Table Of ContentTransforming Land, Transforming Lives
Greening Innovation and Urban Agriculture in the
Context of Forced Displacement
Lemon Tree Trust
FOREWORD 1
FOREWORD
Contents
Foreword 1 Dallas, USA: Greening Innovation and Urban Agriculture in the city 32-33
Redefning what’s possible: Lemon Tree Trust
Summary 2 Dallas, USA: urban agriculture for resettled refugees 34-35
Defnitions 3 Dallas, USA: key barriers to urban agriculture 36-37
There are more refugees in the world today than ever previously recorded. In the Dohuk Governorate of the Kurdistan Region, we have 22 formal
Introduction 4-5 Nakivale Refugee Settlement, Uganda:
If the displaced were the population of one country, it would be the 24th refugee and IDP camps with a combined population of 229,000 displaced
Greening innovation explained 6-7 building lives in a rural environment 38-39
largest in the world. people. A further 356,000 displaced people live in our towns and cities.
Urban agriculture explained 8-9 Za’atari Refugee Camp, Jordan: greening an accidental city 40-41 In Dohuk Governorate, the pressure on our infrastructure and natural
Water 10-11 Azraq Camp, Jordan: rebuilding lives in the desert 42-43 In the face of this unprecedented challenge, the world is tasked with fnding durable resources is immense.
Soil 12-13 Leading the way: examples of best practice 44-45 solutions that require common purpose. We need bold and inclusive leadership,
Seeds 14-15 Overview of current guidelines 46-47 deep understanding, and ambitious plans with decisive actions. Change calls for That is why at the Board of Relief and Humanitarian Affairs, we look for innovative
Space 16-17 Moving forwards 48 the innovation and nimbleness more typical of lean start-ups. It calls for an approach solutions to address these problems.
rooted in a network of talented professionals who believe grassroots movements can
Voices from Domiz Camp 18-25 Redefning what’s possible 49
change the world. Greening refugee camps and urban agriculture – planting trees, turning wastes
Domiz Camp, Iraq: greening innovation in practice 26-27 Useful guidelines, manuals and publications 51
to resources, creating livelihoods, protecting the environment – is one innovative
Domiz Camp, Iraq: urban agriculture in practice 28-29 Credits 53 At Lemon Tree Trust, we believe that urban agriculture – the tangible manifestation example that we strongly endorse.
Domiz Camp, Iraq: garden competitions as an assessment tool 30-31 of ecology, greening and cultivation – creates new and unrealised value to
achieve dignity, empowerment and sovereignty for those living in under-resourced We welcome the initiative of the Lemon Tree Trust and urge other partners to
communities, such as refugee camps. embrace their visionary approach by making life for the displaced dignifed and
green for the beneft of all humanity.
A lemon tree serves not only as something physical to be nurtured, but also functions
as a symbol for agricultural solutions for displaced persons – trees and gardens Laylan Mohamed Salih
provide beauty, shelter, food and economic security. Program Manager of Refugees and IDPs, Board of Relief and Humanitarian Affairs, Dohuk Governorate,
Kurdistan Regional Government
At the Lemon Tree Trust, we envision refugee camps where residents are engaged in
the design of sustainable and innovative urban agricultural practices while ensuring
yields that beneft all.
This report details the vision, mission, strategies and tactics for how we will undertake
this greening innovation in refugee camps. We invite you to join us in our effort to assist
the globally displaced – one tree, one garden, one life at a time.
Sincerely,
Cover image: A green oasis – a small refugee home Long view of Azraq Camp, Jordan. Located in a hot desert environment, Azraq has no electricity, Stephanie Hunt and Mikey Tomkins Innovative use of vertical space for growing vegetables in Domiz Camp, Iraq.
