FAO, Italy and Ministry of Agriculture launch a project to support urban forestry and urban greening in Jordan

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Ministry of Agriculture launched on Monday the “Green Cities Initiative (GCI): flagship cities for integrated green oases and food systems”, which promotes the support urban forestry and urban greening in Jordan. This project is funded by Italy through the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS).

In line with the agreement signed by the parties, FAO conducted an inception workshop to acquaint stakeholders and programme partners with the scope and outlines of the project, in addition to covering the implementation strategy and work plan. The workshop was attended by a group of selected stakeholders and government partners.

The aim of this global project, where Jordan is partner in this initiative, is to support the urban forestry and urban greening for improved resilience, health and wellbeing of urban communities in drylands. It contributes to the FAO Green Cities Initiative (GCI) which has been identified by the FAO Director-General as a priority area and is closely linked to the Better Environment strategic objective, especially on “Achieving sustainable urban food systems”, “climate change mitigating and adapted in agrifood systems” and “biodiversity and ecosystem services for food and agriculture”.

The project allows FAO to coordinate efforts with partners, provide integrated technical responses and pool financial contributions. The GCI initiative works closely with FAO decentralized offices and align with FAO Country Programming Frameworks (CPF) and United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (Cooperation Framework) to strive for synergies and increased cooperation among the UN agencies on the ground. To ensure coherence, where possible the framework will be aligned with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets and indicators, in particular those under SDG 11, SDG 2, SDG 6, SDG 8, SDG 12, SDG 13 and SDG 15.

The project activities that will be conducted in Amman are: the rehabilitation of children parks in the municipality of Amman, Green Roof Initiatives in collaboration with local communities and schools and includes technical and capacity building for stakeholders for the promotion of urban agriculture.

FAO Representative in Jordan, Eng. Nabil Assaf, said, “This project is a continuation of our partnership with AICS where FAO has worked with the Italian government and the Agency through several national and regional projects. This project will contribute to strengthen community resilience to climatic, health, food and economic crisis, as well as to reduce the impact of urbanization on biodiversity and the surrounding natural environment. This global project will serve Chad, Jordan, Mongolia, Namibia, South Sudan and Tunisia.”

Mr. Giorgio Bassotti, First Secretary and Head of Economic, Cultural and Scientific Section at the Italian Embassy stated, ““Climate change is a common challenge, which requires a common response. Working together with FAO, we see this initiative as an opportunity to further strengthen the ties of friendship between Italy and Jordan.”

Eng. Khaled Al-Haisa, delegate of the Minister of Agriculture, appreciated this initiative, which has become more urgent within the framework of achieving sustainable development and facing the

challenges that coincided with the expansion of cities and the increase in the population of urban areas, who constitute 70% of the world’s population, consume 80% of energy, and produce 70%. of waste and contribute to increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

The start off this project’s activities will be in May 2024 until December 2024, where local communities and stakeholders will be trained on good practices in green roofs and green parks, composting techniques, hydroponics activities, and urban forestry and agriculture in green space management.