People in this area were separated from the outside world and adopted a survival strategy – chopping wood to warm the house, and the chef was one of them.
seed
In a 2023 report, NGO Pax said:
According to the organization, in Aleppo, further north of Damascus and Aleppo, the loss of vegetation and green space is combined with the expansion of the war-era region, already linked to an increase of 2°C to 5°C in Damascus and Aleppo.
Issa Mustafa al-Masri rents the plot of this land and lives here with his family. For seven years since 2012, they withstanded the government’s artillery fire and evacuated underground to the buildings just a few hundred metres from their fields.
“There was an airstrike. We couldn’t reach the land,” he recalls, sitting in the family’s modest living room. His wife, Amira, adds: “We couldn’t even cross the street from our house.” The family once owned 200 sheep, all of which died during the war.
In Duma, life has resumed within the ruins. Residents remain plagued by deadly attacks, particularly chemical attacks. Head southwest, a group of men gather at the entrance to a barren field. Soon, seeds are sown for summer crops.
confusion
“The Ghuta region was named after the abundant water and rivers that once ran through it,” explains local farmer Mohammad Fataumu. “But the war changed the barrenness of the land.”
Residents and experts say that one of the area’s main waterways, the Barada River, is heavily contaminated with waste and sewage. To avoid the use of this contaminated water, farmers dug the wells. A diesel-powered pump with fuel – blows water onto the surface.
A decade-long conflict in Syria has destroyed its natural landscape, observed independent environmental journalist Peter Schwartzstein. “Most parts of the environment have not escaped the negative effects of hostilities.
Schwarzstein, a researcher at the Wilson Center Think Tank in the US, adds that poor governance and population survival strategies have also exacerbated water and air pollution.
“Agriculture, for example, has been caught up in the chaos of violence and suffers from neglect and unsustainable agricultural practices that many Syrians had no choice but to adopt during the war.”
harvest
Small streams clogged with waste drip out of the field. Despite the winter season, only the flow of water passes through it. “The main source of water that once existed in Gouta was blocked to dry out the area during the war,” continues Mohammad Fataumu, surrounded by other farmers.
As airstrikes and bombings intensified, access to farmland decreased. “During the war, we began using small plots to grow vegetables, wheat, barley and other crops for daily consumption,” the farmer explains.
However, the relentless bombing hampered crop growth, leading to the deaths of many civilians, including widespread hunger and children succumbing to cold and hunger.
To reach East Ghouta from its western counterpart, you will have to go back to the highway and run through the war-torn landscape. The field has been extended miles near Dalaya, a former opposition base.
Agricultural workers sit under makeshift shelter and organize their leeks. Harvest of the day. Landowner Omar Abu Hawa inherited the farm from his family, who had grown it for generations. As a child, the 50-year-old walked under a row of apricots, walnuts and apple fruit trees.
Repotting
“You couldn’t even see the sun,” he says, pointing to the current Valen path that once ran on his farm. “The regime soldiers cut down the trees and sold them to the residents as fires.”
He left his hometown at the outbreak of the Civil War and moved north before returning to 2018 after a peace deal between the rebels and the Assad regime. “When we came back, nothing grew due to the chemical attacks. It was very difficult,” he recalls standing among the bombed homes.
Professor Miasar Alhassan of the University of Leeds is an expert on air and soil pollution. He explains that research into the effects of chemical weapons on the environment is rare.
“The administration will interfere with most attempts to conduct such research, tamper with sites and delay access to experts over the long term. This applies to new Russian ammunition tested in Syria. Ecologist. The most pressing concern is heavy metal contamination.
When Omar Abhawa returned in 2019, he inspected his land from an engineer for the mine. “Now I want to replant vineyards. We had them before,” he says.
Cultivation
Dalaya was once famous for her vineyards and during the revolution he earned the nickname “The City of Bloody Grapes.” Over 700 people were killed at the opposition base during a brutal attack by Assad’s forces in August 2012.
“In western Dalaya there was a vast amount of farmland, but today much was lost due to ongoing difficulties,” confirms Husam al-Aham, a member of Dalaya’s municipality, who is also concerned about the condition of the water resources.
For many experts, the environment, which was quickly neglected before the war, corresponds to one of the strategic targets of a disputed regime.
“It will take at least a century to restore our environment,” concludes Miassar Alhassan. “The authorities must allocate resources to critical services such as electricity, water and employment opportunities, while supporting agriculture, reforestation and waste management. All governors must support waste management without discrimination. This approach promotes unity and promotes peaceful coexistence.”
Experts argue that nothing will happen in both peace and the environment without international support and systematic change. In Douma and Daraya, farmers are working to restore the land amidst the devastation and hope that lasting peace will help children grow far away from bombs and genocide.
This author
Amélie David is a Lebanon-based freelance journalist who covers the story of environmental and climate change. This article is published through the Ecologist Writers Fund. Ask readers to donate and ask some authors to pay £250 for their work. please Donate now. You can learn more about the fund and create applications on our website.
