Greening The Desert Project

Greening The Desert Project

The Middle East Arid Climate Permaculture Demonstration Site

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Celebrating 10-Years at the Greening the Desert Project, Jordan.

September 26, 2018 By Geoff Lawton 6 Comments

The Greening the Desert Project started with the purchase of land about ten years ago, and it expanded slowly until that mounted into exponential growth. Things started at the top, literally, with a large water tank that feeds a shower/toilet block just downhill. The toilets are dry composting, supplying fertilizer for plants on site, and the greywater from the showers and sinks goes to a nearby reed bed. The reed bed, still high in the landscape, is then able to send gravity-fed irrigation to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Videos Tagged With: Aid Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, geoff lawton, Jordan, Permaculture, Permaculture Projects, PRI, Short Films - up to 15min, Urban Projects

Energy Globe Award

July 15, 2015 By pri Leave a Comment

National ENERGY GLOBE Award Jordan 2015 Has been won by Geoff Lawton and The Permaculture Research Institute for the Permaculture sites featured inGreening/Re-Greening the Desert "To be honored with this award is a great recognition of our work for a better environment and motivates us to continue our endeavors in the future" Geoff Lawton, National Energy Globe Winner JordanAbout the AWARD With more than 170 participating countries and over 1500 project submissions annually the Energy Globe … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General Tagged With: Aid Projects, Community, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Design, Earthworks & Earth Resources, Education, Education Centres, Events, Resources & News, Food, News, Permaculture Projects, Plants, Soil, Water, Why Permaculture?

Permaculture for Pastoralists in the Jordan Valley – Part II

November 5, 2014 By Alex McCausland 28 Comments

Note: If you haven't already, you can read Part I here. A Dead Sea Valley family home with their typical front ‘lawn’. Photo © Craig Mackintosh The title may lead you to think we are talking about people who manage pasture or have access to wide areas of rangeland. In fact, we are talking about people whose parents and grandparents were nomadic pastoralists that ranged flocks of animals across vast areas of land with the changing of the seasons. Rangelands in the Middle East were traditionally … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Project Update Tagged With: Aid Projects, Biological Cleaning, Building, Community Projects, Compost, Land, Plant Systems, Soil Rehabilitation, Urban Projects, Waste Systems & Recycling, Waste Water, Water Conservation

Permaculture for Pastoralists in the Jordan Valley – Part I

October 30, 2014 By Alex McCausland 10 Comments

Awassi sheep ready to go to market (and random standards inspector) I’ve been to the Greening the Desert “Sequel” site three times now. Once was in 2011 when we were at the IPC in Jordan. Once was in 2012 when I went there to take an internship with Geoff and Nadia. This year I was able to go back there to teach a PDC myself. So I’ve seen some of the development of the site over the past three years as the trees have grown up, formed a canopy and started to alter the microclimate of the site … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Project Update Tagged With: Aid Projects, Animal Forage, Breeds, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Livestock, Urban Projects, Village Development, Waste Systems & Recycling, Water Conservation, Water Harvesting

A Report on the April 2014 PDC at the “Greening the Desert Sequel” Site (Jordan)

September 19, 2014 By Nicole Caran 12 Comments

I am in Jordan, where the monthly average wage is 300 Jordanian dinar. To put that into perspective, a phone card for one month cost me five dinar. But buying a car is the same as it is everywhere. Their major issue here is water. They have little rain, with an average of under 300mm a year. They use underground aquifers, and they say that will only last for another 20 years. Jordan is also one of the most peaceful and hospitable Arabic countries, so they take in many refugees -- with the last … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Project Update Tagged With: Aid Projects, Community Projects, Courses/Workshops, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Urban Projects

My Visit to the Greening the Desert Sequel Site, November 2013

November 30, 2013 By Miles Durand 5 Comments

The Jordan Valley Permaculture Proejct (aka ‘Greening the Desert – the Sequel’) in November 2013. (Photo: Geoff Lawton) I experienced a very diverse range of activities during my two weeks in Jordan, teaching a tree care course and helping in the farm activities, at the PRI Jordan Valley Permaculture Project (aka 'Greening the Desert - the Sequel' site) at 400 metres below sea level in the Dead Sea Valley. I also took side trips to a wadi on the edge of the Dead Sea, and an organic farm at Wadi … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Project Update Tagged With: Aid Projects, aid projects, Bill Mollison, Community Projects, community projects, Demonstration Sites, demonstration sites, Education Centres, education centres, Food Forests, Food Forests, Food Plants, Food Plants - Annual, Food Plants - Perennial, middle east, Plant Systems, Plant Systems, Soil Rehabilitation, Soil Rehabilitation, Trees, trees, Urban Projects, Urban Projects

