indigenous resource management systems in the bâdia of the bilâd ash-shâm

Indigenous resource management systems in theBadia of the Bilad ash-Sham

William Lancaster & Fidelity Lancaster

Rysa Lodge, Lyness, Orkney KW16 3NU & Centre for Human Ecology, University of Edinburgh

(Received 25 September 1995, accepted 9 April 1996)

The Badiat ash-Sham is discussed in terms of its inherent capacities by localusers. These are predicated on the variations within the region, the climaticfactors, its seasonal possibilities, and its long-term resilience. Herding is oftenseen as destructive, but herders see themselves as actively managing naturalresources in a sustainable manner in the long-term. Varying market factorshave had relevance to management. The historical depth of herding in thearea is taken into consideration in the discussion.

©1997 Academic Press Limited

Keywords: Badiat ash-Sham; indigenous perspectives; herding; grazing andwater resources; resiliences

Introduction

The badia environment is viewed by its users in different ways according to thecontext; thus, landscape is constructed out of environment. One context is resourcemanagement, and in this field badia landscapes are seen in terms of possibilities forherding, for hunting and gathering, for opportunistic agriculture, and for possibilitiesin trade or service provision between other productive strategies in regions separatedby the badia. At different times, all these animal-based means of livelihood have beenpursued with different emphases. There is also the landscape marked by known orassumed individual or group human activity through time, which gives an historicaltradition; some of these markings have not left physical remains, but are commemo-rated in poetry, narratives or place names. Finally, the badia landscape is seen ascreating or marking its users through long association; badia users see the badia asclean, safe and secure, as free, a moral landscape separate from the dirt and corruptionof towns. All constructions of landscape are predicated on variabilities, seasonalsecurity, flexibility and resilience, and these qualities are derived from observations ofthe natural environment as much as from participation in the social processes of livingin the badia.

This paper focuses on the landscape and resource management. The badia is usedby different groups with different means of livelihood and management strategies atdifferent times through the year and over the years, and these groups also use otherlocations. There is a common pattern of a summer base where a group owns or has

Journal of Arid Environments (1997) 35: 367–378

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preferential or accepted access to water resources, to grain or date supplies, and to amarket for exchange; winter and early spring bases are at the furthest points of therange, where only seasonal water supplies are available, and autumn and early summerroutes are between the winter/spring areas and the chosen summer base for that year.That this is a long-standing pattern is commented on by Hiyari (1975), drawing hisinformation from the classical Arab geographers; he points out all groups had availableto them three different kinds of ecological areas at different times of the year. Theselandscapes vary in altitude, soil type and structure, plant communities and capacity forwater storage. One may be preferred for calving camels or lambing sheep in the winter,another for spring annuals, and a third for summer water and markets.

For example, many Rwala groups used the Wadi Sirhan area in the autumn, thenmoved east to winter in al-Jubbah, the Nefud and al-Labbah before moving north toal Wudiyan and the Jordanian/Syrian hamad for the spring, and summering east of theGhouta or in Jaulan. All the areas named are different: the Wadi Sirhan is low-lying,has wells for water, the soil is often salty, and the vegetation is Sudanian in type; al-Jubbah, as its name indicates, is a wide depression with some wells, sandy soil androcky outcrops, and vegetation associated with sand; the Nefud has sand dunes, anda sand shrubland vegetation; al-Labbah has somewhat different plant assemblages; al-Wudiyan has an assemblage similar to that of the hamad. The Ruwaishdat, preferredby Rwala camel herders for the autumn or spring, is favoured by sheep herders in thewinter. This use of the same area by different management systems at different timesis common throughout the peninsula.

Mobility between areas is necessary, since no one badia landscape by itself canprovide a living through the year. Alternative areas are always necessary because of thevariabilities inherent in this environment. Thus, spring is not a calendrical season butthe presence of rain-fed annuals; if there is not enough rain at the right times in theright amounts, there is no spring. One area will have no spring, but another will. Apreferred summer site may not be used because of drought resulting in a lack of cropand stored water, or the crop may fail through disease, or markets may be closed bypolitical or economic events. Land use is a choice between alternatives, with inherentrisks but also inherent certainties as there are always alternative locations or courses ofaction.

