Overgrazing and desertifiion in the Syrian steppe are ...
Jun 05, 2015 · Civil war in Syria is the result of the desertifiion of the ecologically fragile Syrian steppe, writes Gianluca Serra a process that began in 1958 when the former Bedouin commons were opened up to unrestricted grazing. That led to a wider ecological, hydrological and agricultural collapse, and then to a ''rural intifada'' of farmers and nomads no longer able to .