Rough, Ready, But Very Real – a November 2013 Update on the Jordan Valley Permaculture Project (aka ‘Greening the Desert – the Sequel’ Site)

November 19, 2013 By Geoff Lawton 29 Comments

Project from above, featuring a garbage-accumulating fence edge Well, you would be hard pressed to find a tougher block of land -- a 400m below sea level, West facing slope, in an extremely hot, arid climate, with extremely poor, shallow highly alkaline top 'soil', covered in rocks, with a limited water supply and in a mostly Palestinian refugee-populated village. When we first started working on the site local farmers thought it was just ridiculous to even try to produce any kind of result on … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Project Update Tagged With: Aid Projects, Animal Housing, Biological Cleaning, Building, Community Projects, Compost, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Energy Systems, Fencing, Food Forests, Land, Plant Systems, Soil Conservation, Soil Rehabilitation, Trees, Urban Projects, Village Development, Waste Systems & Recycling, Water Conservation, Water Harvesting

Greening the Desert (the ‘Sequel’ Site) Project – Spring 2013 Photo Update (Jordan)

April 26, 2013 By Salah Hammad 8 Comments

It's spring time for the Jordan Valley Permaculture Project (aka "Greening the Desert - the Sequel"), the lowest place on earth (400 metres below sea level) and one of the hottest and driest, and our trees and gardens are full of produce. During the internship that was held at the project in November 2012 the students worked on installing a new irrigation system that has obviously made a big difference! … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Project Update Tagged With: Aid Projects, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Urban Projects

Greening the Desert Internship 2012 – Greener than Ever

January 15, 2013 By Salah Hammad 7 Comments

Our one month long internship at the Greening the Desert Project (the 'Sequel site') just ended. Ten students arriving from seven different countries were part of the first internship to take place at the project site in the Dead Sea Valley in Jordan. This will be a journey through pictures on what Geoff, Nadia, the interns and the WWOOFers were up to. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Project Update Tagged With: Aid Projects, Community Projects, Compost, Courses/Workshops, Education Centres, Irrigation, Urban Projects, Water Conservation

Jordan Valley Permaculture Project Update: Post IPC Happenings

November 11, 2011 By Dan Lewin 3 Comments

An aerial view of the site Although the landscape here could be seen as a model for scarcity, what there is an abundance of is rocks. The baked dusty earth barely passes for soil and during the summer there isn’t rain here for over six months. With valuable agricultural resources seemingly at a minimum, rocks can be incredibly valuable in the design of a sustainable human settlement. In the case of the Permaculture Research Institute of Jordan’s site (PRIJ), rocks have formed the main building … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Project Update Tagged With: Aid Projects, Building, Community Projects, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Food Plants - Annual, Food Plants - Perennial, Irrigation, Land, Plant Systems, Regional Water Cycle, Soil Rehabilitation, Soil Salination, Storm Water, Swales, Terraces, Waste Systems & Recycling, Waste Water, Water Conservation, Water Harvesting

Letters from Jordan: ‘Greening the Desert – the Sequel’ Site Contrasts Against Jordan Insanities

November 8, 2011 By Craig Mackintosh 19 Comments

Staring into the eyes of the future of Jordan, one wonders how things could be.... All Photographs © Craig Mackintosh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYk21PLKGgg Al Jazeera's very recent feature of the new 'Greening the Desert' site Introduction Why did the photojournalist cross the road? It sounds like the beginning of a joke, and, in a way, it was. I was standing at a busy road in Amman, Jordan, contemplating crossing. I say 'contemplating' as there were three lanes in each direction, and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Project Update Tagged With: Aid Projects, Community Projects, Consumerism, Deforestation, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change, Plant Systems, Regional Water Cycle, Soil Conservation, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Soil Rehabilitation, Urban Projects, Water Conservation, Water Contaminaton & Loss, Water Harvesting

Letters from Jordan – IPC10 and the Permaculture Princess

September 17, 2011 By Craig Mackintosh 3 Comments

Princess Basma bint Ali of Jordan opens IPC10 Photographs © Craig Mackintosh The opening of the Tenth International Permaculture Conference (IPC10) already saw Permaculture getting the attention it deserves. Over 100 people from around the world were seated to 'break bread' at the conference's opening gala dinner on the evening of Friday September 16. Aside from permaculturists from every continent, the event also drew (by our own 'subversive' design) people of influence from within Jordanian … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Project Update Tagged With: Amman, Bill Mollison, community projects, Community Projects, Conferences, Conferences, courses, Courses/Workshops, International Permaculture Conference, IPC, Jordan, Permaculture, Social Gatherings, workshops

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