Climate resilience in Jordan’s Jerash camp: integrating government plans, humanitarian action and climate investment

Al-Zu’bi, M.; Ruckstuhl, S.; Leh, M.; Khalifa, M.; Akpoti, K.; Umer, Y. 2025. Climate resilience in Jordan’s Jerash camp: integrating government plans, humanitarian action and climate investment. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). CGIAR Food Frontiers and Security Program 13p.

This policy brief examines climate risks and resilience pathways in Jordan’s Jerash Camp—one of the country’s most densely populated Palestinian refugee settlements. Hosting 14% of the governorate’s population on just 0.055% of its land, the camp faces the three interconnected climate hazards of water scarcity, flash flooding, extreme heat, together with chronic infrastructure deficits. The study uses mixed-methods research combined with climate risk mapping, geospatial analysis, interviews, and field observations, to show how climate hazards intersect with socio-economic vulnerability and fragmented governance structures.

The report argues that building resilience in Jerash Camp requires linking humanitarian action with national climate planning and international climate finance. Strengthening coordination among the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), national stakeholders, NGOs, and communities can unlock locally driven climate finance solutions to protect lives, livelihoods, and infrastructure, advancing resilient refugee settlements in Jordan and globally.

The brief concludes with a sequenced roadmap for scaling resilience across Jordan’s refugee camps and the wider region, positioning Jerash Camp as a replicable model for inclusive, climate-resilient refugee settlement planning.