SYRIA Water Shortages

SYRIA WATER SHORTAGE


The devastating civil war that began in Syria in March 2011 is the result of complex interrelated factors The focus of the conflict is regime change but the triggers include a broad set of religious and sociopolitical factors the erosion of the economic health of the country a wave of political reform sweeping over the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Levant region and challenges associated with climate variability and change and the availability and use of freshwater

What Cause Syria water shortage


Poor planning and management wasteful irrigation systems intensive wheat and

cotton farming and a rapidly growing population are straining water resources in Syria

in a year which has seen unprecedented internal displacement



Compared to other Middle Eastern countries Syria is not naturally water poor According to the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Arab Human

Development Report 2009 [httpwwwarab-hdrorgcontentsindexaspxrid=5] Syria was ranked 13th out of 20 Arab

countries for precipitation per capitaSee Table 1 amp Figure 4

Is Syria Prone to water shortages



Syria water usage


Has Syria experienced water shortage in the past

In addition to having relatively little overall freshwater in proportion to demands Syria like the region as a whole experiences high natural hydrologic variability Over the past century (from 1900 to 2005) there were six significant droughts in Syria where the average monthly level of winter precipitationmdashthe major rainfall seasonmdashdropped to around one-third of normal Five of these droughts lasted only one season the sixth lasted two (Mohtadi 2013) Starting in 2006 however and lasting into 2011 Syria experienced a multiseason multiyear period of extreme drought that contributed to agricultural failures economic dislocations and population displacement (Worth 2010)


What is current Climate in Syria

Mostly desert hot dry sunny summers (June to August) and mild rainy winters (December to February) along coast cold weather with snow or sleet

periodically in Damascus


There is evidence that the 2007minus2010 drought contributed to the conflict in Syria It was

the worst drought in the instrumental record causing widespread crop failure and a

mass migration of farming families to urban centers Century-long observed trends in

precipitation temperature and sea-level pressure supported by climate model results

strongly suggest that anthropogenic forcing has increased the probability of severe and

persistent droughts in this region and made the occurrence of a 3-year drought as severe

as that of 2007minus2010 2 to 3 times more likely than by natural variability alone We

conclude that human influences on the climate system are implicated in the current

Syrian conflict See Chart on Next Slide

Has Climate Changed In Syria


Syria Climate change Chart

Was the Syrian civil war partly caused by climate change Prince Charles for one seems to think soldquoThere is very good evidence indeed that one of the major reasons for this horror in Syria was a drought that lasted for about five or six yearsrdquo he told Sky News adding that climate change is having a ldquohuge impactrdquo on conflict and terrorismThe Prince is not alone on this one he joins a chorus of voices making similar claims In the US President Obama Al Gore and the democratic presidential hopefuls Martine OrsquoMalley and Bernie Sanders have all talked of a link between climate change and the Syria conflict Sanders going so far as to argue that climate change is ldquodirectly related to the growth of terrorismrdquo

Link between water supply and Armed Activities In Syria

Syria Climate Change Drought and Social Unrest

Syriarsquos current social unrest is in the most direct sense a reaction to a brutal and out-of-touch regime and a response to the political wave of change that began in Tunisia early last year However thatrsquos not the whole story The past few years have seen a number of significant social economic environmental and climatic changes in Syria that have eroded the social contract between citizen and government in the country have strengthened the case for the opposition movement and irreparably damaged the legitimacy of the al-Assad regime

Syria Drought amp The Civil War

without clean water Syria

Civilization can no longer survive

Hitachi Infrastructure Systems May be the solution to Syria Water Shortage

Hitachi Systems Providing Water to Help Create Desert Ecosystems

Hitachi solar-powered desalination plants provide fresh water in the remote Abu Dhabi desert regions The Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi are creating new habitats in remote desert regions to help re-introduce the Arabian Oryx which has been extinct in the wild since 1972 Working with Hitachi to supply solar powered desalination plants to provide fresh water for drinking and irrigation for the new plantations of native plants

Hitachi Infrastructure Systems

Hitachi Systems provide water to

Deserts for People and Animals

References

Gary Nabhan as cited by Femia and Werrell 2012

Femia and Werrell 2013 FAO 2012 Mhanna 2013

[httpwwwarab-hdrorgcontentsindexaspxrid=5]

httpwwwclimate-zonecomclimatesyria

(HADI MIZBAN ASSOCIATED PRESS)

HTTPWWWHITACHIAEENGCASE_STUDIESDESALINATION-PLANTS

HTTPWWWHITACHIAEENGCASE_STUDIESDESALINATION-PLANTSINDEXHTML

IRIN Middle East English Service Mar 25 2010

httpwwwirinnewsorgIRIN-MEaspx

httpwwwpnasorgcontent112113241short

httpswwwtheguardiancomcommentisfree2015nov29climate-change-syria-civil-war-prince-charles

COPYRIGHT 2010 SyndiGate Media Inc


The devastating civil war that began in Syria in March 2011 is the result of complex interrelated factors The focus of the conflict is regime change but the triggers include a broad set of religious and sociopolitical factors the erosion of the economic health of the country a wave of political reform sweeping over the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and Levant region and challenges associated with climate variability and change and the availability and use of freshwater














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SYRIA Water Shortages