Environment and Water

The Syrian government is in talks with the Saudi Fund for Development to finalise the transfer of a USD 1.5 billion grant for the ‘Syria Without Camps’ initiative, the Deputy Minister of Disaster and Emergency Management, Ahmad Qzayz, said. 

The Green Climate Fund has announced a USD 25 million grant for a project that will tackle water scarcity in the Barada and Awaj basins, south of Damascus, two of the most water-stressed areas in the country. This is the first grant that the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the world’s largest multilateral climate fund helping developing countries tackle the climate crisis, has ever awarded to Syria. Since 2019, the Syrian government has been part of a ‘readiness program’ of the GCF to be eligible to unlock financing from the fund.

An unusual rise in water levels in the Euphrates River during the final week of May has developed into one of the most significant water-related emergencies witnessed in northeastern Syria in recent years. The sudden increase affected thousands of families across the Raqqa and Deir-ez-Zor governorates, flooded agricultural land, disrupted water services, damaged transport infrastructure, and exposed longstanding weaknesses in flood preparedness and riverbank management.

Renewable energy represents a minor share of Syria’s electricity output, but its role is expanding: between 2024 and 2025, the installed capacity of off-grid solar has increased from 1,500 megawatts (MW) to 2,060 MW, and solar energy systems are increasingly being implemented to support water supply.

As of mid January, rainfall levels across the country have exceeded half of the annual average, with some areas recording totals four to five times higher than last season.

After 14 years of conflict, the bill to repair Syria’s crumbling water and sanitation infrastructure is estimated at USD 10 billion. The state of the water and sanitation infrastructure - from water pipe networks, sewage treatment plants to septic tanks - is dire. Around 70 percent of the raw sewage is not treated, some remote villages receive water just two hours per month, and in some areas water facilities are working only at 40 percent of their capacity.

While Quneitra Governorate grapples with a severe water shortage resulting from critically low storage levels in its dams, and as Israel continues its incursions into Syrian territory - including the reported seizure of several large Syrian dams in the south - media speculation is rising about a potential deal between Israel and Syria, despite official Syrian denials of such reports.

Syrians are likely to experience an unprecedented water crisis this summer, particularly in the capital Damascus and its surroundings, following repeated warnings of an acute potable water shortage. These warnings have emerged amid extreme weather changes affecting the country, resulting in a dramatic decline in annual rainfall.

The Syrian government has announced its intention to desalinate seawater and transport it to the southern Syria. Syria counts several desalination plants treating inland groundwater resources, but the desalination capacity of these plants is minimal. Since the onset of the conflict, “the construction of small desalination installations seems to have been directed toward meeting emergency and humanitarian needs and reducing water insecurity in the current turmoil, supplying drinking water to vulnerable and displaced populations,” explained David Michel, Senior Fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

In a context where the industry lacks proper safety regulations and three-quarters of AANES revenues depend on oil production, business profitability comes at the expense of health and environmental rights. Since taking control of the oil fields in the northeast in 2018, the Syrian Democratic Forces have “contracted private businesses to run the oil fields in its territories to reduce operation costs,” and these actors rely on “primitive methods” to refine oil.

Earlier this month, Iraq accused Syria of obstructing the Euphrates River flow into Iraqi territory, leading to a water diplomacy clash between Baghdad, Damascus and the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.

The Green Climate Fund (GCF), the world’s largest multilateral climate fund, has granted USD 1.9 million to the Syrian government in the past four years but could potentially attract much more. Countries must enhance the technical capacity of national institutions through a ‘Readiness Program' to access GCF funds. As of August, GCF has funded 709 ‘readiness requests’ worth a total of USD 527.6 million across 142 countries. In the case of Syria, the GCF has so far disbursed USD 873,300 out of the total USD 1.9 million granted.

The ongoing Turkish retaliatory attacks in northeast Syria have severely affected oil, water, electricity, education, and health infrastructure.

Recent reports have sounded the alarm on the bleak water crisis that five million people in northeast Syria are facing. The roots of the water dilemma are entangled and protracted and the political instability in the northeast hinders efforts to design a comprehensive strategy to manage the dwindling water resources. 

Northeast Syria continues to suffer from an acute water crisis driven by climatic and man-made factors.

Since late November, Turkey has been attacking areas under the control of the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria, causing deaths, injuries, and widespread damage to key oil fields, gas plants, power stations, and other civilian infrastructure.

At the COP27 conference, the Syrian government predominantly blamed western sanctions, the opposition, and Israel for the challenges it faces in fighting climate change without taking responsibility for its role as a contributor to environmental harm. 

As cholera cases rise and water supplies dwindle, the Syrian government recently began operating a new water desalination plant in the Hassakeh governorate in an effort to provide potable water to residents. The plants are only meant to be used in cases of emergency, i.e. in a situation of a dramatic shortage in water supplies, likely to preserve underground water reserves. So far, the government has only activated fifteen out of the twenty plants.

An Israeli company has recently completed the first phase of a water project in Northeast Syria, which is controlled by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria and has long been facing a severe water crisis.

In late December 2021, Russia carried out a ten-day airstrike campaign on Idlib and parts of Rural Aleppo and Hama, killing civilians and widely damaging civilian infrastructure and key sources of livelihoods, including a UNICEF-supported water station, a foodstuff factory, and several poultry and cow farms. The attacks, which are in violation of the 2020 ceasefire agreement between Turkey and Russia, have only contributed to further exacerbating already deteriorating living conditions in the region and may be a sign of increasing tensions between the two countries.