Jordan planting mini-forests to cool down Amman: Mini-forests are being planted around Jordan’s East Amman in an effort to make the extreme heat more bearable, increase green cover, and restore endangered plant species, Bloomberg writes as part of its Hot Cities series. Five small, shade-giving forests have been planted so far, and the sixth and biggest project spanning 1k square meters — the area of the first five projects combined — is set to launch soon. The Urban Micro-Lungs initiative (pdf) was brought to life by 39-year-old Jordanian architect Deema Assaf and Japanese forest regeneration expert Nochi Motoharu five years ago. Jordan’s Environment Ministry, the Greater Amman Municipality, and GIZ are partners on the project and funding is supplied by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The new ecosystem is helping the city adapt to increasing heat waves, floods, and wildfires: “While the trees in Amman’s mini-forests are still young — the oldest has only been around for four and a half years — there’s a perceptible cooling effect of about 14 °C under their canopies compared with open areas,” Assaf told Bloomberg. The mini-forests can also help fight the floods by acting “as a sponge” to soak up water, and can make better wind barriers and are less prone to wildfires, Assaf added, while also fostering a larger ecosystem by attracting different types of birds, butterflies, bugs, and fennec foxes.

The researchers opted for the Miyawaki method of growing forests: Assaf and Nochi employed a method developed by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki in the 1970s. The Miyawaki approach involves densely packing indigenous trees close together to provoke competition among young trees for sunlight and soil nutrients, triggering rapid growth in as little as 10 years.

Reviving lost plant species suited for Jordan’s climate: In a bid to find drought tolerant and low maintenance plants, the duo discovered and revived some of Jordan’s endangered species, including the evergreen and deciduous oak, wild pistachio, turpentine tree, wild pear, hawthorns, and eastern strawberry. “Some of these plants have been around for thousands and some for mns of years,” Assaf told Bloomberg.

The campaign is part of Jordan’s wider adaptation methods: Jordan is also working on other adaptation projects, including planting on rooftops, painting old buildings with heat-reflecting white paint, building 7.5k water-harvesting systems to collect rainwater, and treating used water to maintain greenery in the country. The government has set aside JOD 2.5 mn (USD 3.5 mn) over the next three years to plant 10 mn trees across the country by the end of the decade.

Some challenges ahead: Aside from needing financing to maintain the trees and protect them from disruptions such as wildfires, the major challenge will be securing water for irrigation. Jordan is one of the most water-scarce countries globally, with only 97 cbm of available water per capita annually, way below the absolute water scarcity threshold of 500 cbm per capita per year. A surging population and climate change are set to further strain water resource availability by 30% by 2040.

Research shows planting trees can have a major impact on local temperatures: While the Middle East region has been left out of most research into how trees impact the urban climate, a study found that increasing tree cover in some European cities could have prevented 40% of the 6.7k heat-related deaths that occurred in the summer of 2015, Bloomberg said. Other studies from Europe, China, and the US show that areas covered by trees are cooler than those that are not — sometimes by as much as 12 °C on extremely hot days.

And our region will face some of the most extreme temperatures: The Middle East region is warming twice as fast as the global average. Projections show that temperatures above 45 °C will become common in Jordan by mid-century as the country’s arid climate makes it particularly vulnerable to global warming.

Tags: