{"id":39226,"date":"2025-08-13T16:25:49","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T16:25:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/963media.com\/en\/?p=39226"},"modified":"2025-08-13T16:25:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T16:25:49","slug":"desertification-ravages-deir-ez-zor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/963media.com\/en\/13\/08\/2025\/desertification-ravages-deir-ez-zor\/","title":{"rendered":"Desertification ravages Deir ez-Zor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Desertification is one of the most pressing environmental challenges facing many regions around the world, especially those already suffering from drought and limited water resources. Deir ez-Zor governorate in eastern Syria, once a key agricultural hub along the Euphrates River, is a vivid example of the crisis. Here, both natural and human factors are severely damaging the local environment. The impact goes beyond biodiversity loss: food security for the governorate\u2019s residents is at stake, adding to mounting economic and social pressures.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The story of desertification in Deir ez-Zor goes back many years. The area has experienced marked climate shifts, with declining rainfall and rising temperatures. Combined with unsustainable farming practices and overuse of water, these changes have steadily degraded agricultural lands, cutting yields of staple crops. As the crisis has deepened, many farmers are unable to provide enough food for their households, pushing poverty and unemployment rates higher.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Severe hardship from desertification<\/b><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mohammad Ahmad, a farmer from Deir ez-Zor, told <\/span><b>+963<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: \u201cOur lives depended heavily on agriculture. But with crops failing due to water scarcity and desertification, we face major hardships. I can\u2019t provide for my family the way I used to.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He added \u201cWe need government and international support to introduce sustainable farming methods and teach farmers better water management. We must all work to protect our land.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In eastern rural Deir ez-Zor, farmer Ghazi Ismail described dramatic changes to his fields in recent years: \u201cThe land that used to produce 50 sacks of wheat per dunam now barely yields 10. Desertification has crept in like a disease. The soil is cracked, winds cover the crops in dust. Water shortages have destroyed us, the Euphrates no longer even meets drinking needs, let alone irrigation. Many have abandoned their farms, and now we import wheat.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He warned: \u201cIf this continues, there will be no bread on our tables. The land that raised us now betrays us. Authorities must find direct, effective solutions to save our beautiful environment, achieve food security, and ensure self-sufficiency.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Also read: <a href=\"https:\/\/963media.com\/en\/04\/08\/2025\/un-warns-of-worsening-health-system-in-syria\/#\">UN Warns of Worsening Health System in Syria<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Health and livelihoods at risk<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Um Ali, a housewife from Deir ez-Zor, told <\/span><b>+963<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> about how desertification is affecting daily life: \u201cDust invades our homes even with the windows shut. My children suffer from asthma. Prices for vegetables and fruit are soaring, tomatoes are 10,000 Syrian pounds per kilo, and meat is a luxury. We depend on food aid.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She appealed to decision-makers: \u201cSave our land before it turns into a barren desert. Our children deserve a green future.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Far-reaching consequences<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Activist Mohammad al-Saleh told <\/span><b>+963<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that desertification has \u201clarge and frightening\u201d repercussions, from the collapse of local production and higher prices, to erosion of livelihoods. \u201cIt drives people into internal displacement or forces them into other trades. Malnutrition increases, especially among children and women, as people rely on fragile food aid,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He added: \u201cWe have tools to fight this, such as modern irrigation systems, drought- and salinity-resistant seeds, and large-scale rainwater harvesting using earthen dams.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Triple causes, targeted solutions<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Agricultural engineer Naji al-Sultan, who works at a local agricultural research center, identified three main causes of the crisis: recurring drought due to climate change, depletion of groundwater through unlicensed wells, and loss of vegetation after extensive logging.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He suggested solutions such as shifting to drought-resistant crops like sorghum and sesame, and promoting drip irrigation systems.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jamal al-Owaid, from the Environmental Office at Deir ez-Zor\u2019s Agriculture Directorate, said his department recognizes the seriousness of desert encroachment: \u201cWe have some initiatives, like planting drought-resistant trees in green belts around affected towns and villages, and protecting rangeland by regulating irrigation and preventing illegal logging.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But, he added \u201cWe face huge obstacles, ack of funding, limited technical staff, scarce resources, and ongoing drought. We need a clear strategy to address these challenges in Deir ez-Zor.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once considered Syria\u2019s breadbasket, the governorate now meets less than 30% of its own needs. Al-Owaid warned: \u201cThis situation could trigger new displacement if we don\u2019t act. The desertification crisis here is not just environmental degradation, it is a direct threat to food security and social stability in a vital region.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Read also: <a href=\"https:\/\/963media.com\/en\/11\/08\/2025\/the-al-shaitat-massacre-a-decade-later-the-euphrates-unquiet-memory\/#\">The al-Shaitat Massacre a Decade Later: The Euphrates\u2019 Unquiet Memory<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He stressed that saving what remains of the Euphrates greenery requires urgent action at local, national, and international levels. \u201cTime is not on Deir ez-Zor\u2019s side. Delay means more sand, more hunger, more displacement. The fight against desertification is a fight for life itself in this drought-stricken area.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Desertification and its causes<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Desertification is defined as the degradation of land in arid and semi-arid areas due to natural and human factors, stripping soil of its fertility and agricultural productivity. It is considered one of the most dangerous environmental issues facing the world, threatening not only ecosystems but also food security, economic stability, and the social fabric of affected communities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Its causes include both natural and human-driven factors. Natural causes involve climate change, increasingly frequent droughts, reduced and erratic rainfall, and high winds that erode soil. Human causes include poor management of natural resources, unsustainable farming, overgrazing, removal of vegetation for fuel or urban expansion, overuse of groundwater (often via unlicensed wells), and weak or poorly enforced environmental policies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Globally, the United Nations reports that more than 40% of the Earth\u2019s land is threatened by desertification, affecting over 3 billion people.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the Arab world, the danger is heightened by the region\u2019s naturally arid or semi-arid climate. More than 70% of Arab lands face varying levels of degradation and desertification, putting food and water security under constant strain, increasing dependence on imports, and driving migration from rural to urban areas.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Deir ez-Zor: from breadbasket to warning sign<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deir ez-Zor is among the Syrian provinces most severely affected by desertification. It lies in a semi-arid zone and relies heavily on the Euphrates River as its main water source. Falling river levels, due to regional and climatic factors, have made water scarce. In recent years, the governorate has seen intensive, poorly planned farming and uncontrolled drilling of wells, which have depleted groundwater. Years of conflict have also devastated agricultural infrastructure, eroded environmental oversight, and displaced thousands of farmers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These combined factors have transformed Deir ez-Zor from Syria\u2019s \u201cbreadbasket\u201d into a region suffering extreme land degradation, steep drops in production, and frequent dust storms, making it a sharp and urgent example of the desertification crisis in Syria and across the region.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Desertification is one of the most pressing environmental challenges facing many regions around the world, especially those already suffering from drought and limited water resources. Deir ez-Zor governorate in eastern Syria, once a key agricultural hub along the Euphrates River, is a vivid example of the crisis. Here, both natural and human factors are severely [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":39227,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"0","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"left-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"float","share_float_style":"share-normal","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"g:i a d\/m\/Y","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"1","zoom_button_out_step":"5","zoom_button_in_step":"4","show_post_tag":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":"The desertification disaster in Deir ez-Zor: challenges and hopes"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"jnews_post_split":{"post_split":[{"template":"1","tag":"h2","numbering":"asc","mode":"normal","first":"0","enable_toc":"0","toc_type":"normal"}]},"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[389],"class_list":["post-39226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-slider"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.2 (Yoast SEO v28.0) - 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