Jordan disaster risk reduction assessment report: understanding livelihood resilience
The Regional Food Security Analysis Network (RFSAN) has released its latest report, a disaster risk reduction assessment of Jordan. In an effort to identify significant agricultural interventions to strengthen Jordan’s resilience, RFSAN in close collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, and REACH, carried out the assessment from June to July 2016.
This initiative aims to outline a baseline of risks and mitigation measures against disasters and shocks, which brings together a better understanding of livelihoods risks in Jordan.
The assessment employed a qualitative approach with two key components: a macro-level secondary data review, followed by community level data collection through 52 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs).
The key challenges perceived to be affecting livelihood resilience are related to socio-economic, environmental or structural factors. Socio-economic factors include inflation, price shocks and increased costs of living; unemployment and insufficient job opportunities; and pressures brought about by abnormal population growth due to conflicts and subsequent displacements in the region. Environmental factors such as seasonal performance, climate change and scarcity of natural resources were also perceived to be relevant, especially in rural areas. Finally, structural factors include a perceived lack of institutional support to strengthen resilience, heightened regional insecurity and its effects on trade and tourism and an uneven distribution of development in the country.
Within these socio-economic, environmental and structural factors, other key findings include:
Pre-existing vulnerabilities such as resource scarcity, unsuitable climatic conditions and rapid population growth are perceived to be exacerbated by crisis-related disruptions. While resource scarcity emerged as a key environmental risk at a household level, problems related to insufficient water and arable land may be characterized as resource management challenges. Existing land and water resources may be sufficient if used more efficiently and efforts to conserve them for the future are intensified.
Socio-economic shocks are a priority concern for communities in urban areas whereas shocks associated with environmental factors are more of a priority in rural areas. These variations can be attributed to the higher reliance on agricultural livelihoods in rural areas. Such findings reinforce the relevance of area-based approaches to tailor DRR programming, which account for variations in types of livelihood activities, especially between urban and rural contexts.
In addition to livelihood variations, findings also indicate the relevance of geographic and ecological variations to risk perceptions. Water scarcity was a particularly important concern for communities in the Badia desert region. Similarly, economic shocks brought about by border closure and disruptions to trade were found to be particularly relevant in areas closer to the Syrian border such as Ramtha and rural communities in Irbid Governorate. Further, areas with predominantly barren land cover such as Karak and Aqaba Governorates cited scarcity of arable land as a specific future risk.
Women and men tended to prioritise different risks as being relevant to livelihood resilience. While men prioritised macro-level challenges such as inflation and unemployment, women gave more weight to micro-level factors such as increasing debt burdens, existing barriers to accessing employment opportunities and insufficient external support to develop and sustain livelihood activities.
In terms of existing strategies for risk mitigation and preparedness, households predominantly employ short-term coping strategies in response to existing socio-economic challenges. Community level initiatives and government support for mitigation and longer-term preparedness were found to be present to a certain extent for climate change related risks. For example, in anticipation of winter floods and snowstorms, existence of snow ploughing equipment and mechanisms to drain water from farms were discussed.
Key challenges faced in risk mitigation and preparedness are a perceived lack of structural capacities for risk assessment, monitoring and planning (for example, deficient early warning systems); inadequacy of resources at the household level to invest in future planning and preparation; and inadequate awareness about existing support mechanisms.
Jordan has a medium risk profile, with increasing socio-economic vulnerability being a particular area of concern, according to INFORM 2016 risk index. Since 1990, Jordan has also experienced human and economic losses due to flash floods, snowstorms, cold waves, and rain, which is indicative of the country’s vulnerability to physical hazards.
Such risk factors are exacerbated by the fact that Jordan is highly resource-constrained; not only is it semi-arid with only 2.6% of arable land, but it has also been ranked as the third most water insecure country in the world.
Resource scarcity aggravates vulnerabilities within the agriculture sector which could have severe implications given that agriculture provides an important means of livelihood for 15% of the country’s population, primarily in rural areas.
The onset of the crisis in neighbouring Syria in 2011 and subsequent arrival of large numbers of refugees has further exacerbated the country’s existing vulnerabilities. It has brought about concerns over increased pressure on existing socio-economic and natural resource systems and what such pressure means for the resilience of livelihoods. While it is acknowledged that the current crisis has exacerbated existing vulnerabilities, understanding how the interaction of pre-existing vulnerabilities with disruptions brought about by the crisis is aggravating livelihoods and what implications this has for future risk resilience remains deficient.
The Regional Food Security Analysis Network (RFSAN) is a partnership between iMMAP and FAO, working in close collaboration with various humanitarian and development actors in the sector of food security in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey. One of the many tasks of the program is to understand the implications of climate change and the Syria crisis on food security. Its main strength lies in providing technical support in identifi¬ed priority areas of food security information and early warning systems.
For more inquiries about the disaster risk reduction assessment results, please email rfsan@info.com