garden in the middle of Azraq Camp, Jordan. and refugees have to walk long distances for water and food. Despite these limitations, Azraq
has space and the potential for large-scale greening innovation and urban agriculture. Co-Founders, Lemon Tree Trust www.lemontreetrust.org
SUMMARY / DEFINITIONS 3
Summary Defnitions
Greening innovation and urban agriculture could transform twenty-frst • Jordan: In Za’atari Refugee Camp, we wil create GREENING INNOVATION URBAN AGRICULTURE FORCED DISPLACEMENT
urban agriculture century thinking around refugees with regard to food community gardens, introducing compost production,
• Today, over 60 million people are living under security, landscape ecology and waste recycling. polytunnels, rabbit production, and hydroponics. is change; a breathing, growing, living process that is the growing of plants and the raising of animals refers to the situations of people who leave or fee
forced displacement conditions. In the face of this In Azraq Camp, resource recovery and reuse will makes our landscapes and living spaces ecologically within and around cities and other settlements. Its most their homes due to confict, violence, persecution
unprecedented challenge, we need bold, inclusive transform both organic solid and liquid waste into resilient and sustainable. It uses environmentally striking feature is how the practice is integrated into the or human rights violations. Globally, there are now
leadership, deep understanding, ambitious plans Practical examples valuable resources, and we will also support food friendly, climate-smart technologies and practices to urban economy and fabric itself and thus embedded almost 20 million refugees and 40 million internally
and decisive action to fnd sustainable solutions. production in home and market gardens. grow food, plant trees, produce energy, and to convert in – and interacting with – the urban ecosystem. In the displaced persons (IDPs) – and most are hosted in
Greening innovation and urban agriculture can be a • Iraq: In Domiz Camp, by supporting home gardens, our wastes into resources using productive closed- context of forced displacement, urban agriculture (UA) developing countries. Many of these refugees and
key part of this. seed, tree and tool distribution, and running a loop systems that actually build rather than exploit has a clear role to play from the earliest stages of a IDPs don’t have access to land, property, housing,
• Greening innovation makes landscapes and living garden competition, we are demonstrating how Mainstreaming greening their natural resources base. It also learns from the crisis, through refugee camp and crisis-city settings, livelihoods, urban services and accountable and
spaces ecologically resilient and sustainable. It uses refugees use home gardening to create ownership innovation and urban agriculture local experience, respecting the everyday inventive to resettlement or returnees, but whatever the case, responsive governance. In this report we use the
environmentally friendly, climate-smart technologies of their immediate space, and how these gardens responses of people and communities, and their facilitating the transition from food insecurity, to food term ‘refugees’ synonymously with IDPs.
and practices to grow food, plant trees, produce can make a vital contribution to food security. • Greening innovation and urban agriculture can bring original contributions to greening. security, then food sovereignty is always the goal.
energy, and convert waste into resources using Infrastructure such as greenhouses or plant enormous benefts to refugees and host communities,
productive closed-loop systems that build rather nurseries should be integrated in camp planning, as as well as to those with a duty of care.
than exploit their natural resources base. should strategies for resource recovery and reuse of • Existing guidelines, frameworks and research papers
• Urban agriculture – the growing of plants and raising wastewater and organic solid wastes. on integrating innovative natural resource-based
of animals in and around cities and settlements – • United States: In Dallas, work with resettled sustainable livelihoods into refugee camp planning
should be integrated into urban ecosystems, with refugees shows how urban agriculture can be a vital and design are seldom applied.
food sovereignty as the goal. part of sustainable growth, helping to eradicate local • Camps can no longer be planned around the
• Together, greening innovation and urban food deserts and developing livelihoods in under- unsustainable linear model of inputted resources and
agriculture can bring dignity, empowerment and resourced communities. Mapping has been used to discharged waste.
food sovereignty to refugee communities. Simple identify unused land suitable for growing food. • Signifcant change is needed before greening
technologies and waste recovery make these • Uganda: The example of Nakivale Refugee innovation and urban agriculture are adopted
techniques cost effective and adaptable. Both Settlement demonstrates how growing food in more widely as part of the solution to the forced
should be central to designing, implementing and refugee settlements is part of the solution to food displacement crisis. However even where the
sustaining both refugee camps and overcrowded insecurity, contributing to city and regional food permanence of refugee camps has not been
urban areas. systems and enhancing farming systems in host conceded, the closing-the-loop model can still be
• This report examines current and potential use communities. In Nakivale, projects range from home developed and greening innovation and small-scale
of greening innovation and urban agriculture in gardening to the development of lakeside buffer food production can still be supported.
refugee camps, cities and rural settlements in four zones using agroecology to protect natural water
countries. Together, these examples demonstrate resources.
how the scaling up of greening innovation and Walking around Azraq Camp, occasional gardens like these
punctuate the otherwise endless sandy landscape.
