situation of the Bedouin of Jordan's Karak plateau, The

Journal of Third World Studies, Fall 1999 by Burnett, G W, Baqain, Rair Naim al, Dirksen, Murl

The principle ecological problems before the Bedouin visiting the Karak Plateau are the conditions of the range and water availability both on the Karak Plateau and in their "home" areas where they spend the winter. Deterioration of the range is probably as old as systematic grazing itself and there is little doubt that the denuded state of Jordan's Badia results from four or more millennia of grazing.7 However, recent circumstances have greatly accelerated this process and few are more important than increased security.8 Raiding, traditionally, forced families to live close to fellow tribesmen which effectively limited herd sizes. Small herds and compact settlement required frequent moves and allowed for long recovery periods after a place had been used. Although T. E. Lawrence noted the consequences of improved security early in WWI,9 by the 1950s, the government controlled the Badia and the enforced peace allowed the Bedoui to disperse and vastly increase herd sizes. Security also made moves less frequent resulting in large areas being grazed constantly and recovery periods effectively eliminated. The truck further encouraged large herds, infrequent moves, greater herd size, reduced recovery time and dramatic overgrazing by allowing feed and water to be delivered to livestock rather than live,stock having to go to feed and water. Security and the truck accelerated overgrazing calamitously and today some of Jordan's biological reserves and experimental grazing areas that have been ungrazed for the last thirty to fifty years contrast starkly with the rest of the Badia by demonstrating what the region should, or at least could, look like.

Range depletion has made the Bedouin dependent on governmentally subsidized feed and water and has made the annual migration to agricultural areas like the Karak Plateau into an absolute necessity rather than simply a pattem of wise exploitation of limited resources. Consequently, there are more Bedouin livestock seeking access to diminishing grazing opportunities, a sure formula for increasing land lease prices and these can ill be afforded by an already marginal agricultural system. Adding to the Bedouins' woes, however has been the IMF's program of economic austerity which seeks an end to agricultural subsides. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has enthusiastically embraced this program despite bread riots in Karak in the summer of 1996. Consequently, Jordan is now curtailing or reducing subsidies to the Bedouin for purchase of feed and water with the result that the Bedouin cannot produce livestock for local markets cheaper than it can be imported from abroad, principally from Australia, Romania and Bulgaria. In response, Jordan's government is encouraging poultry production on the Karak Plateau and the National Poultry Slaughter Company has constructed a chichen processing plant at Al Quatrana on the extreme eastern margin of the plateau.

BEDOUIN ECONOMY

The interaction between various exploiters of a single geographical region with a mixed farming system is generally highly competitive and ecologically problematic and the Karak Plateau is a prime example of an interactive social system with competition between large traditional tribal landowners, small land holders and the Bedouin. Traditionally, each group should find an ecological niche to exploit which symbiotically increases exchange with other groups but at the cost of increasing the likelihood of conflict. Almost all occupants of the Karak Plateau have family histories as Bedouin or settled pastoralists and are strongly attached to pastoralism. Encouragement to settle began in 1893 and proceeded slowly until recently when rural settlement densities coupled with Jordan's international financial situation made the remaining Bedouin uncompetative and financially desperate with the result that they are being forced out of livestock production. Since the Badia is so seriously overgrazed, forcing Bedouin to give up patoralism will have desirable environmental consequences. With no alternative to pastoralism, however, and little access to a socio-economic safety net, the Bedouin community is under siege and the potential for social chaos and tragedy are considerable. Every Bedouin we talked with was clearly aware of government policy and his place in the national and international financial situation.