But Syria was doing fairly good economically circa 2010?
According to world bank[1] Its GDP per capita was competitive relative to the region. It was ahead of Turkey, for example, and far better than most its neighbors (except Gulf countries).
Because I know for a fact, that no one on the ground was losing sleep over desertification.
I'm not dismissing its ecological affect, but to claim it's the root cause, I see as belittling and trying to erase what the people were actually fighting for:
The incompetenes of the government might have lead to desertification but that's merely scratching the suface level of the problems. The article is full of confirmation bias and tunnel vision from an author who wants to think his work is the center of the universe.
If you're seriously contemplating the author's idea, just try answering this simple question. If there was no desertification whatsoever, everything else the same, would the war still happen?
It's honestly disgusting to throw away the blood of people and their struggles, and try to frame it as some sort of fairytale butterfly effect.
Edit: Funny how me, a Syrian, is being down voted by people who claim to know more about his own country
According to world bank[1] Its GDP per capita was competitive relative to the region. It was ahead of Turkey, for example, and far better than most its neighbors (except Gulf countries).
[1] https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?end=2010...