Access to alternatives comes from membership of the tribal system. This gives anidentity which is used to provide guarantees and sponsorship, which themselvesenabled a system of seasonal security based on restitution and compensation, asJaussen (1948) pointed out from his work in the early years of this century. The tribalsystem is based on individual autonomy, and ‘power to’ manage one’s own affairswithin accepted moral bounds. Wealth is social relationships and an individual’sreputation as a ‘good man’, hospitable and generous. Although identity comes fromtribal membership, an individual’s productive strategies are undertaken in anunbounded and flexible grouping that is based on a changing core of close familymembers, plus men connected through women, and often includes individuals fromdifferent tribal sections and different tribes (Lancaster & Lancaster, 1992). Whileconfusing to those who wish to compile statistics, for the individual this wider groupprovides a flexible and resilient source of capital, labour, information and access.

Location

The area of the Badiat ash-Sham that we discuss is the eastern Jordan ‘panhandle’,where the Badiat ash-Sham is characterised by the harra, or black basalt area in thewest, and the hamad, or limestone region to the east. Both these areas extend beyondstate boundaries, the harra from the Jabal Druze in Syria south into Saudi Arabia, andthe hamad from Syria through western Iraq into Saudi Arabia (Fig. 1). The Rwala and

W. LANCASTER & F. LANCASTER 368

SYRIA

IRAQ

SAUDI ARABIA

JORDAN

42

393840 37

36 35

3433

3130

29

32

2423 26

25222827

2120

11510

12 19

9876

13 14

15

16 17 18

3

1 2

43

Ar-Rghaban

Basatin

TraibilRuweishdatRUWEISHID

JEBELDRUZE

(J. al.' Arab)

SAFAWI

AZRAQ

JEBEL' ANAIZA

Al-Wudiyan

Al-Labbah

AL-JUBBAH

Nefud

WISAD

W

W

W

W

W

W4

BURQU

Dumeithat

c.100 kms

International boardersRoadsEdge of harraTraditional wells

41

N

W

associated tribes prefer the hamad, while the Ahl al Jabal prefer the harra.Traditionally, the Rwala herded camels, summering in Syria, Iraq or oases in SaudiArabia, and using the eastern Jordanian hamad as a corridor between these summerplaces and the favoured winter areas in Saudi Arabia; some use eastern Jordan in theautumn or spring by preference. The Rwala lived on their camel herds, selling surplusto the urban draught and transport markets, and provided services of protection tomerchants and their caravans. Some owned land in oases or desert fringe villages. TheRwala took khuwa from such villages in return for protection; khuwa is seen by theRwala and others as a method of distribution between productive sectors through theprovision of guarantees and restitution. The area was also used by Ahl al Jabal goat and

Figure 1. Map of the study area.

INDIGENOUS RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, E. JORDAN 369

sheep herders in the winter and early spring, who then drew back through the harranorth-westwards towards their summer areas in the Jabal Druze. The Ahl al Jabal, aswell as living from their animals, provided herding services to village and urbansheepowners, and supplied the urban market with dairy products, lambs and wool;they also undertook rain-fed arable farming in favourable seasons in suitable locationslike the Rahba and Shabaika. Both tribes took part in the raiding economy, which haddifferent economic and political aspects, but the essential point was that it suppliedanimals to an external market or to internal locations faster than natural growth rates;it also limited accumulation of camels, horses or goods beyond the capacity of theowner to guard them successfully, thus encouraging good management. The tribaleconomy was animal based, and as well as providing a basic subsistence, provided forvarious integrations between sectors which was achieved by the ability to providesecurity — or what badia users refer to as ‘ruling’.

Research

The research from which this paper stems began in the 1970s, but a specific focus onresource management started in the late 80s and has continued. The changes to thetraditional system outlined above have been both political and technological, butalthough changes are very obvious, long-term continuities are maintained. Writtenmaterial on herding practices in the badia of Jordan and Syria comment on overgrazingand the subsequent degradation of the environment, as in Long (1957), Guest (1966),Chatty (1986), Lewis (1987), and some of the papers in Steppes d’Arabies (1993:Jaubert; Treacher; Bocco; Sanlaville). When we began this period of research, we alsoassumed ‘overgrazing’ and ‘degradation’ to be a fact, although what was meant bythese two terms in the literature was ambiguous and inconsistent.

