The Program was founded in 1992 as an initiative by His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal, Chairman of the Higher Council for Science and Technology (HCST), and it began as a collaborative research effort between the HCST and the Royal Geographical Society (UK) to study Jordan’s north-eastern badia.
The program was carried out in partnership with Durham University’s Overseas Development and Research Centre, the executive arm of the Royal Geographical Society.
The program focuses on development rather than change, aiming to achieve sustainable development in the Jordanian Badia region by integrating the Badia's economy into the national economy and improving the quality of life for its inhabitants while preserving and protecting the Badia biosphere, and its ecosystems. The program also emphasizes human resource development through specialized training courses and capacity-building programs for researchers and local communities in the fields of arid and semi-arid land development.
"Badia" is an Arabic word that refers to Jordan's dry and semi-arid regions, which account for around 80% of the kingdom. It is traditionally inhabited by Bedouin tribes that raise sheep, goats, and camels. the Badia is rich in biodiversity while confronting issues such as water scarcity, land degradation, desertification, drought, and climate change, all of which have a severe impact on residents' livelihoods and ecosystems.
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