Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Environmental Degradation and Conflict Resolution

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
The Palgrave Handbook of Positive Peace

  • 1164 Accesses

Abstract

The contemporary conflict in Syria that started in March 2011 brought increasing attention to the issue of environmental degradation and conflict. While the conflict itself erupted as a result of complex interconnected political, economic, and social factors, environmental degradation, climate change, and water scarcity played a role in igniting the conflict. The Syrian conflict is not the first in the MENA region whereby environmental degradation contributes to its ignition. Previously, environment degradation had a major impact on escalating the conflict in Darfur, Sudan. Increasing evidence link environment to conflict and violence particularly due to its impact on the economy as well as the structural violence it creates by leaving the most vulnerable groups at risks of natural disasters, droughts, and land degradation. Looking at the future of the Middle East, the United Nations reports classifies the region as the driest in the world. Hence, environmental degradation will continue to constitute a threat to achieving peace and stability unless effective environmental governance is implemented. This chapter assesses environmental problems in the MENA region and the political context in which they occur, particularly examining the complicated connection between environmental degradation and the Syrian conflict. It offers insight on how environmental-based cooperation can build relationships transcending violence and bringing about positive peace.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 549.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 599.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Abahussain, A. A., Abdu, A. S., Al-Zubari, W. K., El-Deen, N. A., & Abdul-Raheem, M. (2002). Desertification in the Arab region: Analysis of current status and trends. Journal of Arid Environments, 51, 512–545.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ajami, F. (2012). The Syrian rebellion. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ali, S. H. (2003). Environmental planning and cooperative behaviour: Catalyzing sustainable consensus. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 23, 165–176.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ali, S. H. (2005). Conservation and conflict resolution: Crossing the policy frontier. Contribution to the Woodrow Wilson Centre’s Environment and Security Project Report 2005, issue 11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baechler, G. (1998). Why environmental transformation causes violence: A synthesis. Environmental Change and Security Project Report, 4, 24–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ballentine, K., & Haufler, V. (2009). Public policy for conflict-sensitive business. New York: UN Global Compact Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bellemare, M. (2015). Rising food prices, food price volatility, and social unrest. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 97, 1–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, O. (2013). Encouraging peacebuilding through better environmental and natural resource management. London: Chatham House Briefing Paper.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruce, J. (2017). Preventing land-related conflict and violence. Background paper for the United Nations–World Bank flagship study, pathways for peace: Inclusive approaches to preventing violent conflict. Washington, DC: World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burton, J. (1990). Conflict: Resolution and provention (vol. 1 of the conflict series). London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conca, K. (2001). Environmental cooperation and international peace. In P. F. Diehl & N. P. Gleditsch (Eds.), Environmental conflict: An anthology (pp. 225–247). Boulder: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conca, K., & Beevers, M. D. (2018). Environmental pathways to peace. In A. Swain & J. Ojendal (Eds.), Routledge handbook of environmental conflict and peacebuilding (pp. 54–72). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conca, K., & Dabelko, G. D. (2002). Environmental peacemaking. Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dabelko, G. (2006). From threat to opportunity: Exploiting environmental pathways to peace. Paper prepared for: “Environment, Peace and the Dialogue among Civilizations and Cultures,” May 9–10, 2006, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dresse, A., Nielsen, J. Ø., & Zikos, D. (2016). Moving beyond natural resources as a source of conflict: Exploring the human-environment nexus of environmental peacebuilding. Discussion paper 2. Berlin: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eklund, L., Degerald, M., Brandt, M., Prishchepov, A. V., & Pilesjö, P. (2017). How conflict affects land use: Agricultural activity in areas seized by the Islamic State. Environmental Research Letters, 12, 673. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa673a

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • El Maaroufi, A. (1996). Environmental problems and perspectives in Middle East and North Africa regions. Washington, DC: World Bank. http://www.iamb.it/share/img_new_medit_articoli/780_25maaroufi.pdf

  • Galtung, J. (1967). Theories of peace: A synthetic approach to peace thinking. Oslo: International Peace Research Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardner, R. N. (1992). The era of eco-diplomacy is born; will it survive?: Environment: Even in its compromises, the Earth Summit is a matrix for cooperative global problem-solving. Retrieved August 27, 2018, from http://articles.latimes.com/1992-06-16/local/me-406_1_earth-summit

  • German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU). (2008). World in transition: Climate change as a security risk. London: Earthscan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gleditsch, N. P., & Nordås, R. (2009). Climate change and conflict: A critical overview. Die Friedenswarte: Journal of International Peace and Organization, 84(2), 11–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gleick, P. (2014). Water, drought, climate change, and conflict in Syria. Weather, Climate, and Society, 6(3), 331–340. Retrieved February 15, 2019, from www.jstor.org/stable/24907379

