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Bedouins_Azraq_sm.jpg (79894 bytes)In 2002 and 2003, Lee Harding led a team of environmental scientists to quantify the damage caused by overgrazing on the Jordanian desert.  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.  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. 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 the tab below for more information on Arabian oryx and other components of Jordan's wildlife captive breeding and reintroduction program.

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Desert oasis
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Awassi sheep
Arabian oryx
Nubian ibex

 

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Home Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx) and sand gazelle (Gazella subguttarosa)