Impacts of the Syrian Civil War on vegetation

doi:10.6046/zrzyyg.2021233

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Abstract

Besides numerous casualties and economic losses, wars may cause damage to the environment. Using a long time series of satellite remote sensing data from 2001 to 2018, this study explored the response of vegetation growth to the environmental changes in Syria caused by the Syrian Civil War. The results are as follows. The vegetation index significantly decreased in regions that experienced the most intense conflict in the war. The land types changed slightly from 2011 when the war started to 2015 but changed significantly from 2015 to 2018, with the grassland area decreasing by 10.08% and the crop planting area decreasing by 21.87%. This study further explored the impacts of human activities on the vegetation status, revealing that both sides of the Euphrates River in the east and their extensional areas are most significantly affected by human activities. This study discovered the negative impacts of the war on vegetation growth and can be utilized as a reference for the research and strategy formulation on food security in areas with military conflicts.

Keywords NDVI time series vegetation Syrian Civil War

ZTFLH:

TP79

Corresponding Authors: REN Huazhong E-mail: zenghui@pku.edu.cn;renhuazhong@pku.edu.cn

Issue Date: 21 September 2022

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	Hui ZENG
	Huazhong REN
	Jinshun ZHU
	Jinxin GUO
	Xin YE
	Yuanjian TENG
	Jing NIE
	Qiming QIN

Cite this article:

Hui ZENG,Huazhong REN,Jinshun ZHU, et al. Impacts of the Syrian Civil War on vegetation[J]. Remote Sensing for Natural Resources, 2022, 34(3): 121-128.

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https://www.gtzyyg.com/EN/10.6046/zrzyyg.2021233 OR https://www.gtzyyg.com/EN/Y2022/V34/I3/121

Fig.1 Surface classification map of the study area in 2001

Fig.2 Interannual phenology changes in Syrian crop area by dynamic threshold method after reconstruction of AG algorithm

$β$	Z	NDVI变化趋势
>0	≥1.96	显著增长
>0	(-1.96,1.96)	轻微增长
0	(-1.96,1.96)	稳定或无植被区域
<0	(-1.96,1.96)	轻微退化
<0	≤-1.96	显著退化

Tab.1 Variation levels of the NDVI change trend

$β$	Z	H	NDVI变化趋势	$β$	Z	H	NDVI变化趋势
>0	≥1.96	>0.5	一致且显著增长	<0	(-1.96,1.96)	<0.5	从增长到退化
>0	(-1.96,1.96)	>0.5	一致且轻微增长	<0	(-1.96,1.96)	>0.5	一致且轻微退化
>0	(-1.96,1.96)	<0.5	从退化到增长	<0	≤-1.96	>0.5	一致且显著退化
0	(-1.96,1.96)	0.5	稳定无变化

Tab.2 Division of the degrees of variation of the NDVI change trend

Fig.3 Trend analysis results during the study period

Fig.4 Annual variation trends of NDVI during the growing season of different surface types in Syria (2001—2018)

Tab.3 Syria land cover transfer matrix

Fig.5 Pixel change of barren and crop land(2001—2018)

Fig.6 Analysis results of future change trends

Fig.7 Rainfall data and residual analysis results in the growing season in Syria

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