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INTRODUCTION 5
Introduction
By the time they reach the safety of a refugee camp, or fnd a new home in a city, most refugees have
already suffered enormously. But for many, this is only the start, as they try to rebuild their lives in
cramped shelters, often in harsh, unforgiving environments, with poor sanitation, poor quality food and
“My motivation for starting few opportunities to earn a living.
gardening here is that it’s The reality is that one-third of refugees – over 20 million We must aim higher: greening innovation and urban
living within me, moving in people – live in protracted refugee situations in 30 agriculture should be central to designing, implementing
countries. These situations present some of today’s and sustaining the accidental city that is the refugee
my blood. Wherever I go, I
most compelling humanitarian challenges as refugees camp or tomorrow’s overcrowded urban areas.
don’t feel comfortable until fnd themselves in long-lasting, intractable states of
limbo for years on end. With restricted movement or Simple technology and waste recovery make greening
I plant something and take
confnement in camps, refugees often cannot build innovation and urban agriculture cost effective and easily
care of it.” livelihoods or achieve self-reliance. The struggle to fulfl adapted to different settings, meaning they are key to
basic needs – food, shelter, education, health care – take a sustainable response to the refugee crisis. And on a
a deep toll. Refugees deserve better. human level, they represent much of what’s important
Lemon trees in Domiz Camp, Iraq, ready for distribution in all our lives: an attractive, clean environment; fresh,
to households.
At the Lemon Tree Trust, we consider greening nutritious food; the chance to become self-reliant; and a
innovation and urban agriculture to be key to making place we can call home.
refugee camps healthier, greener and more productive.
Rather than viewing camps only as spaces that confne This ‘call to arms’ illustrates clearly the steps needed to
“I dream that I will be able to go and control, we believe they can become spaces of make the scaling up of greening innovation and urban
back to my country but while I hope and reconstitution. From years of working with agriculture a reality, as we aim to transform twenty-frst
refugees across the world, we know that camp greening century thinking around refugees with regard to food
am living here I want to improve and supporting refugees to produce food works. Even security, landscape ecology and waste recycling.
my situation, especially by growing in crisis, refugees often improve their homes and We also give an insight into the lives of some of those
livelihoods through gardening or agriculture, from home who are making these accidental cities their home,
plants because plants are alive
gardens and composting to keeping rabbits or chickens. so they can tell their stories and share their dreams of
for everybody.” transforming the world around them. We hope we can
At the moment, greening innovation and urban do them justice. Every day, refugees use ingenuity,
agriculture are often the work of individuals, unsupported creativity and determination to rebuild their lives and
by UN agencies, NGOs and government bodies, or, at defne their futures. We want to be part of this – we hope
A gardener stands in a large garden in Za’atari Refugee Camp, Jordan. This garden, which grows
everyday vegetables and herbs, is a collective space, open to all neighbours. worst, are discouraged and eradicated because they that you will too.
contradict water use or land planning policies.
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GREENING INNOVATION EXPLAINED 7
Greening innovation explained Concepts behind greening innovation Processes and practices in greening innovation
Over these two pages, we will look at some of the concepts, institutions, processes and practices which Integrated watershed management covers a defned area within which water fows to
Agroforestry is the integration of trees or shrubs with crops or pasturelands to create
make up greening innovation, many of which we are piloting in our projects in Iraq, the US and Uganda. a common point. Refugee camps can have both positive and negative effects on the watershed more resilient farming systems, while increasing biodiversity and improving soil and water
so need an integrated approach which tackles water-related issues and reduces fooding risks, conservation. In refugee camps, trees are aesthetically pleasing but also provide construction
while conserving groundwater and protecting the watershed from wastewater. materials, energy, foodstuffs, timber, and protection (as shade or windbreaks).
Linking relief, recovery and development (LRRD) builds stronger links between Agroecology builds sustainable agro-ecosystems based on ecological and
emergency relief and longer-term development. In the refugee context, LRRD looks beyond food socio-economic perspectives that encompass the whole food system. In both refugee
security towards food sovereignty, ensuring that refugees have greater political engagement in camps and urban settings, it allows IDPs, refugees and host communities to grow food
food, land, seed and water issues. using safe organic methods.
