The Role of Drought and Climate Change in the Syrian Uprising: Untangling the Triggers of the Revolution

Middle Eastern Studies

Volumn 50, Issue 4, 2014, Pages 521-535

  De Châtel, Francesca ^a  

^a RADBOUD UNIVERSITY NIJMEGEN   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CLIMATE CHANGE; CLIMATE EFFECT; DROUGHT; ECONOMIC IMPACT; GOVERNMENT; LIBERALIZATION; NATURE-SOCIETY RELATIONS; RESOURCE MANAGEMENT;

SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC;

EID: 84901781078     PISSN: 00263206     EISSN: 17437881     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00263206.2013.850076     Document Type: Article

References (89)

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41. On 12 April 2008, the government instated a coupon system allowing poor families to buy 1,000 L of diesel at 9SYP/L (0.19$/L). While this was intended to cover home heating costs, many farmers used the fuel for agricultural production and heated their house with dried sheep dung and other agricultural waste products. The government-issued coupons expired on 1 April 2009. On 31 March 2009, the government announced it would cut the prices of diesel nationwide from SYP25 to SYP20 ($0.53 to $0.42), but for many farmers it was still impossible to make a profit.
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74. 3 of water to irrigate 200,000 ha of land in Hassakeh Governorate (L. Ibrahim and N. Razzouk, 'Syria Starts $2.1bn Irrigation Project on Tigris River', Bloomberg, 7 March 2011). In addition, several new hydropower dams were being planned and built on the Euphrates and Orontes Rivers ('Otri, Erdogan Lay Cornerstone of Friendship Dam', SANA, 7 Feb. 2011), providing hydropower and irrigation water to new cropping areas in the north and east of the country.
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77. GTZ and SPC.
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79. De Chatel, 'Mining the Deep'.
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88. For example, on 30 March 2011, Bashar al-Assad addressed the Syrian Parliament, saying: 'You know what happened in Lebanon in 2005, and later the war of 2006 and its repercussions, and the war against Gaza at the end of 2008. So, the whole period was that of continued pressure. What added to the problems was that we had four years of drought, which damaged our economic program. Of course I am not justifying. I am simply explaining these facts and separating the subjective from the objective. When I say that we had drought, this is beyond our powers'.
89. 'President al-Assad Delivers Speech at People's Assembly' SANA, 30 March 2011s.