Jawad Al-Bakri

The Dead Sea, the Earth’s lowest major surface water body, serves as the terminal basin for surface and groundwater flow in its surrounding region. However, anthropogenic activities and natural processes contribute to significant alterations in the lake’s area. The scope and implications of these changes remain insufficiently documented, necessitating further investigation. The CA-Markov model was used to project the Dead Sea’s surface area for 2034 and 2050. Time series of observed and future climate data, especially temperature data, under Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5, were analyzed to track climate change. Statistical analyses of the Kendall correlation matrix were performed on the observed and predicted surface areas, water levels, and temperatures. This study revealed that the Dead Sea decreased by 41.8% from 1971 to 2022, and the sea level is expected to decrease by 12.63 m and 33 m by 2034 and 2050, respectively. In addition, there were significant inverse relationships between surface area, water level, and temperature, with correlations of r = −0.79 (p = 0.001) and r = −0.82 (p = 0.001), respectively. Notably, from 2022 to 2050, the mean annual temperature is expected to increase by at least 1 °C. The long-term strategic vision for stabilizing Dead Sea water levels involves a twofold approach: (1) augmenting natural inflow by introducing 300–400 million cubic meters (MCM) from manufactured sources and channeling them into the Jordan River, and (2) reducing water extraction by Dead Sea industries by a maximum of 330 MCM.

Soil monitoring is essential for pursuing several sustainable development goals including ‘Zero Hunger’ and ‘Life on Land’. This study examined the status of national soil monitoring laboratories in Mediterranean countries through a multi-country survey to assess strengths and gaps. The results showed that most national soil labs performed basic tests related to soil health and agricultural management, such as texture, pH, and nutrient analysis. However, fewer labs performed more specific tests that are also relevant to these applications such as compaction and biological analysis. Furthermore, tests required for assessing soil pollution, such as heavy metals, were conducted only by few labs. This was mostly due to a lack of equipment like atomic absorption spectrometers. In total, 75% of labs reported good quality of the instruments and frequent calibration. The staff were generally well qualified, with most holding graduate degrees, and women comprised 58% of the staff. Many national services started using electronic reports and provided result interpretation for end users, but not all used lab information systems. The findings highlight the need for better equipment, more advanced testing, and stronger digital management systems. Addressing these issues will help harmonize soil data and support sustainable land management and agriculture in the region.

Jordan’s Amman-Zarqa (AZ) basin faces increasing water scarcity due to increasing demands and persistent groundwater over-abstractions for irrigation. To address this issue, water conservation has been set as a national strategy, and several initiatives aiming to conserve water in irrigated agriculture have been implemented in the basin’s highlands. This study evaluates the impact of water conservation technologies (WCTs) on irrigation water savings in the AZ basin highlands. Monthly data on irrigation application were collected from 22 farms over three crop seasons (2019–2022) for four dominant orchards. Farm-scale water savings were calculated and projected to the basin scale under two scenarios: a sustainability scenario aligning groundwater abstraction with irrigation needs under WCTs and an economic scenario expanding irrigated areas using the saved water. Results show that irrigation efficiency before the influence of WCTs was below 55%, with farmers applying an average of 1277 mm/year. After implementing WCTs and farmers fine-tuning their irrigation practices, irrigation application decreased to an average of 795 mm/year, resulting in 38% water savings. Projecting these savings basin-wide, WCTs could conserve 44 Mm³/year of water under the sustainability scenario. The results provide a solid basis for informing water conservation targets in this region. However, successful water conservation using WCTs depends on farmer-led testing to ensure reduced irrigation does not compromise crop yields. Pilot programs supported by trusted technical advice through farmer field schools and appropriate incentives can achieve sustainable water conservation in this region. Concurrently, monitoring is required to regulate irrigation expansion as it could undermine water savings.

In water-scarce regions such as Jordan, accurate tracking of water flows is critical for informed water management. This study applied the Water Accounting Plus (WA+) framework using open-source remote sensing data from the FAO WaPOR portal to develop agricultural water accounting (AWA) for the Amman–Zarqa Basin (AZB) during 2014–2022. Inflows, outflows, and water consumption were quantified using WaPOR and other open datasets. The results showed a strong correlation between WaPOR precipitation (P) and rainfall station data, while comparisons with other remote sensing sources were weaker. WaPOR evapotranspiration (ET) values were generally lower than those from alternative datasets. To improve classification accuracy, a correction of the WaPOR-derived land cover map was performed. The revised map achieved a producer’s accuracy of 15.9% and a user’s accuracy of 86.6% for irrigated areas. Additionally, ET values over irrigated zones were adjusted, resulting in a fivefold improvement in estimates. These corrections significantly enhanced the reliability of key AWA indicators such as basin closure, ET fraction, and managed fraction. The findings demonstrate that the accuracy of P and ET data strongly affects AWA outputs, particularly the estimation of percolation and beneficial water use. Therefore, calibrating remote sensing data is essential to ensure reliable water accounting, especially in agricultural settings where data uncertainty can lead to misleading conclusions. This study recommends the use of open-source datasets such as WaPOR—combined with field validation and calibration—to improve agricultural water resource assessments and support decision making at basin and national levels.

In regions facing water scarcity, such as Jordan, accurate measuring and tracking of water usage is crucial to prevent depletion of water resources. This can be done by implementing water accounting to reveal opportunities for reuse and recycling. In this study, water accounting plus (WA+) and open-access remote sensing data from the FAO water productivity portal (WaPOR) were applied to develop agricultural water accounting (AWA) and quantify the inflows, outflows, and water consumption in the Amman Zarqa Basin (AZB) for the period 2014–2022. An assessment is made for WaPOR data utility in AWA. Results showed positive correlations between WaPOR precipitation data and rainfall station records and WAPOR actual evapotranspiration (ET) data with standard ET calculated by FAO56PM method. Results of the AWA showed considerable non-consumed water that could be recovered, with the beneficial fraction surpasses the non-beneficial fraction. Findings showed that Utilized Land Use controls the water balance of the AZB with the highest water consumption around 63%. The analysis of (P - ETa) revealed that the AZB is a water net generator with precipitation consistently being greater than total ET. It is crucial to investigate the pathways and processes involved in the movement of excess rainfall into underground basins. This study highlights the importance to Jordan of leveraging remote sensing datasets such as WaPOR to quantify National Water Budget parameters in addition to bridging data gaps and thus improving water availability and consumption.