Syrians at the mercy of conflict and climate crisis
Years of conflict have devastated Syria, but before the war broke out, the country was already facing the climate crisis.
Drought, increasingly harsh summer temperatures, drier winters and a lack of water were affecting the agriculture industry on which much of Syria’s economy was based. Those still trying to make a living from the land now have to deal with climate change compounding the destruction of the conflict.
Marwa*, 23, lives in upper Bugros, a town in rural Deir Ez-Zor, eastern Syria. She and her family of nine fled their hometown during the fighting and have only recently returned in hopes of rerunning a small farm where they once planted wheat and different kinds of vegetables.
“Agriculture was once our main source of income, but the past few years have been extremely difficult with water becoming less available,” Marwa tells Oxfam.
During the dry seasons, when rainfall is scarce, the only source of water these communities have is water from small canals or channels connected to the Euphrates river or randomly drilled wells. The conflict majorly destroyed the irrigation infrastructure. Much of the equipment, machinery and tools farmers rely on to toil the land was also either destroyed or looted. As a result, it is harder to farm both livestock and crops, or to earn a living from farming.
“All that we can take from these lands is dry leaves and wood branches that we use in our stoves to make fire,” Marwa adds.
Syria: A former breadbasket of the Middle East
Marwa and her family are not alone. There are thousands facing the same challenges in this war-torn nation.
Once one of the breadbaskets of the Middle East, with Syria exporting fruits, vegetables, legumes, and cattle to neighboring countries and across the region, people now are struggling to put food on the table. Crisis has led to the displacement of people, families unable to farm their land, and damage and destruction of infrastructure vital to farming. According to the UN’s World Food Programme 6.5 million people don’t have enough food to eat, while an additional 2.5 million people across Syria are at risk if they don’t receive support.
Hanouf, 37, lives in upper Bugros with her children and mother-in-law. Her husband lost an arm to the conflict so Hanouf has to provide for her family. “Up until a few years ago, both my husband and I worked the small patch of land we own. But now that there isn’t enough water to grow any crops, we stopped,” she tells Oxfam.
The only means left for Hanouf to earn a living is growing herbs in her back garden, which she then sells to her neighbors.
The climate crisis in Syria
Climate change is real and happening now to people who are already vulnerable. People who have also lived through years of conflict and lost everything to war. People like Hanouf and Marwa.
But as world leaders met at the United Nation’s General Assembly in New York last week to discuss the climate crisis— among many other pressing topics — were the real needs, perspectives and experiences of the people on the other side of the planet considered?
People who are already suffering the consequences of rising temperatures and erratic rainfall, conflict, poverty and inequality — in Syria, and elsewhere — must be heard!
This entry posted on 1 October 2019, by Nadine Mazloum, Oxfam Syria Media Advisor.
Photos: Dania Kareh/Oxfam
