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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsJuan Cole: Did ISIL Arise Partly Because of Climate Change?
http://www.thenation.com/article/did-isil-arise-partly-because-of-climate-change/Democratic presidential contender Martin OMalley sparked controversy this week by saying that the conditions for the rise of ISIL (ISIS, Daesh) were set by the impact on Syria of climate change, which drove farmers from their land into slums around cities and created extreme poverty. OMalleys assertion was immediately ridiculed on Fox News Channel and by Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum, who called the allegation a disconnect from reality. Who is right in this debate?
It should not come as a surprise that OMalley is indeed correct, especially since he chose his words very carefully. He said, One of the things that preceded the failure of the nation-state of Syria and the rise of ISIS, was the effects of climate change and the mega-drought that effected that region, which wiped out farmers, drove people to cities, [and] created a humanitarian crisis . It created the symptoms, or rather the conditions of extreme poverty that has led now to the rise of ISIL and this extreme violence. OMalley did not attribute the radical extremism in northeast Syria only to climate change and drought, underlining that it was only one of the causes of the weakening of the Syrian state and the immiseration of the population, which made them so desperate that they even turned to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his hateful beheaders for salvation. It was, however, one cause among others, he said.
Professor Hannu Juusola of Helsinki has shown in a scholarly article that in the northeast of the countrythe seat of power of ISIL in Syriabetween 2006 and 2010, 70 percent of farmers livestock died because of severe drought. Wheat production declined 18 percent in a single year, and 3 million people in the northeast were already food insecure five years ago. Syrias underground water aquifers are few and becoming depleted or polluted. Syria is part of a vast Middle Eastern arid zone and has, of course, been subject to cyclical drought throughout history. But drought is exacerbated by higher temperatures, and we know that the world is about a degree Fahrenheit warmer now than in 1850 because since then weve been spewing billions of tons of powerful greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere every year. Hence, this drought is worse than previous ones. (Other scientists have confirmed Juusolas findings.)
All this would not matter as much if Syria was a largely urban society, but 45 percent of its residents before the turmoil that began in 2011some 9 million peoplewere rural. Largely urban societies such the United Arab Emirates (a wealthy oil state that has desalinization plants for making potable water from sea water) are not as badly affected by severe drought, since most residents just need drinking water. But 90 percent of Syrian water is used for irrigation, and a shortfall is a social disaster. It is probably also the case that as it came under pressure to join the march to neoliberalism in the 1990s and after, the Syrian regime privatized many economic activities, and its officials may have been more interested in lining their pockets than in using state resources to address the water crisis.
elleng
(131,238 posts)Democratic presidential contender Martin OMalley sparked controversy this week by saying that the conditions for the rise of ISIL (ISIS, Daesh) were set by the impact on Syria of climate change, which drove farmers from their land into slums around cities and created extreme poverty. OMalleys assertion was immediately ridiculed on Fox News Channel and by Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum, who called the allegation a disconnect from reality. Who is right in this debate?
It should not come as a surprise that OMalley is indeed correct, especially since he chose his words very carefully. He said, One of the things that preceded the failure of the nation-state of Syria and the rise of ISIS, was the effects of climate change and the mega-drought that effected that region, which wiped out farmers, drove people to cities, created a humanitarian crisis
. It created the symptoms, or rather the conditions of extreme poverty that has led now to the rise of ISIL and this extreme violence. OMalley did not attribute the radical extremism in northeast Syria only to climate change and drought, underlining that it was only one of the causes of the weakening of the Syrian state and the immiseration of the population, which made them so desperate that they even turned to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and his hateful beheaders for salvation. It was, however, one cause among others, he said.
Thanks
MH1
(17,608 posts)The very last thing the U.S. needs when facing this coming challenge, is a Republican-run government.