  • Goetschel, L., & Péclard, D. (2006). Les conflits liés aux ressources naturelles: Résultats de recherches et perspectives. Annuaire Suisse de Politique de Développement, 25(2), 95–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haddad, B. (2012). Business networks in Syria: The political economy of authoritarian resilience. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harari, N., & Roseman, J. (2008). Environmental peacebuilding theory and practice: A case study of the Good Water Neighbours Project and in depth analysis of the Wadi Fukin/Tzur Hadassah communities. Tel Aviv-Yafo: EcoPeace.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homer-Dixon, T. (1999). Environment, scarcity, and violence. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hummel, D., Lux, A., Sherbinin, A., & Adamo, S. B. (2009). Theoretical and methodological issues in the analysis of population dynamics and supply systems. PERN background paper on PE theory & methods. Retrieved from http://www.populationenvironmentresearch.org/papers/PERN_P-E_theory-methods_paper_final.pdf

  • ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross). (2016a). Armed violence and the new urban agenda: The ICRC’s recommendations for habitat III. Geneva: ICRC.

    Google Scholar 

  • ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross). (2016b). Protracted conflict and humanitarian action: Some recent ICRC experiences. Report. Geneva: ICRC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Institute for Economics & Peace. (2018a). Global peace index 2018: Measuring peace in a complex world, Sydney. http://visionofhumanity.org/app/uploads/2018/06/Global-Peace-Index-2018-2.pdf

  • Institute for Economics & Peace. (2018b). Positive peace report 2018: Analyzing the factors that sustain peace, Sydney. http://visionofhumanity.org/reports

  • International Crisis Group. (2011). Popular protest in North Africa and the Middle East (VI): The Syrian people’s slow-motion revolution (pp. 1–7). Brussels: International Crisis Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, D. L., Ambrose, S. H., Bassett, T. J., Bowen, M. L., Crummey, D. E., Isaacson, J. S., Johnson, D. N., Lamb, P., Saul, M., & Winter-Nelson, A. E. (1997). Meanings of environmental terms. Journal of Environmental Quality, 26, 581–589.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelley, C. P., Mohtadi, S., Cane, M. A., Seager, R., & Kushnir, Y. (2015). Climate change in the Fertile Crescent and implications of the recent Syrian drought. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 112, 3241–3246.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kousis, M. (1998). Ecological marginalization in rural areas: Actors, impacts, responses. Sociologia Ruralis, 38, 86–108.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawder, D. (2016, September 16). Economic costs of Middle East wars exceptionally high: IMF study. Retrieved September 15, 2018, from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-imf-conflicts/economic-costs-of-middle-east-wars-exceptionally-high-imf-study-idUSKCN11M1RR

  • Leaning, J. (2000). Environment and health: 5 Impacts of war. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 163(9), 1157–1161.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lederach, J. P. (1997). Building peace. Sustainable reconciliation in divided societies. Washington, DC: United States Institute for Peace.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lederach, J. P. (2014). The little book of conflict transformation. New York: Good Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, J. R. (2018). Environment and conflict. In A. Swain & J. Ojendal (Eds.), Routledge handbook of environmental conflict and peacebuilding (pp. 17–28). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lonergan, S. (1997). Water resources and conflict: Examples from the Middle East. In N. P. Gleditsch (Ed.), Conflict and the environment (NATO ASI series) (Vol. 33, pp. 375–384). Cham: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mac Ginty, R. (2015). Where is the local? Critical localism and peacebuilding. Third World Quarterly, 36(5), 840–856.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mac Ginty, R. & Sanghera, G. (2013). Hybridity in peacebuilding and development: an introduction, Journal of Peacebuilding and Development 7(2): 3–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marc, A., Verjee, N., & Mogaka, S. (2015). The challenge of stability and security in West Africa (Africa development forum series). Washington, DC/Paris: World Bank/Agence Française de Développement.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mathiesen, K. (2014). What’s the environmental impact of modern war? Retrieved September 07, 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/06/whats-the-environmental-impact-of-modern-war

  • Mohtadi, S. (2012). Climate change and the Syrian uprising. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist. Available at: https://thebulletin.org/2012/08/climate-change-and-the-syrian-uprising/. Accessed 20 Jan 2019.