Apart from Musil’s accounts (1927, 1928) of his travels between 1908–16, there hasbeen little appreciation of local knowledge of the environment and managementstrategies. Herders have been assumed to be driven by the desire for profits and herdgrowth; and, while dependent on the market, to have been isolated from alternativeeconomic activities except as wage labourers or, in the past, raiders. Neither of thesepositions can be maintained. There has been a growing appreciation of the complexityof pastoral management systems, culminating in the acceptance of the multi-resourceeconomy, the necessary relationships between herders and urban or village markets,and to a lesser extent of the nature of production and distribution (e.g. Salzman, 1971;Lancaster, 1981; Yedid, 1984; Fabietti, 1990; Metral, 1993; Lancaster & Lancaster1993, 1995). However, there has been little research on badia users’ views on theirenvironment. The literature appears to portray herders as using their environment inan almost mechanistic way (e.g. Sanlaville, 1993); the exception is Hobbs in hisinteresting book on the Bedouin of Upper Egypt (1991).

There has been considerable scientific attention paid to desertification andconservation in recent years and there is now a huge specialist literature on thesetopics, a literature which we are not competent to evaluate: but even as non-specialistswe have been made aware that the role of pastoral nomadism is being re-evaluated asless destructive than previously supposed. Our position is not to enter the scientificdebate (for which we are unqualified) but to put forward the knowledge and practiceof local users of the geology, soils, water, climate and vegetation of the badia, and theiruse of it for herd management: this is surely a relevant component which is currentlylacking. The portrayal of the badia as a series of two-dimensional diagrams based onrainfall isohyets, temperatures, humidities, wind speeds and soil types ignores therealities. Badia users see the region more as a series of varied islands and corridors of


grazing and water, with areas of shelter and warmth for the winter and of cooleruplands for summer use.

Vegetation depends on soil type and soil moisture levels. An unpredictable rainfallis a fundamental fact of badia landscape. Badia users have a large vocabulary forrainfalls, based on the amounts, timings, intensity, areas covered, and the saturation ofthe different surfaces on which the rain fell (Musil, 1928). The seasonality of rain iswithin a star calendar. For good grazing and the recharge of wells and other waterstorage, rains are needed in November/December and again in February/March; fouror five steady and widespread downpours each lasting 3 or 4 days are the ideal. Suchrains not only maintain and regenerate the perennials, but also bring forth springannuals which are essential for good milk production. The young animals have a goodstart, the mature regain condition, and there is milk for commercial production as wellas household subsistence. Particular plants are associated with good milk production(Appendix 1).

The nature of the underlying rock produces different capacities for water storage.Thus the drainage systems, wudiyan, have been scoured through deposited soils tobedrock of limestone or basalt, and where the rock is softer, basins and wide channelshave been created by water action. These basins and wide channels have beenenhanced for water storage by badia users digging out gravel and silt, cutting awaystone, or building up shallow banks at the end of channels to hold water back. Suchbasins and channels are called ghadır (pl. ghudran), and also occur in shallowdepressions in wide silty basins called sha’ıb (pl. shi’ban), again by water action.Regions without active drainage systems, because of relative flatness in the hamad orin the harra with the geology of hard volcanic rock with partial sand infill, collectrainfall in flat shallow areas of very close textured soil with rock underneath. These arecalled khabra (pl. khabrat) when they contain rainfall, but ga’ (pl. gi’an) when dry.Water storage is achieved by digging out and walling those parts of the khabra nearestto the adjacent sha’ıb or hill slope, against which the wide and shallow waterflow mightconveniently be held. These are called mahfur (pl. mahafır), literally excavations,diggings, and vary in size up to being visible on air photographs: all appear to be pre-modern (Agnew et al., 1995; Lancaster & Lancaster, forthcoming). Wells in this regionare found only in the harra itself, and are recharged from rainfall within theunderground drainage systems as well as by surface fill. Just as badia users build andclean out these shallow wells, they dig small mahafır and they assume they could buildlarge ones if they found it worthwhile. There are also the more or less natural rockpools, the largest and best known of which is Burqu’, and the smaller series at Wisad.All these water storage systems were and are used for animals as well as people. Smallamounts of water for individual herders, hunters or raiders could be got by digging outvery small mahafır at the edges of rainpools, or using water that ran into holes in rocks,as well as building small seepage systems in the beds of dry ghadır. People also builtcisterns to store water in ghadır and, by using runoff, sometimes on flat topped hills inthe harra. All of these systems in themselves are of considerable antiquity; some havebeen dated to the Early Bronze Age (Helms, 1981; Braemer, 1988; Betts & Helms,1989; Vidal).

