War, Waste and Polluted Pastures
Publisher: PAX
Author(s): Wim Zwijnenburg, Noor Nahas, and Roberto J. Vasquez
Date: 2021
Topics: Data and Technologies, Extractive Resources, Renewable Resources, Weapons, Waste, and Pollution
Countries: Syrian Arab Republic
The environment in north-east Syria has faced serious challenges since the outbreak of the peaceful revolution ten years ago. The ensuing violence by the Syrian regime and later by ISIS and Turkish-backed armed groups in this part of Syria severely impacted the environmental infrastructure and natural resources through conflict-linked pollution and damage to the ecosystem.
The north of Syria is home to much of Syria’s oil reserves and large swathes of agricultural land providing food security for millions of Syrians. This research set out to explore the environmental dimensions of the conflict in this part of Syria through the use of remote sensing, open-source documentation and field work. Our aim was to show that a great deal of environmental data and information on related concerns can already be accessed and used for the timely identification of priority areas for humanitarian response, recovery, remediation and reconstruction efforts to address both human-health and environmental issues.