Communities Connect

Deforestation is a serious issue in Jordan where only 1% of land enjoys forest cover. In support of Jordan’s National Strategy for Renewable Energy, SGP supported a four-project cluster initiative to encourage communities to transition from firewood to solar energy powered water heaters. One such project, located in the Sakeb village between Jordan’s Dibeen Forest Reserve and the Ajloun Nature Reserve, is discussed in more detail here. The project combined various strategies for sustainable forest management, including creating financial access to solar power through micro-finance, and educating community members in forest management and reforestation techniques. Due to the successful demonstration of the four projects, the initiative is currently being up-scaled with US $1.5 million in funding by the Jordan River Foundation (JRF) in communities across Jordan.

  The project is located in Lima’s El Agustino district – a densely populated urban area of approximately 180,000 inhabitants. The banks of river Rímac had suffered from extensive land degradation and illegal garbage disposal, which increased the risk of landslides and pollution. One hundred local women organized themselves into a group called “Promotoras Ambientales” to rehabilitate the river banks and surrounding hills with Tara trees and other medicinal plants. An artificial wetland with a biofilter was also created to cleanse the water for irrigation. The project has enjoyed continued support from the district municipality. 

Located in the mountain range of Apante Hill, a protected area, five communities carried out a project to address local deforestation and land degradation. The main strategies were the introduction of an eco-stove that requires less firewood and training in improved agricultural practices. The project eliminated 1,080 tons of CO2 emissions per year and reforested 4.3 hectares of degraded land.

The second Annual Monitoring Report of the GEF Small Grants Programme\'s Operational Phase 5 covers the reporting period from January 2012 through June 2013.  This period was significant as it also marked two decades of GEF SGP\'s global work with poor and vulnerable communities, more than half of which are in LDCs and SIDS, with over 18,500 projects already supported at the end of the previous operational phase.This report has been prepared by staff of the GEF SGP Central Programme Management Team, based on annual reports submitted by country and sub-regional programmes, and information drawn from the GEF SGP global projects database.