Jordan
Dana village, an integral part of the Dana Nature Reserve in the south western mountains of Jordan. Note the sparse vegetation of the mountains; the low-lying Wadi Araba, connecting the Gulf of Aqaba and the Dead Sea is in the background.
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is by any standard a desert kingdom: nearly 70% of Jordan consists of (stony) steppe and desert (called “badiah”), with an average annual rainfall of less than 50 to up to 100 mm. Steppe and desert represent only two of the four major physiographic regions, however, the other two being the Jordan Valley and the highlands, a chain of hills and mountains running from northwest to southwest in the country. As a result the altitude varies from -400 m near the Dead Sea to +1735 m, and the maximum in annual rainfall in the north western highlands can reach > 500 mm / year. This diversity has created four different bioclimatic zones: Mediterranean, Irano-Turanian, Saharo-Arabian and Sudanian. As a result the flora of this very dry country is still bigger than of the UK with some 2,100 species, including 150 endemics. The biggest threats to this richness are drought, agriculture, and the rapid increase of the population. To counteract this there is – luckily – in Jordan a well-developed sense of nature conservation, which enjoys special support from the royal family. Several biosphere reserves have been created, most notably the Azraq oasis in the eastern desert and the mountains near Dana in the south west.
NCARTT’s Khaled Abulaila collecting Colutea istria in Shaubak, south western Jordan.
The National Centre for Agricultural Research and Technology Transfer (NCARTT) is mandated to conduct and co-ordinate applied agricultural research, including the maintenance of the national seed collections. Until recently these had been orientated solely towards agricultural and horticultural crops and their wild relatives (but including the collections that Kew made with the University of Jordan in 1996). NCARTT’s Genetic Resources Unit includes a herbarium, cold store and staff engaged in collecting, administrating and maintaining collections. All this made NCARTT the logical partner for the MSB Project in Jordan, and an Access and Benefit Sharing Agreement (ABSA) was subsequently concluded in 2001, for a total duration equal to that of the MSBP, i.e. till 2010.
Ephedra pachyclada in the Dana Nature Reserve, south western Jordan.
The joint project is delivering the following outputs. (1) A secure, vouchered, long-term seed collection of Jordanian endemic, threatened and otherwise significant plant species. This collection is available to be utilised for research and, possibly, species recovery activities. The project aims to collect around 35 species new to the MSB each year. (2) An increase in knowledge and capacity to collect and conserve seed within staff of NCARTT. This has been aided by the production in 2005 of a Collection Guide to rare and endangered species of Jordan by Kew’s GIS Unit. And (3) an understanding within the government and the broader community in Jordan is being brought about of the critical role of seed collections in an integrated approach to species and community conservation and restoration.
