Topic:
Country: Jordan
Delegate Name: Antwone Humes
Antwone Humes
Jordan
IUNC
Wetland Conservation
Major wetlands around the world have suffered due to humanities shift into industrialized agriculture. Countries all around the world have been draining wetlands for years in order to create land to cultivate. The conversion of into cropland has not only removed the water, but stripped the land of its nutrients and biodiversity. Along with this, the introduction of buring fossil fuels has started us on a downward spiral that will lead to a warmer climate. This climate change, harmful farming practices, and pollution from the burning of fossil fuels will take this world to ruin. Lands will start to dessertificate rapidly leaving land uncultivatible and soon after uninhabitable.
There is a commonly used metric to determine when a country has fallen into water scarcity. When it is receiving more the 500 cubic meters of water per person per year then it is in the clear; however’ if at or below 500 it is not. Jordan is at 100 cubic meters of water per person, and has been below the mark for a long while. The wealthy and noble of this country take what little available water there is and hoard it amongst the upper class, leaving those beneathe to be starved of a basic life need. Ontop of this, Jordan is surrounded by war and crisis stricken nations. These countries often have people who flee and take refuge in Jordan. This spikes population growth and the amount of water needed to support an evergrowing population. Not only is acquiring water a challenge but transferring that water where it belongs is another.
The wetlands of Jordan play a vital role in keeping its water supply accessible. Places like the Azraq Oasis are quickly drying up along with many others in North-Western Jordan. Not only is the destruction of these wetlands leaving the country without necessary water but also the necessary carbon basins that wetlands are. With a growing reliance on fossil fuels, Jordan along with the world need to consider what losing such vast bodies of water that can hold so much carbon means. Global warming has already attributed to the lowering of watering levels all around the year, all while constantly pumping more carbon dioxide into the air.
In an effort to restore and conserve the wetlands around the world, Jordan needs to install a cap and trade system. This would allow laws to be placed on how much carbon emissions the country is allowed to produce. Along with Jordan becoming apart of this program, the global cap should be lowered. This will decrease the amount of carbon emissions overall. In Jordan specifically, we will work to look to other sources of water like the Jordan River. This will require negotiations with Israel, the nation who has maintained control of the body of water. If water can also be extracted from this body into irrigation system, then it would lessen the need to extract water from the many wetlands Jordan houses. To extract this water from the Jordan River we would need to advocate for more desalinization plants, these are places where overly salty water is stripped of its harsh salinanity.
As for the issue of the water we pull from the wetlands to clean and drink, Jordan needs to work on its infrastructure. By this it is meant that there are many issues with the pipes that run through the country. From the erosion of the pipes to their being simple breaks in the lines. There must also be an initiative to fix the crumbling infrastructure. Change must be made and that can only be made through environmental and political reform.
Garthwaite, Josie. “Jordan’s Worsening Water Crisis a Warning for the World.” Stanford Report, 9 Mar. 2021, news.stanford.edu/stories/2021/03/jordans-worsening-water-crisis-warning-world.
“Jordan Signs Agreement to Launch Major Plant for Water Desalination.” Anadolu Ajansı, www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/jordan-signs-agreement-to-launch-major-plant-for-water-desalination/3448293#:~:text=It%20involves%20a%20seawater%20intake,components%20to%20power%20the%20system. Accessed 14 Feb. 2025.
“Wetlands International.” IUCN, iucn.org/our-union/members/iucn-members/wetlands-international. Accessed 14 Feb. 2025.
