Justice from Below: Farmers’ Perspectives on Environmental Justice in North and East Syria

Pinar Dinc, Lund University (Sweden/Turkey)

Panel Title: Climate Change, Community Governance, and Environmental Justice in Syria: Insights from the 3-year ECO-Syria Project Presenter: Pinar Dinc, Department of Political Science & Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University, Sweden Abstract: This paper addresses a critical gap in the literature on environmental politics in North and East Syria: the under-theorization of justice, particularly from ecological and intersectional perspectives. Drawing on original survey data from 194 farmers, this paper explores how justice is understood and articulated at the grassroots level. When asked about key concepts central to the AANES’s ideological framework—social ecology, democratic confederalism, food security, and agroecology—farmers consistently invoked justice, linking it to lived experiences and aspirations. These findings suggest that, while justice remains marginal in academic discourse on Rojava’s environmental governance, it holds significant meaning for those most affected by environmental and political change. By foregrounding farmers’ voices, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of environmental justice in conflict-affected regions and calls for more inclusive and grounded approaches to environmental peacebuilding.