Syria
Climate change impacts
It takes only 59 days for the average Canadian to produce as much greenhouse gases as the average Syrian will produce over the course of the entire year. Therefore, February 28th (59 days into the year) is "Climate Change Impacts in Syria Day."
The impacts of climate change are already being felt in Syria. In 2007 and 2008, approximately 160 villages were deserted because of climate change.
According to a report by the IISD, climate change presents six distinct security threats for Syria: i) ‘Climate change may increase competition for scarce water resources, complicating peace agreements’; ii) ‘Climate change may intensify food insecurity, thereby raising the stakes for the return or retention of occupied land’; iii) ‘Climate change may hinder economic growth, thereby worsening poverty and social instability’; iv) ‘Climate change may lead to destabilizing forced migration and increased tensions over existing refugee populations’; v) ‘Perceptions of resources shrinking as a result of climate change could increase the militarization of strategic natural resources’; vi) and ‘Inaction on climate change may lead to growing resentment and distrust of the West (and Israel) by Arab nations.’
For more information on these climate change impacts, see the International Institute for Sustainable Development’s report, Rising Temperatures, Rising Tensions: Climate change and the risk of violent conflict in the Middle East.
Story
Credit: AlJazeeraEnglish
"Climate Change has left farmers in Syria doing something they have never done before - relying on food hand-outs.
Three years of consecutive drought has led to the country producing less than half of its food needs.
According to the UN World Food Programme [WFP], about 1.3 million people are severely affected, and 300,000 are in urgent need of help.
Hoda Abdel-Hamid reports on the people who are losing hope that things will ever return to how they once were."
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