The importance of soil moisture levels for plant growth has been mentioned. Usuallyit is grazing that is being considered, but there are places in the eastern badia whereopportunistic cultivation can be undertaken in favourable years. The Rahba insouthern Syria was well known (Wetzstein, 1860), and Shubaika in the harra has theremains of a village with millstones, probably Ayyubid in date. Its present users growdurra (millet) if there are late rains, and barley in years like 1995 when rain fell inNovember and February. Shubaika, like the sha’ıb of Mahdath where similar crops arealso grown in some years, is a natural drainage basin. At the Bronze Age site of Jawa(Helms, 1981), and at farms developed in the 1930s along the Wadi Jawa, channellingwas built to increase soil moisture levels to the necessary amounts, using runoff and


snow melt from the Wadi Rajil system coming from the south-eastern Jebel Druze. Inthe northern hamad, there are places where barley may be grown in suitable years,either by natural draining to a sha’ıb, or by creating suitable conditions by building anearth dam across part of a wadi system to flood land within a bank. At two of theseplaces, there are remains of earlier structures (ar-Rısha al-gharbi and close to ar-Rıshaal-sharqi), probably late Byzantine/early Islamic. All current cultivation is used withinand along the wider domestic network, some for consumption by people but most foranimal feed.

There is a vast indigenous terminology for water storage, water flows and runoffs,soils, rocks and gravels, sands, and for wells and cisterns. Many physiographic termsmay be found in Musil (1928), although the definitions he gives to particular terms arenot necessarily applied only to that term. Many individuals use terms more loosely,and indeed, almost interchangeably, e.g. thumaila/birkeh. People have a deepknowledge of landscapes over wide areas. Knowledge of water flows within the variouswadi systems after differing periods of rain in the eastern hamad is commonplace, andstretches well into Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iraq. Every part of the landscape has aname, which is usually descriptive. Directions are given not only in terms of noticeablefeatures, but using bearings on these features, soil or rock changes, or particular standsof plants.

Given the depth of knowledge of the landscape, and the length of time its users havebeen living there — some 7–8 thousand years (Briant, 1982; Betts et al., 1990;Lancaster & Lancaster, 1991; Macdonald, 1992) — might not its users activelymanage their use, and the landscape itself be resilient? The impetus to see imminentdegradation may come from an awareness of the current changes in herding ratherthan of long-term continuities based on a resilient plant ecology. Changes in herdinginclude a restriction of grazing areas from an increase in agriculture and the restrictionson crossing borders, the change from camels to sheep, a huge demand for meat anddairy products from a greatly increased urban population in Jordan and in SaudiArabia, and a consequent increase in the sheep population (Lancaster & Lancaster,forthcoming). (The decrease in camels and the advent of large numbers in sheep,together with the use of bought dry feed, may not have necessarily changed thedemand of grazing animals on plants.) A corollary is the intensification of herding, withbought in dry feed, the need for lorries and tankers, and the use of hired shepherds, allof which need money and therefore demand more sheep. This was exactly the picturegiven to us by a Ghayyathi herding family, amongst others, in eastern Jordan.

