Cropland abandonment in the context of drought, economic restructuring, and migration in northeast Syria

Abstract Farmland abandonment is often associated with biophysical, political, or socio-economic changes, like droughts, economic reforms, rural-urban migration, or armed conflicts. Syria has seen several such changes in the period between 2000–2011, however, few assessments of how these factors hav...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Environmental research letters 2024-01, Vol.19 (1), p.14077
Main Authors:	Eklund, Lina, Mohr, Berit, Dinc, Pinar
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Abandoned land Agricultural drought Agricultural land Annan samhällsvetenskap conflict Drought Earth and Related Environmental Sciences Economic reform economic restructuring Environmental impact Fieldwork Geosciences, Multidisciplinary Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap land abandonment Land use Land use classification Migration Multidisciplinär geovetenskap Natural Sciences Naturgeografi Naturvetenskap Other Social Sciences Physical Geography Rural urban migration Samhällsvetenskap Social Sciences Social Sciences Interdisciplinary Syria Tvärvetenskapliga studier inom samhällsvetenskap Water resources
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	Abstract Farmland abandonment is often associated with biophysical, political, or socio-economic changes, like droughts, economic reforms, rural-urban migration, or armed conflicts. Syria has seen several such changes in the period between 2000–2011, however, few assessments of how these factors have interacted with land abandonment have been carried out. In this study we investigate land abandonment patterns in northeast Syria, using a land use classification based on satellite data to indicate agricultural drought impacts and land abandonment. We combine these data with information on land use and migration patterns collected through a unique fieldwork, including surveys and interviews with Syrian farmers who had migrated to Turkey. Our analysis shows that drought coincided with a strong drop in cultivated croplands in 2008 and 2009. We also found a comparatively high cropland abandonment between 2001 and 2013, however no strong increases during or after drought years. Local insights indicate that migration took place during both normal years and drought years, and that most migrants had abandoned their lands after leaving Syria. We suggest that long-term mismanagement of water resources along with changes in the political economy, drove land abandonment in northeast Syria between 2001 and 2010. After 2011, armed conflict likely drove abandonment, but rates remained similar to the pre-conflict period. We discuss the potential of land abandonment as an indicator of rural migration in areas where migration data is sparse and conclude that more research is needed to understand the migration-land abandonment nexus, particularly in the Middle East.
ISSN:	1748-9326 1748-9326