Space: planning
and making
Resource Agroecology Disaster risk reduction (DRR) is a planning and policy tool to address vulnerability Home gardens – or backyard or kitchen gardens – are small plots of land close to
recovery while building capacity and resilience to natural and human-induced disasters. Greening homes, and are traditionally used to grow herbs, fruits, and vegetables for home consumption.
and reuse S
aoncdia wl ceollhbesiniogn gHarodmenes rinenfuogveaeti ocna manpds ,U wAh cilae nc obnet ruibseudtin fgo rt oz ofonoindg sfreacguilreit ya arenads elinkvei rsotnemepe nsltoapl perso atencdt iofono adn dp lasainnsi tnaetioxtn t.o dThoemye asrteic f rweaqsutenwtalyt ecrh faorra icrrtiegraistieodn bayn du soer goaf nviecr tkicitachl sepna wcaest,e h figohr cboiomdpivoesrts. it y and use of
Resource recovery and reuse (RRR) is the change from seeing waste as a linear Market gardens are small-scale food production enterprises intensively managed
Sustainable problem that needs disposal, to recognising it as a valuable resource that can produce energy to produce herbs, ornamental fowers, fruits and vegetables from small urban and peri-urban
livelihoods or fertilisers, thus closing the nutrient loop. Closing the loop benefts farmers, generates income, plots ranging from a half to fve acres. Market gardens produce for local markets and often use a
Agroforestry creates sustainable livelihoods, and contributes to food security and environmental sanitation.
high degree of organic inputs to maintain soil fertility and structure, thus conserving soil moisture
and irrigation water.
Sustainable livelihoods in the greening innovation and UA context occur when growers
Disaster risk
have the technical capacity, access to land and farm inputs, and social resources to make a Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access
reduction
Market living from growing food. This becomes sustainable when it has a degree of resilience, and can to suffcient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences.
gardens cope with, and recover from, stresses and shocks, and maintain or enhance its systems without Greening innovation and UA contribute to food security through improved access to fresh
undermining its natural resources. foodstuffs, income generation and increased food supply for local markets.
Greening
Social cohesion and wellbeing exists when all members of a society work together to Food sovereignty in a refugee camp recognises food as a basic
Linking relief, innovation and eradicate exclusion and marginalisation and create a sense of community and belonging, building human right rather than as a commodity for distribution to dependent refugees.
r
deecvoevloeprym aenndt urban agriculture torugset tahnedr roeffuegrienegs c, rIeDaPtsiv ea,n pdr ohdoustc ctivoem amnudn situiessta, iUnaAb plero limveolitheoso sdo coipapl ionrctulunsitioiens. for all. By bringing Tcihtyis r eregqiounir efoso thde s ryesftoermmsin tgh aotf a‘floloowd rreefluiegfe’, efos rt oe xgarmowp lefo boyd iwntheigler aptrinogte fcotiondg pthroev nisaiotunr awl i thin
in the context of resource base.
forced displacement seFcouordit y
and sSapniatactieo n– fapclailitniensi,n hge aaltnh dc emntareksi,n sgc:h ofoollos,w rionagd as )c irsis iims, pclaempen intefrda sfotrru icmtumree d(siahteel tperos,t ewcatitoenr .
Integrated This does not take into account refugees’ own innovative place-making processes. Greening
innovation and UA integrate these everyday practices with conventional top-down planning.
watershed Food
management sovereignty
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URBAN AGRICULTURE EXPLAINED 9
Urban agriculture explained
Here, we outline some of the key components of urban agriculture, and explain why these are ideally
suited to helping to develop sustainable livelihoods in refugee camps.
