“Until now the main cause of civil war is a wealth of the nation in few men hands but Syria showed us another reason; Climate Change”
With this blog post, environmentalists at Norvergence have taken their research and study to a whole new level. The purpose of this content is to make people aware of how a climate change-driven drought can exacerbate conflict in a country.
No one knew that drought in Syria could be one of the devastating factors that trigger the 2nd deadliest war of the 21st century. Experts believe that the Syrian civil war is the result of many interrelated factors such as sociopolitical tensions, religious tensions, bad condition of the economy, and other political changes that swept across the Middle-East. But, now after so much research and analysis, many realized that climate change-led water scarcity (from 2006-2011) played a significant role in the Syrian civil war.
Norvergence: Study Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Norvergence also analyzed the writings of a study (co-authored by Richard Seager, a climate scientist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory) that clearly said that drought in Syria has pushed the social unrest in the nation.
Mr. Seager said: “We’re not saying the drought caused the war. We’re saying that added to all the other stressors, it helped kick things over the threshold into open conflict. And a drought of that severity was made much more likely by the ongoing human-driven drying of that region.”
The study also cites various other reports which scientifically explain that warmer temperatures and drought increase the risk of violent conflict. When it comes to the Middle East, it faces a hotter and drier climate (because of climate change) that puts more stress and pressure on natural resources like water and agriculture.
Read this post as well: Norvergence: Psychosocial and mental health impacts of climate change
Norvergence: World Leaders and Diplomats Agreed on, “Climate Change has Hastened Syria’s Civil War”
In 2014, the U.S. department issued a warning report explaining climate change a threat multiplier that put a direct impact on national security.
Norvergence also got hands-on the statement given by the former U.S. President Barack Obama, “climate change-related drought ‘helped fuel the early unrest in Syria, which descended into civil war.”
Former Secretary of State John Kerry said: “It’s not a coincidence that immediately prior to the civil war in Syria, the country experienced its worst drought on record”.
UK Prince Charles said, “There is very good evidence indeed that one of the major reasons for this horror in Syria was a drought that lasted for five or six years.”
One more post: Environmental Activists Being Killed Globally: Why Are World Leaders Still Silent?
Conclusion
Norvergence believes that the Syrian conflict that starts in 2011 has many roots such including environmental conditions. On the other hand, many experts still believe that climatic conditions didn’t have a noticeable effect on Syrian civil war.
But one cannot overlook how drought combined with unmodernized and inefficient irrigation system and food security leads to the displacement of a large population from rural to urban areas which disturb the economics of Syrian society.
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