  • Moon, B. K. (2007). A climate culprit in Darfur. Retrieved September 12, 2018, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/15/AR2007061501857.html

  • Paris, R. (2004). At war’s end: building peace after civil conflict. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Population Reference Bureau. (2001). Environmental scarcity and the outbreak of conflict. Retrieved March 19, 2019, from https://www.prb.org/environmentalscarcityandtheoutbreakofconflict/

  • Ramsbotham, O., Woodhouse, T., & Miall, H. (2016). Contemporary conflict resolution (4th ed.). Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salehyan, I., Hendrix, S. C., Hammer, J., Case, C., Linbarger, C., Stull, E., & Williams, J. (2011). The social conflict in Africa database: New data and applications. Working paper, University of North Texas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sarraf, M. (2004). Assessing the costs of environmental degradation in the Middle East and North Africa region. Washington, DC: World Bank. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/780231468774275451/pdf/298630PAPER0As1Env0Strat0Note0no-09.pdf

  • Saunders, H., & Slim, R. (1994). Dialogue to change conflictual relationships. In Higher education exchange (pp. 43–56). Dayton: Kettering Foundation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoenfeld, S., Zohar, A., Alleson, I., Suleiman, O., & Sipos-Randor, G. (2015). A place of empathy in a fragile contentious landscape: Environmental peacebuilding in the eastern Mediterranean. In F. McConnell, N. Megoran, & P. Williams (Eds.), Geographies of peace (pp. 171–193). London: I. B. Tauris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solh, M. (2010). Tackling the drought in Syria. Nature Middle East. Available at: https://www.natureasia.com/en/nmiddleeast/article/10.1038/nmiddleeast.2010.206. Accessed 20 Jan 2019.

  • Stang, G. (2016). Climate challenges in the Middle East: Rethinking environmental cooperation (Vol. 2). Washington, DC: The Middle East Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Starr, S. (2012). Revolt in Syria: Eye-witness to the uprising. London: Hurst.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swain, A. (1993). Environment and conflict: Analysing the developing world. Uppsala: Uppsala University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swain, A. & Krampe, F. (2011). Stability and sustainability in peace building: priority area for warefare ecology. In G.E. Machlis, T. Hanson, Z. Spiric & J.E. Mckendry (Eds.), Warfare Ecology: Synthesis, Priorities and Policy Implications for Peace and Security, NATO Science for Peace and Security, New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swain, A., & Ojendal, J. (2018). Environmental conflict and peacebuilding: An introduction. In A. Swain & J. Ojendal (Eds.), Routledge handbook of environmental conflict and peacebuilding (pp. 1–13). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thiaw, I. (2016, March 26). A policy agenda for Sustainable Development Goals. Retrieved September 15, 2018, from https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/03/policy-agenda-sustainable-development-goals-160321100549287.html

  • Trigo, R. M., Gouveia, C. M., & Barriopedro, D. (2010). The intense 2007–2009 drought in the Fertile Crescent: Impacts and associated atmospheric circulation. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 150, 1245–1257.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). (2003). Conflict-related development analysis (CDA). New York: Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). (2010). Drought impact assessment recovery mitigation framework regional project design in Kurdistan Region (KR). New York: UNDP.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). (2013). Human Development Report 2013: The rise of the south: Human progress in a diverse world. New York: UNDP.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). (2018). Climate change adaptation in the Arab States: Best practices and lessons learnt. New York: UNDP.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNHCR (United Nations Higher Commissioner for Refugees). (2017). Global trends: Forced displacement in 2017. New York. UNHCR. Retrieved from https://www.unhcr.org/globaltrends2017/

  • UNHCR (United Nations Higher Commissioner for Refugees). (2019a). Syria emergency. New York: UNHCR. Retrieved from https://www.unhcr.org/syria-emergency.html

  • UNHCR (United Nations Higher Commissioner for Refugees). (2019b). Syria regional refugee response. New York: UNHCR. Retrieved from https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/syria

  • World Bank. (2010). Violence in the city: Understanding and supporting community responses to urban violence. Washington, DC: World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank. (2013). Adaptation to climate change in the Middle East and North Africa region. Retrieved from http://web.worldbank.org/archive/website01418/WEB/0__C-152.HTM

  • World Bank. (2017). The toll of war: The economic and social consequences of the conflict in Syria. Washington, DC: World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank and United Nations. (2018). Pathways for peace: Inclusive approaches to preventing violent conflict. Washington, DC: World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Worth, R. F. (2010). Earth is parched where Syrian farms thrived. New York Times. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/14/world/middleeast/14syria.html. Accessed 20 Jan 2019.

  • Youness, M. A. (2015, October 12). How climate change contributed to the conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa. Retrieved August 24, 2018, from http://blogs.worldbank.org/arabvoices/climate-change-conflict-mena

  • Zwijnenburg, W., & Te Pas, K. (2015). Amidst the debris: A desktop study on the environmental and public health impact of Syria’s conflict. Utrecht: PAX.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jimmy and Rosslyn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    Engy Said

Authors
  1. Engy Said
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Engy Said .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

    Katerina Standish

  2. National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

    Heather Devere

  3. National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

    Adan Suazo

  4. Department of Criminology and Social Sciences, University of Derby, Derby, UK

    Rachel Rafferty

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Said, E. (2022). Environmental Degradation and Conflict Resolution. In: Standish, K., Devere, H., Suazo, A., Rafferty, R. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Positive Peace. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-0969-5_42

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation