Updated: One-stop list of resources on Syria, drought, climate change and unrest

We have written extensively on the topic of Syria, drought, natural resource mismanagement, climate change and social unrest, beginning in 2012, and followed by a broader look at the region in our report The Arab Spring and Climate Change in the winter of 2013. Since then, the situation in the country has deteriorated dramatically, and the complexities of the conflict on the ground continue to multiply. Even in the fog of conflict, journalists and researchers are seeking to better understand what was at the root of the conflict, whether or not it could it have been avoided, and how the international community might help prevent humanitarian crises of this scale in the future. For years, the media has tried to pick apart some of the underlying factors that contributed to unrest in the country, including some of the environmental, climatic and natural resource security issues at play in the lead up to the revolution. This coverage has included interviews with us, commentary from foreign policy leaders like William Polk, and continued investigations of the topic by Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman.

Below is an updated list of links to the news coverage, articles on the issue, and a few of the key documents cited. Please let us know if there are additional sources we should add to this list. NOTE: We do not take any responsibility for any of the headlines!

• World Economic Forum
  “Global Risks 2014 Report,” January 16, 2014

• Weather, Climate and Society Journal
  Peter Gleick, “Water, Drought, Climate Change and Conflict in Syria” March, 2014

• The Washington Post
  Brad Plumer, “Drought helped cause Syria’s war. Will climate change bring more like it?” September 10, 2013
  Jason Samenow, “Drought and Syria: manmade climate change or just climate?” September 9, 2013
  Alice Fordham, “Amid unrest, Syrians struggle to feed their families,” May 1, 2012

• US News and World Report
  Michael Shank & Emily Wirzba, “How Climate Change Sparked the Crisis in Syria,” September 13, 2013

• Toronto Star
  Raveena Aulakh, “A rural exodus as drought takes hold of Syria,” March, 2013

• Salon
  Lindsay Abrams, “How climate change is linked to Syria’s war,” September 10, 2013
• CNN
  Christiane Amanpour, “Syria violence caused by…water supply?” September 20, 2013

• NPR
  “How Could A Drought Spark a Civil War?” September 8, 2013

• NOAA
  “NOAA study: Human-caused climate change a major factor in more frequent Mediterranean droughts,” October 7, 2011

• The New York Times
  Thomas L. Friedman, “WikiLeaks, Drought and Syria,” January 21, 2014
  Thomas L. Friedman, “Without Water, Revolution,” May 18, 2013
  Thomas L. Friedman, “The Scary Hidden Stressor,” March 2, 2013
  Thomas L. Friedman, “The Other Arab Spring,” April 7, 2012
  Robert F. Worth, “Earth is Parched Where Syrian Farms Thrived,” October 13, 2010

• NBC News
  Sam Schulz, “Chemical Weapons and Syria’s Civil War: What You Need to Know,” September 8, 2013

• The National Review
  Alec Torres, “Global Warming, the Real Cause of the Syrian Civil War?” September 9, 2013

• National Geographic 
  Peter Gleick, “Syria, Water, Climate Change and Violent Conflict,” June 10, 2013

• Moyers & Company
  John Light, “Drought Helped Spark Syria’s Civil War – Is it One of Many Climate Wars to Come?” September 6, 2013

• Livescience
  Tia Ghose, “Human-Caused Climate Change May Have Worsened Syrian Unrest,” December 10, 2013

• IRIN
  “Syria: Why the water shortages?” March 25, 2010
  “Act now to stop desertification, says FAO,” June 15, 2010
  “Syria: Drought driving farmers to the cities,” September 2, 2009

• International Food Policy Research Institute
  Breisinger et al, “Global and Local Economic Impacts of Climate Change in Syria and Options for Adaptation,” June 2011

• Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction
  Wadid Erian, Bassem Katlan, Ouldbeday Babah, “Drought vulnerability in the Arab region, Special case study: Syria” 2010

• Footnote1
  “Did Drought Trigger The Crisis in Syria?” September 12, 2013

• The Daily Caller News Foundation
  “Did global warming cause the Syrian civil war?” September 9, 2013

• Climate Progress
  Joe Romm, “What is the Most Dangerous Impact of Climate Change?,” January 22, 2014
  Joe Romm, “Arab Summer: Warming-Fueled Drought Helped Spark Syria’s Civil War,” September 8, 2013
  Joe Romm, “Syria: Climate Change, Drought and Social Unrest,” March 3, 2012
  Joe Romm, “NOAA Bombshell: Human-Caused Climate Change Already a Major Factor in More Frequent Mediterranean Droughts,” October 27, 2010

• The Christian Science Monitor
  “Did climate change cause the Syrian uprising?” March 25, 2013

• The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists
  Shahrzad Mohtadi, “Climate change and the Syrian uprising?“ August 16, 2012

• BBC Radio Scotland
  “Interview on drought, climate and social unrest in Syria,“ September 9, 2013

• The Atlantic
  William R. Polk, “Understanding Syria: From Pre-Civil War to Post-Assad,” December 10, 2013
  William R. Polk, “Your Labor Day Syria Reader, Part 2: William Polk,” September 2, 2013
  Tim McDonnell, “Climate Change: The Secret Inflamer of the Arab Spring,” March 6, 2013

• The American Spectator
  Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi & Oskar Svadkovsky, “Demography is Destiny in Syria,” February 6, 2012

• Al-Monitor
  Wagiha Mhanna, “Syria’s Climate Crisis,” December 4, 2014