Greening the desert: the architect regenerating Jordan’s native forests
Guilt over her role in concreting the landscape led Deema Assaf to set up Tayyun, dedicated to reforesting one of the world’s most arid countries
W alking along a path in Jordan’s Birgish forest, one of the very few remaining patches of woodland in one of the world’s driest countries, Deema Assaf is careful not to step on any of the delicate wild orchids.
Deforestation and the climate crisis have left the desert nation with just 1% tree cover. But Assaf, an architect, believes that with time, patience and new conservation techniques she can help turn it green again.
“We once had dense forests,” she says. “There were elephants, rhinos and the Asiatic lion – animals that used to coexist with people here.”
Gazing up at an old oak, she says: “Discovering that made me see the landscape from a different perspective. It is fascinating to see the potential – if human intervention was not affecting it [the ecosystem] negatively.”
Now an “urban forester”, Assaf is an avid collector of information about Jordan’s native plants. She is also the founder and director of Tayyun, an Amman-based organisation that researches urban rewilding and regenerating ecosystems in cities.
