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From
Food Frontiers and Security Science Program
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Published on
24.08.25
The narrow alleys of Jerash Camp in Jordan. Photo: Maha Al-Zu’bi/IWMI
By
On a scorching August afternoon, children from the Jerash refugee camp in Jordan weave through narrow alleys, stirring clouds of dust that trap the sun’s heat. Walls radiate warmth long after sunset, and the small, compact housing units make summers even hotter and winters more prone to flooding.
The camp, initially setup as a temporary shelter in 1968, is located seven kilometers from the city of Jerash in northern Jordan. Covering 750,000 square meters, it contains 2,850 housing units averaging 96 square meters each and hosts about 33,000 residents. This means that with 44,000 people per square kilometer and around 38 housing units per hectare, the camp is far more crowded than many major cities.
Life in the camp amid climate change
For generations, families in the Jerash camp have navigated life in displacement — but climate change adds new challenges.
“It’s not easy living here,” says Amal* a 36-year-old woman who was born and has lived in the camp all her life. “The summers are getting hotter, the winters colder, and there is never enough water.”
Today, she shares a small home in the camp, with her husband, three children and their elderly parents.
For many like Amal and her family, daily life is shaped by extreme overcrowding, limited water supply, fragile livelihoods and inadequate services. In some neighborhoods, water arrives only once every 40 to 60 days, forcing families to wait in long queues. Winter floods wash away waste, block streets and pose health risks. Most families depend on informal or seasonal work and many young people have limited opportunities for education or employment, making each day a constant challenge.
“What gives me hope is the possibility that my children will have opportunities I never had — to study, to work and to live with dignity,” says Amal.
Crowded conditions, combined with limited public space, also means that residents are exposed to extreme heat, flash floods and water shortages. This makes tailored support and inclusive planning especially important.
Despite constrained resources, over the past few decades, the government, local authorities, humanitarian agencies and camp communities have worked together to improve conditions for residents — delivering essential services, infrastructure upgrades and community support. These efforts have helped, but the scale of need continues to outpace available capacity.
Limited land, concentrated populations, strained resources and unique climate challenges demand targeted and inclusive climate adaptation strategies. Effective planning can prioritize investment in sustainable water management, energy access, climate-resilient housing, better health services and stronger disaster preparedness. Scaling up climate action in camps is vital to protect vulnerable populations and to safeguard their future.
Mapping challenges and guiding change
The Integrated Watershed and Climate Risk Hotspot Mapping project, led by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) with support from CGIAR’s Food Frontiers and Security Program, is uncovering how climate risks are affecting daily life in the Jerash Camp.
Through this initiative, over 50 officials, municipal engineers, humanitarian agencies and community committees came together to co-design a climate risk mapping approach that combines technical data with local knowledge. Residents shared firsthand experiences of flooded alleys, heat trapped between walls, and challenges in water, drainage and waste management, ensuring interventions reflect real-life conditions.
“It means a lot to know that our problems are being heard and that we are part of the planning. When people listen to us and include us in decisions, it reminds me that we know our needs better than anyone,” says Amal.
The project showed that watershed-scale hydrological modelling combined with settlement-level data reveals how upstream conditions — such as forests, rivers and farms — shape water availability and flood risks in crowded downstream cities. By connecting broad patterns with local details, they better understood people’s risks.
“Our approach is simple: map, profile, act,” says Sandra Ruckstuhl, Research Group Leader for Fragility, Conflict, Livelihoods and Water at IWMI. “First, we identify streets prone to flooding, alleys that trap heat, water-scarce zones and sensitive areas like degraded hillsides. Next, we combine these hazards with infrastructure and community insights to create detailed, location-specific risk profiles. Finally, we turn these profiles into practical strategies and climate-resilient solutions that protect lives, support livelihoods and guide resilient development.”
Next steps for scaling impact
The resulting reports, climate risk profiles and practical recommendations from the project now provide clear guidance for adaptation planning, disaster preparedness and improving essential services.
In Jordan, the project will help camps and nearby communities prepare for climate risks by providing local data, protecting people from floods, heat and water shortages, and helping partners get funding to expand successful solutions.
Across the Middle East region, the project will share a model that can be used to help refugee camps adapt to climate change. It will give aid and development groups practical tools to include climate risks in their plans and projects and encourage teamwork between climate, environment and humanitarian experts for better decision-making.
This World Humanitarian Day is a reminder to turn our attention to strengthen climate and water resilience in refugee camps so that no one is left behind. Lessons from the Jerash Camp can inspire action in places far beyond Jordan where displacement and climate risk intersect.
By linking humanitarian efforts with climate adaptation, we can shift from reactive crisis response to proactive risk management, protecting communities today while preparing for a more resilient tomorrow.
*Name has been changed to protect the individual’s identity.