Domiz Camp, Iraq Domiz Camp, Iraq Domiz Camp, Iraq Nakivale Refugee Settlement, Uganda Domiz Camp, Iraq Gawilan Camp, Iraq
Economies Small livestock Vegetables Field crops Trees Greenhouses
Beyond family food provision, UA can create There are numerous examples of refugees raising Vegetable growing is the mainstay of UA. Any small Within refugee camps there are often large areas Trees can transform urban areas from bleak desolate Using greenhouses means urban farmers can extend
economies through, for example, selling crops small livestock like chickens, rabbits, goats, sheep patch of earth or container can become a food- suitable for feld-scale growing. With water an issue, spaces into productive microclimates offering respite the growing season, increasing production through
direct, and developing the supporting industries of and pigeons. Eating mainly waste material, these birds producing space. Simple inputs like seeds and choice of site is critical: next to run-off greywater, or from urban sprawl. While the combined effect of a second or third harvest, and allowing a competitive
processing food to add value, or supplying compost, and animals are excellent feed-to-meat converters. compost bins can accelerate the adoption of food close to standpipes, is ideal. Field crops draw on trees can reduce the urban heat island effect, even edge as a grower can bring their frst harvest to market
seeds and tools. All of this begins to create a viable Rabbits in particular take up small domestic spaces, gardening to complement food aid. Food production traditional knowledge and can employ large numbers planting single trees in a home garden, allotment plot and gain an economic advantage while crop prices
food production chain. These activities also add to the like courtyards and the under-space of raised also aids home making and creates a sense of dignity of people. Urban agriculture can add intensity through or hedgerow brings additional benefts to the food are still high early in the season. Greenhouses can
employment or entrepreneurial opportunities available. prefabricated housing units. They don’t need through autonomy, allowing refugees to draw on their intercropping, giving farmers greater resilience if one and timber they produce. Trees also provide modifed also be integrated with aquaculture or hydroponics
Within refugee settings, UA practices have a local extensive infrastructure, breed easily, and grow existing knowledge and life stories. As vegetables start crop fails. Crops should also be planned in and around microclimates, a reduction in stagnant surface waters, (or a combination known as aquaponics). In all cases,
customer base, so culturally appropriate food can quickly. Larger spaces can be used for goats or to grow, refugees transform themselves from passive dwellings to reduce transportation requirements and soil and slope stabilisation, nitrogen fxation, livestock greenhouses provide growers with a way to control a
be grown. Market gardens in housing areas are close sheep, building resilience through diversity. recipients of aid to active producers of food and agents enable farmers to use domestic waste streams. fodder production, and an increase in biodiversity that closed-space microclimate, enhancing plant growth
to customers and local markets, meaning that home of landscape change. benefts wider urban ecosystems. and food production.
carers can be economically active, selling produce
or growing vegetables.
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WATER 11
Water
Water is the essence of life, and a vital, life-sustaining component of any humanitarian response,
whether in a refugee camp, a settlement or an urban area.
According to an internationally agreed minimum, can maximise the greening infrastructure of refugee
In Domiz Camp, one gardener every refugee must be provided with 20 litres of water camps by using greywater to irrigate crops and trees
each day. In practice this fgure is much higher and is in nurseries, agroforestry (windbreaks/shelter belts/
used greywater to such an
likely to reach a few hundred litres per day per family, orchards), home gardens and market gardens.
extent that no wastewater particularly in hotter climates. Agroforestry can also be used in the design of DRR by
streams ever left her plot. using vegetation to control food waters and stabilise
However, despite the clear water supply guidelines, fragile slopes. Greywater is domestic wastewater that
She planted extensive refugee camp planners constantly underestimate has not been contaminated with faecal matter. If water
sunfowers outside her the amount of wastewater a camp produces once becomes contaminated or is mixed with human waste
it is fully populated and receiving its daily supply of then it is known as blackwater, and requires treatment,
dwelling, so her plot was
potable water. This supply leads to very high volumes depending on its intended use. Even blackwater, or
In this section, we will explore how water, soil, seeds and space kept clean and dry, and as of wastewater being produced from relatively small faecal sludge, can play a role in a well-designed and
surface areas due to very high population densities, implemented RRR project, for example for the irrigation
are crucial to developing sustainable livelihoods and look at how, a result her garden had
and results in the overload of wastewater on of (non-edible) fuel-wood trees or in the production of
through greening innovation and UA, these can become central fantastic sunfowers and surrounding fragile eco-systems. During heavy rains, energy briquettes or pellets, respectively. Applying an
to the lives of refugees living in diffcult circumstances. luscious vegetables. The camps can quickly become quagmires, adding to integrated watershed management (IWM) approach to
the dire environmental conditions. For example, it is refugee camp management would not only save lives
garden won third prize in the not uncommon to see children playing in wastewater through food prevention, but also ensure surface and
Lemon Tree Trust’s Domiz streams. Refugee camps do not yet use the principles groundwater is conserved within a watershed but also
of sustainable urban drainage systems (SuDS), protected and sustainably managed.
