Resource information
The Integrated Financing Strategy (IFS) is a national wide document, developed by the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, supported by the Global Mechanism (GM) of the UNCCD, to implement Jordan’s commitments towards UNCCD. The IFS aims at providing a comprehensive and coordinated approach to financing and project implementation that would combat desertification and promote SLM, and in doing so to provide a more stable climate for investment and financing in this area for Jordan. It represents an untraditional approach to funding based on a structured program-financing mechanism that rather than supporting independent activities, ensures that all elements are tied together to increase synergies and maximize the benefits of the final outcome. Thus, SLM and combating desertification are seen as part of the same scope, with poverty alleviation as one critical tool with which to mitigate land degradation. Furthermore, while helping to develop the appropriate blend of funds – namely internal, external and innovative – the strategy also uncovers potential barriers in resource identification, allocation, and disbursement. Once the chain of activities is identified, the required financial resources, both domestic and international, need to be assessed and mobilized. Within the Strategy, an Action Plan is elaborated to detail the activities for raising different financial resources and it should serve as the main reference for implementation of the Strategy.Main actions proposed by the Strategy for a more systematic mobilization of resources under the UNCCD are (i) an enhanced enabling environment for resource mobilization creating more conducive legal, institutional, and planning frameworks; (ii) enhanced mobilization and allocation of internal resources including major fiscal, financial, and budgeting reforms; (iii) enhanced mobilization and allocation of external resources through cooperation with donors, and further facilitating financial streams from external partners; and (iv) enhanced mobilization of innovative resources having most potential to rapidly utilization.To make agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable, the Strategy proposes (i) the use of climate change mechanisms, in particular special climate change fund, adaptation fund, and CDM (in particular for afforestation and water efficiency projects); (ii) addressing over-exploitation by allocating quotas - Tradable Quota System because possibly to be traded between groups of producers, or individually - to individual harvesters or fishers, so that the sum of the individual quotas does not exceed the carrying capacity of that which is harvested or fished; and (iii) soft credits with flexible forms of payment or lower interest rates to help finance activities that provide both conservation value and economic benefits to the landowners, possibly to be used in ecotourism projects, or organic agriculture or sustainable extraction of forest products.In order to reduce rural poverty, addressed as important reason of unsustainable practices often leading to degradation of land resources, the use of revolving funds to be employed in small projects to help the local community is considered a useful mechanism.To increase the resilience of livelihoods to disasters, combating desertification needs to be promoted as priority in development plans. Furthermore, the policy suggests an increased use of financial opportunities from Climate Change Mechanisms, such as funds aiming at providing financing for adaptation projects in water resources management related to impacts from climate change, Kyoto Protocol Adaptation Fund, Special Climate Change Fund, and giving financial support to NGOs and Community Based Organizations involved in activities related to sustainable livelihoods and environmental conservation.
