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4
Geographical Research
•
March 2009
•
47(1):4–14
doi: 10.1111/j.1745-5871.2008.00550.x
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Original Acticle
F. Hole:
Unsustainable land use in Syria
Drivers of Unsustainable Land Use in the Semi-Arid
Khabur River Basin, Syria
FRANK HOLE
Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8277, USA.
Email: frank.hole@yale.edu
Received 27 October 2007; Revised 1 May 2008; Accepted 5 September 2008
Abstract
The semi-arid zone of Southwest Asia, known as the Fertile Crescent, is under
unprecedented stress because of agricultural development. Where rain-fed
agriculture and transhumant herding had prevailed over ten millennia, today
intensive cultivation with irrigation threatens future sustainability. A number of
interconnected, but uncoordinated drivers of change combine to shape the
landscape and its future, and their changes make it hard to anticipate future
requirements and opportunities, as well as to implement policies, whether by
local stakeholders or at the national level. Among the factors that comprise the
socio-natural systems are (1) climate, (2) water and soil resources, (3) history of
land use, (4) social, economic and political factors, (5) infrastructural developments
(6) interstate impacts, and (7) legacies of the past. The example of the Khabur
River drainage in northeastern Syria shows the dynamic interplay among these
factors over the past 70 years, with implications for the way future policies and
practices are developed.
KEY WORDS
Syria; water resources; land use; sustainable agriculture;
management policy; socio-natural system
ACRONYM
ICARDA International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas
Introduction
The last 70 years of agricultural development in
the Khabur River Basin of northeast Syria,
illustrate how a series of interconnected but
uncoordinated human and environmental factors,
each occurring on different temporal and spatial
scales, and with different drivers, cumulatively
led to the present unsustainable condition (Figure 1).
Agriculture in semi-arid northern Syria has been
sustained, despite changes in climate over some
9000 years, through modifications in the
balance between agriculture and stock raising,
in expansion and retraction of settlement, and
in societal organisation of production, but these
balances have been upset (Hole, 1997a; 1997b;
Hole and Smith, 2004). During the past 70
years, there has been a shift in land use from
grazing by sheep and camels led by mobile
tribes with few permanent settlements, to a
region dominated by irrigated agriculture. Today’s
landscape features a large city, several large
towns and hundreds of small hamlets. These
changes have been fostered by government
policies of resettlement, agricultural subsidies,
introduction of farm machinery and diesel pumps,
and development of roads that allow goods to
move to market. Today the entire landscape has
been modified by humans. Nearly all native
forage has disappeared, and the water table in
some areas has dropped below economical
F. Hole:
Drivers of Unsustainable Land Use in the Semi-Arid Khabur River Basin, Syria
5
© 2008 The Author
Journal compilation © 2008 Institute of Australian Geographers
extraction. Current practice involves ever-increasing
intensification of agriculture by means of deep-
well irrigation, heavy use of fertilizers, and
elimination of fallowing cycles (Nguyen, 1989).
As a consequence, already some settlements
have been abandoned as wells have dried up,
and wind and water erosion have swept thin
steppe soils from their rocky substrate. Continued
access to water will be the key to sustainability
for people, agriculture and the ecosystem itself.
The latest national policy stresses conservation
of water while sustaining production. This policy
shift brings technical challenges and economic,
social and environmental costs that are difficult
to predict. The remainder of this paper considers
why a region that was considered to be the
breadbasket of Syria a few decades ago is in
danger of agricultural collapse.
Interconnected human and environmental
drivers of land use change
The major components of an agricultural eco-
system can be described separately. However, if
we take a dynamic view and ask how and why
the current situation exists, then the components
must be seen as interrelated and mutually
reinforcing. As will be apparent in this paper, a
discussion of each component inevitably
involves some or all of the others, and solutions
to current or impending problems must recognise
these inherent interdependencies. The present
system is dynamic and a legacy of historic changes
that condition the future. The major factors are:
1. climate;
2. quality of the physical resources, including
soil, water and vegetation;
3. history of land use;
4. social, economic and political factors;
5. government policies;
6. infrastructural developments;
7. interstate impacts, and
8. legacies of past history.
Each factor exists and changes on its own spatial
and temporal scale, often out of phase and
without regard for other factors, making planning
and implementation of policies and practices
difficult, whether on the level of farmers or the
national government (Hole, 2006; Dearing
et al.
,
2007; Liu
et al
., 2007).
Figure 1 The Khabur River drainage, the subject of this paper, is in northeastern Syria. Figure 2 shows two satellite images
of the region around the headwater springs of the Khabur, and Figure 3 focuses on developments along the course of the
Khabur River. Precipitation isohyets are approximate and subject to considerable inter-annual variation.
