Green Infrastructure Project in Jordan Combats Environmental & Social Challenges

November 7, 2018 by Cassandra Ceballos

More than half a million Syrian refugees have fled to neighboring Jordan since the armed conflict began eight years ago, straining the host country’s water, housing, and electric sectors, as well as social relations. The Jordan Green Building Council and Habitat for Humanity jointly lead a green infrastructure pilot program in Dhlail, Jordan, a city close to the Syrian border. Low-income Syrians and Jordanians have worked together to retrofit 48 homes with solar-thermal water heaters, rain collection tanks, and hand-made straw shading devices and built six new homes with near zero carbon emissions using reflective paint and double-clock brick walls. The project empowers women by providing them with safe employment opportunities close to home. It also reduces energy consumption and costs, builds community, and provides residents with employment opportunities.

• Climate Protection: Lowers greenhouse gas emissions
• Energy & Mobility: Saves energy using power-generation and reduction technologies
• Resilience: Reduces reliance on traditional energy sources vulnerable to economic and environmental shocks
• Jobs & Assets: Creates sustainable employment opportunities in the local community
• Health, Well-Being, & Safety: Improves air quality, gives refugees purpose
• Connection: Builds community through strengthened social ties and common goals