Abstract

The potential for the occurrence of drought and the associated adverse consequences for the economy, polity, and society are an ever-present concern in arid region such as Jordan. Drought has been a prevalent feature of the Jordan landscape during the later part of the 1990s till year 2000, producing serious socioeconomic and environmental consequences. The recent experiences with drought have renewed concern about the inadequacy of government contingency planning efforts and the lack of coordination for assessment and response efforts between different levels of government. The general objectives of the study are: to develop a method for drought monitoring for Jordan as well as to prepare drought contingency plans for the government of Jordan that can be included with the overall water management planning activities. Such plans will intend to improve mitigation efforts through more timely, effective and efficient assessment and response activities. The specific objectives of this research are: (1) to develop a drought monitoring method using combination of truncation level, duration, and conditional probabilities of four indicators (precipitation, temperature, streamflow, groundwater drawdown); (2). To develop a planning process that can facilitate the preparation of drought contingency plans. This process can be followed by government decision makers to develop and implement plans to improve drought mitigation effort through timely, effective, and efficient assessment and response activities.

This research represent part of the role of the Jordan University of Science and Technology through the Queen Rania Al-Abdullah Center For Environmental Science and Technology in serving the local community as well as the government of Jordan in facing the drought problems in more efficient and scientific way.