Development experts and range consultants used to assume that herders maximisedproduction. While particular herders may decide to do so, there are abundantexamples that others do not. Opportunistic increases in herd numbers when a goodyear occurs are logical and effective management, and herds are decreased in pooryears. (Similarly in regard to cultivation in good years; by no means every availablesha’ıb is ploughed and sown, not even those that have been cultivated in former years.)A second assumption is that herding has become far more market orientated, with theincorporation of herders into a cash economy and the delights of a consumer society,and therefore there is further pressure to maximise production. Examples of herders’practices do not support this. This lack of automatic maximisation combined withparticipation in the cash economy coexist because any herder has his wider domesticnetwork which is ‘a dynamic unit towards which converge resources originating froma variety of sectors, procured and organised by mobile individuals belonging to aparental group whose dimensions and composition are not definable a priori’ (Fabietti,1990). That is, other members partake in other sectors of the economy, which havebecome larger with state security services, bureaucracies and services, as well as tradingand entrepreneurial activities, all largely funded directly or indirectly from the region’sgeopolitical position and oil. Their incomes from these sectors can augment that of theherder in bad years, just as herding income goes to them in an endless linkage of debt


and credit. Herders themselves were and are practising a multi-resource economy,with individuals moving between sectors for longer or shorter periods; Burckhardt(1822), Doughty (1936) and Musil (1927) give good examples, which can be parallelfrom our own experience (Lancaster, 1981).

Observations over the last 8 years indicate current herding practice. (We discusssheepherding because while camel herds use eastern Jordan, most camel herds arebased in Saudi and visit the eastern hamad seasonally. Ahl al Jebel, Ghayyath andZubaid sheep herds are normally based in Jordan, while Rwala sheep herds may bebased in Jordan or in Saudi Arabia.) Sheep herding is profitable, the amount of profitdepending on the relationship between costs and returns. There are rarely good rainsover the whole region, but usually there are good conditions in a few areas, passable insome and poor in others; an unpredictable patchwork of natural resources. Access tograzing and water is through known social processes through tribal identity, based onhabitual associations of living and using. Access to grazing outside a group’s usualrange may be arranged in a variety of ways. The balancing of costs and needs regulatesthe number of animals and the use of grazing in an active management ofresources.

State and private provision of deep wells and dry feed allows the use of the badia allyear by sheep herds. Sheep were traditionally fed for a month before lambing and amonth after, but in poor years sheep in the badia may be fed for 11 months of the year.The costs of doing this are defrayed by selling numbers built up in good years abovethe core matriline or matrilines. Sheep bought in in good years come from areas whereconditions are poor, or from herders who are selling to raise cash for marriages,compensation, realising investments, loss of labour, costs above returns, ill-health andso on. Distribution of breeding sheep in relation to available grazing is a normalmanagement practice achieved by sales, gifts, or by arranging grazing along domesticnetworks to areas outside the normal range. Building up numbers in good years hasalways been the other side of decrease, by not selling breeding sheep, by trade, raidingor theft, or by arranging to herd sheep from parts of the wider networks in poor areas.Flock number build up is usually to triple its core; the additional labour for herdingand milk processing comes from members of the network by making share agreementsor by hiring labour.

Herd size is variable within a herd, and also varies between herds. Those whoconcentrate on producing dairy products and meat have herds of between 60–250 or300; these numbers are the number of animals seen herded by one working unit.Those who concentrate on meat production for the Saudi market, who are usuallysheep traders as well, have flocks of 100 to 4000 or more. A herder can herd up to 250sheep, or 100 goats; many sheep flocks have a proportion of goats, partly as insurance,partly to use available grazing more effectively, and partly so that the goats, whobrowse, keep the sheep moving. Typically, winter grazing starts an hour after sunrise,moving away from the tent. The flock follows the herder to patches of grazing but israrely allowed to stand and graze for longer than a few minutes. Grazing occurs as theherd moves, in a loop of some 5 to 10 km, depending on grazing and water, returningan hour before sunset. Owners of large herds who use employed shepherds arrange thepassage of the herds in neighbouring areas and deliver feed (and water if necessary) tothe flocks each day at different rendezvous. Summer patterns rest the sheep for mostof the day, often under shelters for shade, and grazing and watering are at night, earlymorning and late afternoon. While seasonal movement for sheep is less necessary thanit was, many Ahl al Jabal sheep return to the village lands or to rented arable land inthe summer while goats move into the badia from herds that wintered in the Ghor.

