The report Climate Change Policy for a Resilient Water Sector sets the clearly defined rules to manage the scarce water resources in Jordan efficiently and sustainably. The new policies lay out the measures and actions required to achieve Jordan's national goals for long-term water security. These result-oriented policies are built-upon and updated from previously adopted strategies, policies, and plans. Together, they are an integral and ongoing part of the overall management efforts that have already been achieved.
Water scarcity is already a serious problem in Jordan and it is intensified by climate change as the precipitation has decreased by more than 50 mm per year over the past half-century. Additionally, the number of heat extremes and days with extremely high temperatures has increased. The recent RICCAR impact assessment result states that the climate pressures and their water sector impacts will intensify over time and the resulting decrease in water availability is projected to get particularly severe after about 2040. This report, therefore, addresses the challenges posed by climate change and put forth the policies that build upon and add value to the objectives, goals, priorities, and solutions of existing strategies, policies and plans of the water-related sectors, rather than developing new stand-alone activities. The climate policy is based on resilience as a guiding principle where the three levels of resilience persistence, adaptability, and transformability present stronger responses to the increasing pressure of climate change. This report provides the background, concept and solutions and implementation mechanism for building resilience against the pressures of climate change.