Camp Garden Competition.
which offer safer, more appropriate solutions to the
drainage issues found in many rapidly expanding Greywater can safely be used by households to water
refugee camps. trees or home gardens. The amount that an average
family produces per day is enough to supply a home
However, the continuous availability of wastewater garden, particularly if washing and bathing water is
Greywater fowing in Domiz Camp, Iraq.
Concrete drainage channels are built but where in refugee camps is itself a golden opportunity if an diverted for this purpose. The Lemon Tree Trust is
these end, wastewater pools. These pools are RRR approach is applied. The safe use of wastewater advocating these techniques in Domiz Camp in Iraq.
typical of wasted resources which greening
innovation seeks to capture as inputs for food
and trees.
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SOIL 13
Soil
In 2010, during the Israeli
blockade on the Gaza Strip,
In urban areas the availability of good agricultural soil should never be a prerequisite for starting a
the International Committee of
UA project. In fact, lack of fertile soil should rather serve as motivation to put in place RRR techniques to
produce compost from organic urban wastes. the Red Cross operated a cash-
for-work composting programme,
This same principle can be applied to refugee camps and formed into windrows for decomposition, before
and settlements, with the tonnes of solid organic waste quality checking and, if required, bagging into sealed supporting over 1,500 unemployed
produced each day diverted into compost production, plastic sacks for transportation or even selling to people with 10,000 dependants.
thus harvesting valuable nutrients. Compost also outside markets.
Benefciaries were paid to
contributes to soil’s physical structure, increasing its
water holding capacity and conservation. In refugee At the Lemon Tree Trust we see soil as the foundation bring donkey carts of organic “
camps, RRR strategies are ideal as the basis of a for any greening innovation and UA; moreover, we see
farm wastes to a composting
‘greening the camp’ programme. Organic solid waste the production of compost through RRR as the most
is decomposed to create compost, which is used as appropriate model for refugee camps and urban areas plant, where it was composted,
a growing medium for tree nurseries, transplanting of in general. By creating livelihoods and generating sorted and bagged for local
tree seedlings, home gardens and market gardens, for income from what is traditionally perceived as waste,
example. You can never apply too much compost so these greening innovations beneft both refugee and markets. This compensated
projects should aim for ful organic waste recovery from host communities, contributing to social cohesion. for fertiliser shortages caused
the fow of solid organic waste.
by the blockade. In confict
In Azraq Camp in Jordan, for example, this would also areas, fertilisers are often
reduce the landfll tariffs that are to be introduced by
restricted as they can be used
the local authorities. The added advantage is that wet
organic waste is the heaviest component in domestic to make explosives, so composting
solid waste, and so implementing simple organic programmes should always be
waste composting plants would substantially reduce
the total weight of solid waste sent to landfll. A simple supported as an ecological
composting plant requires a low investment and uses alternative to inorganic fertilisers.
simple technologies. In such a programme organic
waste separation occurs at the household level,
allowing collection teams to collect waste and deliver
it to the plant. The plant consists of a roofed compost In Za’atari Refugee Camp, Jordan, a disused WASH
block has been turned into a walled community
production area where waste can be sorted, shredded Small scale compost production in Za’atari Refugee garden by NGO ACTED.
Camp, Jordan.
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SEEDS 15
Seeds
In even in the bleakest
environments, refugees use what If soil is the critical layer on which food gardening rests, then seeds are the building blocks from which
little space they have to nurture it emerges. Specifcally, the use of local or saved seeds offers affordable, appropriate and local crops
for farmers.
plants. Diyar, a young Yazidi boy,
lives in the sprawling Khanke IDP This builds in greater food sovereignty for growers,
outside of the commercial seed market, while also
camp in north Iraq. He showed us
reducing their costs. It also embeds knowledge at a
his brother’s well-kept onion patch, community level, and helps to create independence.
right beside the family tent, At the Lemon Tree Trust we argue that seeds, as part
of a food sovereignty approach, should be seen as an
protected by a string fence. essential part of food aid and offered to all who seek
them. This builds a stronger link between food security
and the transition to food sovereignty.
