Hussam Hussein publishes article on civil society organisations’ engagement in Jordanian climate policy

DPIR Research Associate Hussam Hussein has had a paper published in the journal Development Policy Review on climate justice in Jordan.

It comes as international delegates met in Brazil earlier this month for negotiations on climate change at COP30 – the 30th annual UN climate meeting.

We caught up with Hussam to ask him to explain the paper in greater detail and its relevance today:
 

1. What is the paper about?
 

The article examines how civil society organisations in Jordan are engaging with climate policy at a time when the country is both highly vulnerable to climate impacts and heavily dependent on international aid. Drawing on 17 interviews and field observations, the study analyses how CSOs frame climate justice, navigate donor priorities, and try to shape national climate governance. It shows how global justice narratives are adopted, adapted, and sometimes constrained within Jordan’s centralised political system and aid-driven climate sector.

2. What is the key point you are trying to convey?

The central message is that Jordanian CSOs are active, creative actors in climate governance, but their ability to influence national policy remains limited by donor-driven funding models and weak participatory structures. While donors promote inclusion and justice, their funding practices often unintentionally restrict CSO autonomy. As a result, civil society contributes to climate debates, but rarely shapes the climate agenda. For climate justice to be meaningful, both the funding architecture and the institutional channels of participation need to change.

3. Why is this relevant today?

Jordan is a frontline climate-vulnerable country facing severe water scarcity, rising temperatures, and rapid demographic pressures. At the global level, debates after COP28–COP30 have placed justice, equity, and locally grounded solutions at the centre of climate action. This paper shows what these global debates look like in practice within an aid-dependent political system. The findings speak directly to wider challenges across the Global South: how to make climate action inclusive when political space is restricted and when international aid shapes the terms of engagement.

4. What does it mean to have this article published?

This article highlights the international significance of Jordan’s experience and places it within broader development policy debates. It amplifies voices and insights from Jordan’s climate civil society—an often overlooked but increasingly important set of actors. For the Department of Politics and International Relations at Oxford, it showcases research that combines rigorous fieldwork with policy-relevant analysis in a part of the world where empirical studies on climate governance remain scarce.