58 percent of forests in Afrin (Efrîn) have been lost since Turkey took control of the northwest Syrian region in 2018, according to a report released last week by a Netherlands-based peace organisation, PAX.
The in-depth scientific study by the Dutch peace initiative, based on satellite analysis and open-source research, highlights conflict-linked tree loss in Syria between 2018 and 2020. Unregulated logging affected over 36 percent of western forested areas, as well as nearly 60 percent in the north where armed groups were a main driver for the heavy logging of natural forests, said PAX.
After Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch in 2018, the Kurdish region of Afrin had one of the highest rates of forest loss in Syria, the research shows. During the cross- border military operation, the Turkish Armed Forces and factions known as the Syrian National Army (SNA) took control of the Afrin region and drove out the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
The intense forest loss in Afrin was caused by Turkish-backed militants engaging in the lumber trade, the Turkish Armed Forces logging for the construction of outposts, and an influx of internally displaced persons from other areas who needed a supply of wood, according to PAX.
The Turkish military cut down hundreds of trees in the process of outpost construction amidst orchards, for fire-line clearance and as a building material for the bases.
Incoming internally displaced persons were resettled in woodlands, and they cut down the trees for firewood and housing. As a result, a small park overlooking the city of Afrin largely disappeared. The settlers were Kurdish civilians, displaced by the incursion of Turkish-backed rebels into the region.
The findings clearly show that in Afrin, deforestation had intensified by 2020. Between 2018 and 2021, 43 percent of the Afrin region was deforested.
Various militias have been involved in the logging, sales and export of lumber from Afrin and the surrounding countryside since the area came under the control of Turkish-backed Syrian factions, said the report, entitled ‘Axed and Burned’. By October 2021, 58 percent of forest cover had been affected by cutting and land clearing.
Over the last seven years, two areas in particular have seen dramatic deforestation levels: Jabal al Kurd, a mountain range on the border with Turkey, and Barsaya, a mountain range northwest of the city, the research identified.
PAX stressed that international institutions must make a coordinated plan to tackle forest loss in war-stricken Syria and highlighted that living conditions and socio-economic prospects in the country are worsened by the conflict-linked environmental degradation.
