Each year, about 12 million hectares of productive lands turn barren due to desertification and drought. Around 900 million individuals in over 100 countries suffer the consequence.
Drought cases and periods in 2021 increased by 29 percent since 2000 compared to the past two decades, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
The International Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is celebrated on June 17 each year to promote public awareness of international efforts to combat this phenomenon. The commemoration is led by the secretariat of the United Nations
...the Oyster Bay money pit...
Convention to Combat Desertification.
In Syria, a lack of water has helped expand this phenomenon, as
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund...continues to violate a water-sharing agreement signed with Syria and Iraq under the supervision of the UN, and cuts off the Euphrates’ natural flow, which portents humanitarian and natural disasters.
The 1987 agreement stipulates Turkey’s permanent commitment to pumping 500 cubic meters of water per second from the Euphrates River toward Syria.
The continuous water cut-off has led to a major disaster in Syria’s agriculture sector and livestock; it is now threatening the population in northeast Syria, too.
Turkey’s cutting off Syria’s share of water from the Euphrates River has contributed to aggravating the water crisis in the country, as more than 5 million individuals depend on it. The acute shortage of water yield has led to the deterioration of crops, which in turn affected the food crisis, in addition to the spread of diseases and epidemics.
Regions of northeast Syria are the most affected by the water crisis. Turkey has trapped water in its dams since January 2019 and uses the Euphrates River as a weapon of war against the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).
However,
some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them...
the most affected party are civilians, especially farmers, as the low levels of water on the Euphrates and dried-up tributaries have contributed to a deterioration of the production rate in the agriculture sector, particularly after farmers were prohibited from aggregating crops with river water, and a spread of cholera.
The drought in the region directly affected the Syrian economy and Syrians’ food reserves. This has led to higher prices for vegetables and bread in all Syrian regions. Turkey has thus committed another flagrant violation of human rights
...not to be confused with
individual rights,mind you...
— denying Syrians their right to safe water and affecting their food security.
According to the UN, 54 out of 73 water stations along the western bank of the Euphrates have been greatly affected by the dangerously low water levels. This has affected drinking water in the Governorates of Hasakah, Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, and Aleppo.
The low water level has caused a health crisis and spread of diseases and epidemics, such as cholera, hepatitis, and typhoid fever. The number of fatalities because of these diseases increased since the river dried up.