk students are planning to begin work on their doctoral degrees in
the US. A joint research proposal involving the study of groundwater
recharge in the Badia will be submitted to the International Arid Lands
Consortium soon, and we are hopeful that this venture will also be
The Chair has also signed an agreement with the Arab League
Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALESCO) and the Arab
Center for the Study of Arid Lands (ACSAD) whereby the Chair and ACSAD
conduct a joint research project on the chemical and isotopic nature of
the groundwaters of the Badiat el Sham (including Syria, Jordan, Iraq
and Saudi Arabia). Work is ongoing on this project.
In the Summer of 1996, the Chair organized an international conference
entitled "Past, present and future of the Middle East desert".
Scientists from over 20 countries discussed environment, ecology,
climate change, and water problems, among others. This conference
helped to establish the presence of the Chair on the international
scene, and helped to bring the state of the art in desert studies to
Jordan as well as to forge important links between Jordanian and foreign
In May 1998, a second international conference entitled "Learning from
the past: Global paleoclimatic changes" was organized. This conference
attracted over 40 scientists from a wide range of disciplines in over 10
countries who discussed various issues related to climate change. The
multidisciplinary nature of the meeting allowed for the exchange of
insights from such diverse fields as geology, biology, archaeology, soil
science, and climatology, in a lively discussion on the nature of past
climate change and it's relevance to future models for climate evolution
caused by human intervention.
A number of M.Sc. students have taken advantage of the Chair's
projects, and have completed their theses on issues directly related to
desert studies. They have completed projects both in the fields of
hydrogeology and climate change.
One of the most exciting projects being conducted a the moment involves
the study of shallow (<10 m) aquifers present at a number of locations
in the Badia. These shallow aquifers are exciting because they both
have the potential to provide previously untapped water to the
inhabitants of the area as well as the can provide much needed insight
on the nature and amount of recharge occurring presently there.
Proposals have been submitted to the Badia Research and Development
Programme, the Arid Lands Consortium and the International Research and
Development Center (Canada) to provide the funding needed for the full
understanding needed for theses systems.
The project being implemented for the ALESCO in cooperation with ACSAD
will also provide the needed insight for the understanding of the age
and movement of groundwater in the major upper aquifer on a regional
scale. Such regional projects are needed for full appreciation of the
regional groundwater setting.
The study of climate and environmental change is a major focus of the
Chair. Currently, we are working on climate change indicators present
in the Qa's (playas) of the Badia as a project funded by the Badia
Programme. An M.Sc. student is currently completing his thesis on the
sedimentology and paleohydrology of Qa' Habbaibya, and similar project
is being completed in Qa' Selma. Preliminary results of these projects
suggest that climatic conditions during the Quaternary have been
drastically different from those we see today. Hydrological balances
for both Qa's suggest times of higher rainfall had supplies of three to
four times the present rainwater input. The implications of these
results for future climate scenarios are as yet not clear.
In addition to the completion and expansion of ongoing projects, new
ideas are currently being developed, particularly related to climate
change. The interdisciplinary nature of climate change came into sharp
focus during the "Learning from the past" conference in May, 1998. In
particular, it is now clear that archaeological sites in Jordan contain
an abundance of data on the nature of climate during antiquity. Given
that human settlements spanning the entire Holocene, the interaction of
Man and his environment can be studied on a scale which is not available
any where else in the world. The interesting point here is that the
issue is not simple climate fluctuation, but how has Man effected the
environment of the area through grazing, farming, mining and building
activities through the last 10,000 years. Of course, there is a climate
change component involved, but this may not be the entire environmental
Through cooperation with archaeologists working at various locations in
Jordan, as well as at the Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology at
Yarmouk, it is hoped that a chronology of environmental change using
cultural remains and historical evidence can be accurately
reconstructed. If this ambitious project is to succeed, an accurate
dating system for archaeological materials and sediments needs to be in
place. The Chair hopes to be able to set up a Optically Simulated
Luminescence/Thermoluminescence (OSL/TL) laboratory capable of accurate
dating of both pottery and windblown sediments which are used to
identify the ages of archaeological material. The establishment of such
a lab will provide the structural basis needed for the reconstruction of
the environmental history of Jordan.
The use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have become an integral
part of any group wishing to seriously discuss issues such as land
planning and monitoring of environmental degradation. It is an ambition
of the Chair to set up a GIS and remote sensing laboratory which can be
used for serious monitoring and quantifying of changes in land use and
desertification in Jordan. A remote sensing laboratory and appropriate
satellite images can also be used to help identify shallow aquifers and
other natural resources in the Jordanian Badia.
The Chair is in the process of developing a number of educational
opportunities for the students of the Faculty of Science at Yarmouk.
There has been an agreement in principle to establish a joint field
course with the University of Wein (Austria) for desert ecology. This
course will be offered to students from both universities and will
involve a training component using the latest field equipment used in
monitoring the various aspects of plant ecology in desert regions.
A similar course is being planned with the DRI to establish a joint
field course in desert geomorphology. It is hoped that this course will
attract students from the Universities of Nevada at Reno and Las Vegas
as well as students from Yarmouk. We hope that both of these courses
can be offered in the Summer of 1999.