By Tamar Ben-Ami l
On Amman’s windy side streets, where ancient and modern aspiration meet, something discreet is building. A new generation of young Jordanians are coming forward to guide the Middle East towards a cleaner, greener future — not in protest, but through innovation, education, and grass-roots activism.
At just 23 years old, Lina Al-Hassan doesn’t consider herself a hero. But in the last two years, her startup GreenGen has helped install over 400 rooftop solar panels in underserved neighborhoods across northern Jordan. “We saw a gap,” she explains. “Most green solutions target wealthy areas. But climate change hits the most vulnerable first. We’re trying to flip that narrative.”
Lina is a member of a new generation of Jordanian climate leaders who, in great numbers, are making their nation’s environmental challenges — from desertification to water shortages — a green innovation laboratory. Their labors have echoes far beyond Jordan.
A Country at the Crossroads
Jordan is the world’s driest nation. With more climate change and refugee populations exerting pressure on natural resources, environmental stress is greater. It is this very reality that has compelled a bottom-up movement of environmentalism, much led by youth.
From aquaponic farms in the Jordan Valley to anti-plastic campaigns in Irbid, young people are not only demanding change — they’re leading it. Jordan ranks among the top countries in the Arab world on a per capita basis in the number of youth climate action campaigns, as highlighted in a UNDP report on Arab youth and climate change.
A Network of Hope
In 2022, the Jordan Youth Climate Movement (JYCM) launched a regional partnership with Egyptian, Lebanese, and Israeli stakeholders, and emerged out of cross-boundary water sustainability projects. “Climate knows no borders,” declares JYCM co-founder Ahmad Mansour. “Neither should we.”
Their most recent project? A pilot water treatment student-led eco-engineering along the Zarqa River, with cooperation from Haifa students. The project has already been supported by EcoPeace Middle East, a trilateral non-governmental organization working with Israelis, Jordanians, and Palestinians on common environmental assets.
Alliances such as these among such youth are a reassuring trend: climatic cooperation as a blessed marriage in an all too frequently discordant world.
Innovating with Purpose
Jordanian universities are also turning into hotspots for sustainability. The Hashemite University has just launched a Center for Environmental and Energy Research, backing student innovations in solutions for solar energy, smart irrigation, and climate education.
Youths like 21-year-old Yazan Quraan are bucking the trend with bio-engineered products based on desert plant life, a breakthrough recently awarded at the MIT Arab Innovation Forum. “We don’t want to just find solutions to Jordan’s problems,” Yazan says. “We want to export solutions globally.”
Climate Action Meets Culture
What is unique about Jordan’s climate movement is that it is sensitive to culture. The youth movements here blend Bedouin cultural practices of land and water management, using ancient knowledge to develop new technology. “It’s not a matter of incorporating Western concepts,” says environmental and anthropological activist Salma Odeh. “It’s a matter of reclaiming what we already know — and empowering young people to take the lead.”
This is also reflected in Jordan’s creative economy. A new eco-theater performance in downtown Amman, written and acted by high school students, spoke of a new future Jordan saved by nature. The play ended on its feet — and with a commitment from the audience to reduce single-use plastics.
The Road Ahead
While there are issues to overcome, the mood is electric. The Government of Jordan’s Ministry of Environment recently unveiled a negotiated new climate education strategy with young leaders that will place climate science in all second-level curricula by 2027 — already spearheaded by the UNESCO Regional Bureau.
No exaggeration is necessary in describing Jordan’s early years as an example par excellence of Middle Eastern resilience to the climate. The vitality and optimism that have powered their endeavors are an exhilarating model of what may be achieved through action and vision combined.
As Lina Al-Hassan puts it, “We don’t need to wait for someone to save us. We’re already building the future — one solar panel, one school garden, one voice at a time.”
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