In other cases, families use seeds
they rescued as they fed their During 2015-2016 we distributed thousands of seeds
to refugees in Domiz Camp using a network of
homes. Some buy coriander
refugee-supported assistance. These were then
or sunfower seeds from spice used at the household level to turn often barren
stalls and plant those. Once areas of land around individual shelters into vibrant,
productive home gardens. Such practices on their Regardless of the plot size, growing food, such as these
families have access to seeds, own do not have a major impact on food security, but onions outside Diyar’s tent, brings normality, itself a form
of social and horticultural therapy.
many start seed saving and they help develop the idea that with a small amount
of appropriate support, refugees can regain their
distribution, creating the basis
dignity and create their own solutions that beneft
of a vital, sustainable, local food themselves and their communities.
sovereignty network.
Planting vegetable seeds, Domiz Camp, Iraq. As seeds
were not readily available in the camp, we initiated a
seed distribution network. However, local seed saving
is the preferred option and should be encouraged.
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SPACE 17
Space Why did you decide to make a garden at your home?
“Beautiful scenery for the eye and
heart.” “For the enjoyment of living.” “It’s
Food growing requires space, yet in the accidental city of the refugee camp, planned top down as an
emergency response, vital infrastructure – water, roads, power – takes precedence. These large-scale spectacular and comfortable – and
technical and planning strategies are rightly dealt with as priorities, around which dwellings are placed. an old habit.” “Beautiful smells and
soothing for the nerves.” “It’s calming
However, this means that residents often feel excluded An understanding of greening innovation, UA and
and reassuring.”
or inhibited in using space beyond their dwellings, place making applies within all the spatial settings
stifing the potential use of space to meet family where displaced people live. While we have often
needs, food or otherwise. In Domiz Camp, residents highlighted the isolated refugee camp in this report What are the main benefts of having a home garden?
sometimes move their tent to be near family or friends, as one example, this understanding also applies to
“Saving money by growing vegetables
meaning that they themselves creating meaningful peri-urban refugee camps, urban refugees, integrated “
spatial arrangements. By contrast, in Azraq Camp, refugee/host community camps and returnees. Within and citrus fruits.” “Growing vegetables
dwellings are cemented to the ground and aligned in our Dallas work, we aim to help resettled refugees, so we eat better.” “Teaching children
identical rows, meaning that residents cannot ‘make developing UA amongst the apartment blocks, empty to plant and care for vegetables.”
their own city’. Gardening and food growing, even if it is lots, and green spaces of the city’s refugee population
“Putting empty areas to good use.”
only one tree, provide a duty of care for refugees within (see pages 32-37).
the camp landscape, a place where top-down planning
can mingle with everyday needs and aesthetics. How do you think the camp environment could
We asked refugees in Domiz Camp to tell us what
be improved?
Greening innovation enables us to focus on this often greenery, growing plants and having space to
neglected area of research and practice. For example, garden means to them. They talked about what “Setting up parks.” “Planting along
understanding the impulse to plant and grow plants makes them want to create a home garden, and main roads and alongside shops and
comes frstly from a desire to beautify and create imagined how greening innovation and UA could markets.” “Providing areas for gardens.”
meaningful landscapes, and secondly to beneft from transform the camp. In the next column, you can
“Distributing as many trees and roses
eating fresh produce. A stewardship approach to read some of their ideas.
refugee camps and settlements means empowering as possible all around the camp.”
refugees through ‘spatial sovereignty’ as a crucial part “Running an awareness campaign on the
of food sovereignty. This approach would build multiple
importance of plants in our lives.”
linkages like the composting of domestic organic waste
for soil production and the recycling of greywater
A young girl watering one of the winning home
for irrigating crops, thus lifting a responsibility from gardens in the Lemon Tree Trust’s garden
camp management and in the process empowering competition in Domiz Camp, Iraq. Families take
refugees themselves. great pride in such spaces, providing beauty, food,
and a space to relax in.
www.lemontreetrust.org
