11719 Mitigating Water Scarcity: Exploring Rainwater Harvesting for Vulnerable Communities

Rainwater harvesting is the process of collecting and storing rainwater for later use. In countries of the Arab region such as Jordan and Lebanon, where a large portion of the population depends on agriculture and where water scarcity is a constant challenge, rainwater harvesting presents itself as a sustainable solution to augment dwindling water resources.
The objective of the session is to illustrate the viability of rainwater harvesting (RWH) in alleviating water scarcity for vulnerable communities, including the displaced and their hosts. The session will feature cases of rainwater harvesting from various contexts in the Arab region including a UN-Habitat led Adaptation Fund project in Lebanon and Jordan, a UNDP led and Government of Germany/KfW-funded project in Lebanon, and various FAO RWH projects in Jordan, in particular the recent first GCF funded project entitled “Building resilience to cope with climate change in Jordan through improving water use efficiency in the agriculture sector (BRCCJ).” The session panellists will delve into the achieved water savings, financial and environmental implications, pairing with greywater treatment systems, challenges faced in implementing RWH systems, the development of incentive systems to upscale RWH activities, and suggestions for the sustainable maintenance (including the sustainable finance) of implemented systems.