ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the 2006-2010 drought and places it in the framework of the economic reforms and market liberalization that were initiated as part of Syria’s transition to a social market economy, the history of agricultural development and water management and the large-scale mismanagement of resources. It argues that it was not the drought per se, but rather the government’s failure to respond to the ensuing humanitarian crisis that formed one of the triggers of the uprising, feeding a discontent that had long been simmering in rural areas. Syrian state media outlets largely omitted any coverage of the drought and its economic and social repercussions. The official narrative portrays Syria as increasingly water stressed due to a range of extraneous environmental and socioeconomic factors such as climate change, desertification, unequal distribution of water resources, seasonal variations in rainfall and population growth.