The management of grazing in different seasons and in different years is a constantjuggling of known grazing, costs, labour and access to other areas along domesticnetworks. Herding families have preferred locations during the year, but often useothers. Crossing borders is difficult, and some like the Ahl al Jabal rely on government


representation to cross into Iraq, as in 1989; others like the Rwala and Sardiyya haveaccess to Saudi Arabia and Iraq through their own networks. It is these that specialisein sheep trading. So that children can attend school, and for feed and water collection,many herding families base themselves in an area for some years, while their herdsrange up to 50 km or more away. People also stay put because they see no betteralternative, as did an Ahl al Jabal group using the Mahdath area from 1983 to 1991;that year they moved to the Ghor for the winters and spent the summers betweenJerash and Mafraq, and the Mahdath has not been used since. This pattern can be seento greater or lesser degree in other areas, while some places are regularly used for briefperiods of 2 or 3 months. While there is long-term extensive use of particular localities,there are reciprocal long-term abandonments. There is a constant and continualmovement of herds which change their composition, and a less constant but consistentmovement of family bases.

Conclusion

This paper has attempted to show that there is a deep knowledge and appreciation ofthe badia by its users, and that herders actively manage their herds in relation to theavailable resources. Badia users see their environment to be both stable over time andresilient, paralleling the demands of an unpredictable and arid climate. They see theirherding as responding to that resilience, expanding in good areas and decreasing inpoor, and point out that shifts in animal numbers are a function of the redistributionbetween areas of surplus and deficit grazing (Appendix 2). They see overuse in eitherthe short- or long-term as not only self-defeating but difficult to achieve, since costsrapidly outweigh returns. After the good rains of 1994–95 in most of the eastern badia,shi’ban that had been ploughed some 4 or 5 years earlier were covered with a widevariety of valued annuals and regenerating and seeded perennials. It is significant thatherds were grazing the least thickly covered slopes while the flowery meadows of theshi’ban were setting seed, although these places had been grazed earlier in the season.Badia users’ conviction that their landscape is infinitely capable of renewal and thattheir indigenous management systems are appropriate appears to be upheld.

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Plateaux du nord-est de la ville de Hama (Syrie). In: Aurenche, O. (Ed.), Nomades etSedentaires: Perspectives ethno-archeologiques, pp. 19–50. Paris: CRNS.


Local name Botanical name (where identified)

In Springniza Poa sinaicaor Stipagrostis plumosagraita All Plantagosp.irdza’ (arja, arqa) Helianthemum lippiihazzar All small Cruciferae sp.qafâ’a All annual Astragalussp.nifal All Trigonellasp. and Medicagosp.bikhatri All Erodiumsp. especially E. cicutariumkhafsh Brassica tournefortii, Diplotaxis acris

and D. harraumm al-grayn Hippocrepissp.nai’îma Lotussp.?rashâd Lepidum aucheri

From Ahl al Jabal at Jawadeydehân Ropemeria hybridajurrais Aaronsohnia factorskyinifal Medicagosp., Trigonellasp.bikhatrî All Erodiumsp.ribla All Plantagosp.‘arbiyyân Anthemis melampodinaslîh or salîh Gypsophilasp. Better when dry

These two lists conform to what each herder had locally at that date.

Appendix 2

Seasonal grazing plants, from Rwala, Ghayyath and Ahl al Jabal herders using the easternbâdia.


Springniza’ Poa sinaicaor Stipagrostis plumosakhafûr Schismus barbatussama’ Stipa capensissulayân Stipagrostis obtusaal hosnîyya ? Phalaris minorsajil, shu’ayyira Rostraria cristataalso Hordeumsp.da’ah Lasiurus scindicus

APPENDICES

Local names have been transliterated as heard. They are not consistent as pronunciation andstress vary from tribe to tribe and person to person as may the names themselves.

Appendix 1

Plants recommended for good milk production. From Shadzi Abu Aghlan ar-Rweli. (He prefersto use Rghaban, Basatın and Traibıl, but also sends his sheep to Iraq and to Saudi Arabia, basedat Swair).


