Datasets on soil and water conservation and restoration interventions in Jordan Badia - SWC database Jordan 2017

The dataset was created by UNIFI-ICARDA aiming to list all the soil and water conservation and restoration interventions in the Badia region, in Jordan. All the interventions were georeferenced by using public domain remote sensing data: Google Earth, was the principal source of information, although the image coverage of GE for Badia is heterogeneous and some Badia areas are covered only by old images. In these areas, a cross evaluation was done using Bing Satellite Imagery, where it offered more recent images. The identified interventions are divided by categories: 58 dams, 203 tanks, 841 check dams, 51 contour structure interventions, 27 reforestation sites, 30 desert restorations, 115 spontaneous intervention. A dam is an artificial structure typically made of concrete or earth and built to inbound water, creating a permanent or semi-permanent basin along a main waterway to support agriculture in the surrounding area. A tank is an artificial water pond built by private or governmental initiative in order to collect and stock seasonal water flows for agricultural/animal husbandry purposes. Check dams are linear structures made of earth (sometimes rock, or concrete), built transversal to the stream flow in the ephemeral river bed, in order to to slow down the flow of water, to increase ground water recharge as well as for agricultural and anti-erosion purposes. Contour structures consist of linear micro-catchment interventions characterized by ridges and furrows traced along the contour lines, where drought tolerant shrubs species are planted in ridges to provide a source of fodder for livestock. They are divided in continuous and discontinuous type. Reforestation interventions consist of vast land works following the contour lines along the slopes, where vegetation was established. Desert restoration interventions includes three different type of interventions: proper desert restoration like dune fixation structures, afforestation interventions, and aquifer recharge structures. Spontaneous hydraulic interventions seem to be similar in purpose to check dams, although showing a more irregular structure and distribution pattern. These structures are often closely connected with other agricultural structures and probably linked to private initiative. The mapped dams and tanks were compared with two other datasets generated by the Jordan institutions: CAP database (list of Badia Restoration Program interventions) and the WAJ database (list of Jordan Valley Authority interventions), resulting in some correspondences, although the comparison was only partially possible because the available satellite images were in several cases too old, particularly in eastern Badia. In other cases, even in presence of recent images, the structures were not found (neither on GE nor on Bing), revealing possible errors of the coordinates indicated by the two datasets.