FAO/Mazen Haffar

The Eastern Ghouta in Rural Damascus was a green space rich with fruit trees and orchids that supplied Damascus and the surrounding areas with fruits, this refers to its fertile land and the availability of natural resources that helped farmers to sustain their livelihood before the crisis hits the country in 2011.

Throughout the years of crisis, more than 250 000 trees were destroyed, making the restoration of fruit production a critical challenge as farmers lack the availability of sapling supplies, water for irrigation, and the knowledge and access to reliable sources of information on Weather elements to alleviate the adverse effects of unfavourable climate events, such as heatwaves and erratic rainfall. 

Moreover, climate change threatens the farmers' livelihoods, it contributes to a severe reduction of qualitative and quantitative agricultural production, which will directly affect meeting the farmers’ needs, health care, education, nutrition and shelter. Supporting farmers to become climate resilient is key to achieving better production and a better environment in the country.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, with the support of the Adaptation Fund, is helping farmers restore fruit tree production through the completion of rehabilitation works on one of Eastern Ghouta significant nurseries, Kharabou Nursery, which used to supply farmers back in the days with quality fruit saplings.

The rehabilitation works included conducting a technical assessment and design of the required works to be adaptable to climate change, the rehabilitation works included rehabilitation of the groundwater well and provision and installation of pumping sets, restoration of the water tanks, installation of solar-powered irrigation system, and implementation of modern drip irrigation networks within 12 ha of the nursery area.

The recently operating nursery is now producing 13 000 fruit saplings (seed originated) that will be ready to supply farmers in the upcoming seasons. FAO has also provided 1 300 saplings of main fruit tree varieties (mother trees), which will be the source of improved climate-resilient trees.

Information dissemination to mitigate the effects of climate shocks

Access to knowledge and information has been a vital challenge for farmers to protect their produce from shocks and diseases. Within FAO and the Adaptation Fund’s project, complementary interventions are mandatory to achieve agricultural production’s sustainability.

To meet this, the farmers should be introduced to climate adaptation practices, which could be achieved by monitoring climate changes and assessing the situation of natural resources.  With FAO’s rehabilitation of the water and climate monitoring networks in Rural Damascus, reliable data and information will be available to support the sustainable use of natural resources and to enhance agricultural production.

The Organization had provided and installed ground and surface water monitoring devices, water quality measuring devices, and climate monitoring devices such as Al-Nashabeyah weather station, which are needed for observing climate and water resources changes and assessing the impacts on natural resources in a country that suffers from water scarcity.

The Adaptation Fund and The United Nations

The Adaptation Fund project titled “Increasing the Climate Change Resilience of Communities in Eastern Ghouta in Rural Damascus to Water Scarcity Challenges through Integrated Natural Resource Management and Immediate Adaptation Interventions”, is a UN joint project that involves UNHABITAT, FAO and UNDP to strengthen the resilience of 30 000 farming families in Eastern Ghouta, Rural Damascus, though the implementation of concrete adaptation activities, through encouraging an integrated natural resource management approach to present solutions for improving resilience to water scarcity (reduce water losses and contamination, improve water use efficiency to meet the increased demand of water for irrigation, and protect water and soil from pollution through the implementation of good agricultural practices).

FAO is providing technical guidance, data, agricultural practices and tools to support decision-making and the implementation of adaption measures to alleviate the effects of climate change. The organization has also incorporated these tools and approaches into larger frameworks, such as climate smart agriculture approach and the promotion of disaster risk reduction policy and action.