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Is Civil War in Syria to be Blamed on Climate Change?
Prince Charles believes that one can blame the civil war in Syria to the changing climate and global warming. "There is very good evidence indeed that one of the major reasons for this horror in Syria was a drought that lasted for about five or six years," he told Sky News, also adding that the climate change is affecting the conflict and global terrorism. Apparently, Prince is not the only one who thinks on these lines. He is joined by many others who think the the same way. President Obama, Al Gore, Martin O'Malley and Bernie Sanders too have talked about potential links between Syrian conflict and the climate change, reported Reuters.
As the experts analyze the comments and beliefs of top leaders of the world, they agree that there is a good reason to attribute Syrian conflict to the change in climate. Firstly, most public and policy dialogue related to the conflict with regards to climate change happens at a political level and not science. The earliest reports that were published on the matter were not based on scientific research but military's attempt to overstate the importance of climate change with regards to the security interest. There are also some scientific studies that find merit in the claim that climate change may be the root cause of the conflict, while many disagree, reports The Guardian
As far as Syria is concerned, much of its prewar internal migration happened for other reasons and not because of the drought. In fact, the cities within Syria experienced growth throughout 2000s due to economic liberalization. The drought migration occurred mainly in 2009 after the subsidy on diesel and fertilizers were cancelled overnight. According to a researcher, Francesca De Chatel, these cuts in subsidy were "a greater burden than the [three] successive years of drought" on the farmers, reports Pacific Standard.
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