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 In 2002
and 2003, Lee Harding led a team of environmental scientists
to quantify the damage to wildlife and their habitats caused by overgrazing on the Jordanian
desert. The overgrazing was the result of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait,
causing approximately 6,000 Bedouin families to flee to Jordan with
their livestock, and journey of about 1,000 km on foot. Hannah Diamond participated in the interviews with Bedouin
tribal leaders and edited the reports. The team included an ornithologist, a plant ecologist,
wetlands ecologist, and a GIS specialist (all from Jordan), with Harding contributing the
mammal and range ecology expertise. They documented, from published records,
interviews with Bedouins and on-site surveys, the trends in numbers of
sheep, goats and camels throughout the Jordanian desert from the 1970s to
2002, and the changes during that time in
forage production, range condition, wildlife habitat quality and wildlife
populations. With these metrics, a British environmental economics
team put a dollar value on the environmental damage using the Habitat
Equivalency Analysis method. They also developed proposals for
rehabilitation of desert upland and wetland habitats for restoration of rare
wildlife species such as Arabian oryx and Nubian ibex.
 In 2004, Dr.
Harding was a member of the Jordanian delegation to the United Nations
Compensation Commission (UNCC) to argue its case against Iraq for
environmental compensation. In 2005, the UNCC awarded
Jordan $161 million USD for these damages.
 In 2006, Dr. Harding and Ms. Diamond assisted the Jordan Badia Research
and Development Centre to prepare proposals for implementation of the award.
This require consultations with Bedouin tribal shaykhs, community groups,
and government agencies.
A paper on the Arabian oryx reintroduction programme has
been published by the journal, Oryx:
Lee E.
Harding, Omar F. Abu-Eid, Nashat Hamidan and Ahmad al Sha'lan 2007.
Reintroduction of the Arabian oryx Oryx leucoryx in
Jordan: war and redemption. Oryx 41(3): 478-487.
Please click here for more information on Arabian oryx and
other components of Jordan's wildlife captive breeding and
reintroduction program.
Below: Desert oases and existing and potential
nature reserves, as well as the Gulf of Aqaba's world-famous coral
reefs, were part of the study.
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- Ma'an oasis
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- Awassi sheep
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- Arabian oryx
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- Nubian
ibex
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- Rum Protected Area
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- Shaumari Nature Reserve
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- Ain Qatar, a spring deep in Wadi Rum; note
mosquito fern growing on roof of cave
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- Syrian border, a demilitarized zone where the
country's last goitered gazelles live
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- Azraq Nature Reserve, a Ramsar site
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- Hazim Oasis near the Saudi Arabia
border, currently unprotected
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- Badia Research and Development Centre research
station
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- A revegetation experiment at Murajib near the
Syrian border
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- Zarqa River
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- Burq'u Oasis, a proposed Nature Reserve (from
top of Burq'u Castle)
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- Aqaba's world-famous coral reefs
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- Nubian ibex at Mujib Nature Reserve
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- Dana Nature Reserve
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