Appendix 2 - continued


Other grasses unidentifieddu’a, mlîh Aizöon hispanicasalîh Gypsophilasp.humbayz Emex spinosahambaz Rumex vesicariuskhubayza Malva parviflorairdja Helianthemum lippiikhafsh Brassica tournefortiiand Diplotaxis

harrasalîh, islîh Erucariasp., Cakilesp., Lepidum

aucherior Neotorulariasp.khuzaylân Savigna parviflorarashâd Lepidum sativumkhuzayma Horwoodiasp.shiggâra Matthiolasp.hazzar All small Cruciferaenifal Trigonellasp., Medicagosp.na’îma Lotus haplophilusgafâ’a Annual Astragalussp.shitâde (kidâd) Astragalus spinosus(grazed when

young)umm al-grayn Hippocrepis bicontortabikhatrî Erodiumsp.tzahil (kahil) Arnebia gastrocotylegrayta All Plantagosp.gutayna Plantago ciliataor Filago desertorumribla Plantago boissieriand coronopusjathjâth Pulicariasp.‘arbiyyân Anthemis melampodinajurrais Aaronsohnia factorovskyihawthân Picris babylonica

Summer grazingDrying and dry spring annuals, some of which, e.g. graita (Plantago coronopus) and salîh(Gypsophilasp., Erucaria sp., Cakilesp. and Neotorulariasp.) are said to be better dry than fresh. Gryita is said toreally put fat on the animals. Summer annuals included gathgâth(annual Salsola sp.), agûl (Alhaji mau-roum) and roghol (annual Atriplex sp.) which start to appear in early April or later. Also dry grasses.

mlîh Aizöon hispanicaroghl Atriplex sp.rûte Salsola vermiculataghudraf Salsola volkensiihamdh Halothamnus bottaerimth Haloxylon salicornumajram Anabasis lachnanthasha’arân Anabasis setiferaneytûl, yintûl ?shubrum, shibrîq Zilla spinosathunaybât Cayluseasp.shuwayta, shuwaydha Helianthemumsp.labt, urzh Prosopis farctashitâde Astragalus spinosusagûl Alhaji maurorumza’tar Thymussp.


kalsha ? Halimocnemis pilosahamat Moltkiopsis ciliatashîh Artemisia sieberifirs Artemisia ?judaicaamrâr, mrâr Centaureasp.

Autum and winter grazingBefore rain, as above, but dew from humidities in the soil will have freshened the perennials. Some, likeshubrum, often flower and put on new growth at this time. As some plants dry, such as gathgâth —Salsola jordanicolaand gaysûma — Achillea fragrantissima — they become palatable. After the firstrains, annuals begin to appear, niza — Poa sinaica, Stipagrostis plumosa— and grayta — plantains —are among the first.

Appendix 3

Plants seen during the last week in March 1995 in various locations in the eastern bâdia ofJordan.Identifications. This is not meant for botanists, it is a record of what local people know abouttheir landscape and an indication of different plant communities. Plants were identified fromprevious knowledge and local names collected from herders. Plants were photographed andchecked using Mandaville’s Flora of Eastern Saudi Arabia: the photographs were furtherchecked by Prof. Da’ûd al-Eisawi, Professor of Botany at the University of Jordan, to whomwe are deeply grateful for all his time and help. (Numbers refer to first identification).

Location 1. (South-east of Jâwa)

1 & 2. Two sorts of Erodium sp. bakhatrî3. Senecio glaucus rijlet al ghurab, jirjîr (people eat it)4. Gypsophilasp. salîh5. Malva sp. khubayza (people eat it)6. Roemaria hybrida didhân, daydehân7. ?Hypocoum pendulum umm ath-thurayb8. Speedwell ?9. Medicago laciniata nifal10. Anthemis melampodina arbayyân11. Carduus pycnocephalus shadd al-jamâl12. Brassica tournefortii khafsh13. Astragalus annularis gafâ’a14. ? Red campion ?15. Hyoscyamus pusilus hîshî16. Centaurea sp. (Pink) ‘amrâr17. Herniaria hirsuta ?


indigenous resource management systems in the bâdia of the bilâd ash-shâm

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