Syria’s Forests Burning by

Flames of Negligence and

Corruption

A man armed with tree branch trying to put out fire in Western Hama Countryside - July 8, 2020 (AFP)

Haba Shahada | Ammar Ziyada

Plumes of smoke towered into the sky, the white and the orange flames
mingled up, reducing the green foliage on the way to ashes. Such wildfires
have been reported by the local media since the end of August. No sooner
had Abdul Muin smelled the odour of smoke, to which he was accustomed
at that time of the year coming from Latakia Mountain adjacent to his
village in Al-Ghab Plain, than he recalled memories of injustice and
corruption.

Scores of fires have swept through agricultural and forest lands in Al-Ghab Plain,
Hama Countryside, and Coastal Mountain Range at the onset of dry season in
Syria. News came through about the efforts to fight the fire and arrest those who
were accused of starting it. Meanwhile, the flames continued to leap, raising
questions as to the fate of forests and the identity of those who would benefit
from damaging forests in a country whose government knows no transparency.

Amid government figures, UN estimates, and opinions put forth by analysts and
experts, Enab Baladi attempts in this context to figure out the causes of setting
fire to the forests, who benefits from it, and its impacts on Syria now and in the
future.
Abdul Muin Al-Masry, head of the local council in Qaber Fidda, has lost his house
after regime forces captured the village, which is a few kilometers away from
Latakia Mountain in 2015. Nonetheless, he has not lost its memories.

The forty-odd-year-old man went down memory lane, recalling events from
decades past only to claim that the “setting-fire” season was not unusual in those
parts, and that both the reasons and the culprits were known - as when winter
nears, fires would spark on account of logging and investing in scorched lands
“with the government put in the picture”.

57 forest fires have broken out and destroyed 1.7 hectares into protected lands
since the beginning of this year up to September 9, according to data from the
Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform of the government of the Syrian
regime. In the aftermath, six suspects in “causing fires” were arrested, according
to the Ministry of Interior, on September 11, after it was found that they set their
agricultural lands on fire, which later spread to the forest”.

According to Abdul Muin, fires do not just start from natural causes, they “get
started deliberately”. Local residents invest them in farming, logging and charcoal
trading. The government announces investment in charcoal after extinguishing
the fire, “excluding residents of neighbouring regions”, according to the head of
Enab Baladi local council.
Syrian civil defence corps extinguishing fires extending to Jisr al-Shughur in Western Idlib Countryside
from the south - September 11, 2020 (Syrian civil defence - Idlib Province Facebook)

What forests does Syria have?

Forests covered most of the Syrian land areas in the past, as demonstrated by
historic monuments. These areas, however, have shrunken century after century
until “the government come to realise the importance of trees and forests, and
declared the last Thursday of every year an Arbour Day”, according to a report
submitted by Directorate of Forestry of the Syrian Ministry of Agriculture to Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 1993.

The first “Arbour Day” celebration was held in 1952. In 1960, afforestation
projects have become part of five-year plans of the government, with a special
budget allocated for them, due to the economic importance of forests that are
reflected in providing industrial wood, essentials for making paper, boxes, and
charcoal, and other industrial materials for the local market.

The report divided the forest area, which consists of 445,000 hectares, to: (1)
150,000 hectares in Tartus, Latakia, Idlib and Hama, composed of pine, cedar, fir
and oak; (2) 225,000 hectares of diverse forest cover that are “only suitable for
charcoal industry”, in Damascus, Homs, Aleppo and As-Suwayda; and (3) 70,000
hectares of forests in Hama and Damascus, consist above all of pistachio and
juniper.