US-Jordan Workshop:Understanding coupled natural-human systems for development: Community based rangeland rehabilitation in the Badia region of Jordan, Amman, August 2010

University Of Arizona, Tucson AZ

Investigators

Abstract

1042568 Hutchinson This project is to support a U.S.-Jordan workshop: Understanding coupled natural-human systems for purposes of development-Community based rangeland rehabilitation in the Badia region of Jordan, Amman, Jordan, August 2010. The Jordanian collaborator is Dr. Mohammad Shahbaz of the Badia Research Development in Amman, Jordan. Intellectual merit: The workshop will focus on coupled social-ecological processes and systems, directly addressing renewed interest in this topic in recent years. The Coupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS) approach is used to study the Badia Region of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, where rangelands have been degraded over the past century. The CHANS is an appropriate conceptual model to study this complex social-ecological system. The participants plan to use a SES/CHANS model developedby E. Ostrom in 2009 to provide a common framework. They plan to use a website to prepare the workshop and continue future collaboration. The participants wills apply the Ostrom framework to understand and guide policy development for management of arid rangelands in Jordan. The PI makes note of the shortcomings of previous efforts and the lessons that can be learned from them. The PI plan to bring together a group of natural and social scientists whose interaction may lead to new insights that might result in more successful and sustainable resource management systems in semi-arid zones like the Badia. The results from this workshop will have true intellectual engagement between U.S. Scientists and the scientists from Jordan. Broader Impacts: The workshop could have strong positive impacts on the participation of women and members of underrepresented groups in science, especially given the inclusion of women scientists from the US and Jordan. US junior faculty and two graduate students will also participate. The project has great potential to contribute significantly to issues of food security in precarious environments such as the one under study. There is the potential to provide a useful cultural exchange as well as some new data to assist in environmental management. Research stemming from this proposed workshop should provide a good test of the Ostrom framework, as well as having beneficial effects on the management of a stressed resource in a critical area. The workshop goals are to develop both a research as well as a development program. The participation of local population in workshop is a good idea.