Environmental issues in Syria

Major environmental issues in Syria include deforestation, overgrazing, soil erosion, desertification, water pollution from the dumping of raw sewage and wastes from petroleum refining, and inadequate supplies of potable water.

Water shortages, exacerbated by population growth, industrial expansion, and water pollution, are a significant long-term constraint on economic development. The water shortages in Syria turned into five successive years of drought, prolonging the environmental issues that Syria already had.

The Assad government (Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syrian Region) came into power in Syria in 1970. Hafez al-Assad ruled as President from 1971 to 2000, and following his death the presidency passed to his son, Bashar al-Assad. The lack of change in environmental policies contributed to the five successive years of drought. Also, the continuous ‘stability and peace’ movement for four decades that was instilled by the Assad government transformed into institutionalizing fear and violence amongst its own people had a effect in the 2011 Arab spring. The 2011 Arab Spring, which began as a civil uprising, quickly transformed into the Syrian Civil War.

The outbreak of the Civil War in Syria has been detrimental to the economy and environment. The toxicity of weapons used during the war such as mortar bombs, artillery shells, barrel bombs, aircraft bombs and missiles have been the leading cause for the damage to Syria's oil production, industrial areas, infrastructure, and waste management. Therefore, the Ministry of Environmental Affairs in Syria (State Minister: Nazira Farah Sarkis) has participated in the United Nations Conference to create the Sustainable Development Plan. This plan was created as an effort to combat desertification, biodiversity, and climate change. Unfortunately, at the General Assembly, it was declared that the plan had failed in terms of the setbacks that were found within the degrading land and eroding development gains. These environmental issues were ultimately related to the Syrian war.