The article states that some prominent international personalities have claimed that the conflict in Syria has its roots in the long-running drought that the country has been experiencing. The drought has caused people to move toward the cities and other urban areas in search for livelihood. However, this theory has been set aside by many experts, averring that the civil conflict in Syria has been caused by several factors, among them the social and political conditions present in the country at the time of the conflict (The Guardian: Is Climate Change Really to Blame for Syria’s Civil War?). In Africa, there is evidence that spikes in temperature have coincided with civil conflict. The conflict is found in areas where increases in temperature have caused failures in agriculture. However, this study is only for the conflicts in the African continent (Our World: Does Climate Change Cause Conflict?).
After pouring over the articles, one is of the opinion that climate change cannot be pointed out as the sole reason for civil conflict. Each particular conflict has to be studied carefully in order to determine the root or the roots of each. For instance, the Syrian civil war can be attributed to many factors – the presence of a situation similar to the Arab Spring, drought, the rise to power of ISIL, the absence of the promised reforms by Basher Assad, and other causes. Experts must be careful to analyze each conflict on its own merits, and not make hasty generalizations. The exact causes of each conflict must be examined, such that solutions to each particular conflict can be formulate and implemented in the context of each one.
Works Cited
Notaras, Mark. Does Climate Change Cause Conflict? 2009. Web.
The Guardian. Is Climate Change Really to Blame for Syria’s Civil War? 2015. Web.