6
Geographical Research
•
March 2009
•
47(1):4–14
© 2008 The Author
Journal compilation © 2008 Institute of Australian Geographers
Climatic limits on agriculture
The climate is strongly seasonal Mediterranean
– cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers – with
a short, natural growing season limited to the
spring months. A steep precipitation gradient
runs from the wetter north (
ca.
400 mm per
year) to the desert in the south (<150 mm), and
from the Mediterranean coast to the interior, so
that the band of productive rain-fed agricultural
land – The Fertile Crescent – is relatively narrow.
Agriculture in this band is highly productive
where rainfall and good soils combine to make
the crescent fertile. Beyond this narrow band,
below about 250 mm annual precipitation, where
natural variability in precipitation can exceed
100% and drought years are common, purely
subsistence farming cannot be successful.
Agricultural drought may occur even when
precipitation is well above 250 mm if it falls at
the wrong time during the growing season (El-
Sherbini, 1979). Because of variability a farmer
may experience one or two years of drought on
a repeated basis, and longer periods are not
uncommon. Moreover, crops may also be destroyed
by unseasonal hail storms or hot wind that
desiccates the seed heads (IRIN, 2007; Nuhu
et al
.,
2007). In short, agriculture is precarious; for
these reasons, when they can, farmers supplement
rainfall even for traditionally rain-fed crops in
the winter, and summer cropping is possible only
with irrigation.
We know from archaeology and history that
settlements in this semi-arid steppe have expanded
on cycles of 200–300 years of good weather and
retreated on cycles of 1000 or more years of
poor weather and political instability (Hole, 1997a;
2000; Weiss, 1997). We may expect that similar
natural cycles will continue to impact human
adaptation (Roberts
et al
., 2001), but without a
long history of weather records we cannot
accurately predict the long-term natural variability.
In recent times, however, there have been
several droughts of two or more years duration,
for example, 1968–1971, 1997–1998, 1999–2000
and 2000–2001, which caused serious declines
in food production and loss of livestock (Rae
et al
., 2001). A drought in 1961 resulted in the
loss of 80% of the camel population and nearly
50% of sheep (FAO, 1967). In the drought of
1998–2001, ‘approximately 47 000 nomadic
households (329 000) people had to liquidate
their livestock assets, became vulnerable to food
shortages, and required urgent food assistance,
not an exceptional occurrence’ (De Pauw, 2004,
99). In 2000, ‘the barley crop was a complete
failure due to drought’ (USDA, 2002). If humans
have now begun to affect the natural climatic
cycles through global warming, future periods
of drought might exceed in depth and duration
those of the past.
Degradation of water and soil resources
The Khabur River, a principal tributary of the
Euphrates, flows entirely within Syria, although
it is largely fed from karst springs that are
recharged by precipitation that falls in the adja-
cent Turkish mountains (Burdon and Safadi,
1963). These springs have traditionally provided
a constant base flow of 40 m
3
s
−
1
(1980), but had
fallen to 14 m
3
s
−
1
in 1998 and were at 7.38 m
3
s
−
1
in 2003 (FAO, 2005). This decline is attributed
to the increasing use of wells for irrigation – more
than 29 000 were in operation by 2003 (Salman
and Mualla, 2003; Varela-Ortega and Sagardoy,
2003). Since a large reservoir downstream
depends on water from the springs, there was a
consequent decrease in the area that could be
irrigated from the State system, from 55 000 ha
in 1993 to 36 000 ha in 2003 (FAO, 2005). The
absence of flow in the river has effectively
destroyed the livelihood of hundreds of farmers
who had drawn irrigation water directly from
the river, from its headwaters to its mouth at the
Euphrates (Figure 2).
Apart from the large springs and rainfall there
are numerous ground water sources, but all have
been tapped and many have witnessed rapidly
falling water tables. In the middle and lower
parts of the basin many wells are saline or sulfurous
and cannot be used for livestock or humans,
although some are suitable for agriculture. While
water is critical, its apportionment among users
is also critical. The Khabur is a ‘closed’ basin,
meaning that it has no excess water (Varela-
Ortega and Sagardoy, 2003, Table 13.1; Molden
et al
., 2007, 42). At present nearly all available
water is used for agriculture and livestock, but
the increasingly large human population, most
living in the cities, will require ever-growing
amounts of potable water. Neither natural
precipitation nor flow from springs can sustain
these needs, given today’s agricultural practices.
Soil is another factor limiting agriculture in
the Khabur. As Ryan (2004, 275) observed, ‘as
with soils elsewhere in the world, the native
fertility of the Mediterranean region is insuffi-
cient to continuously support economic yields of
modern crops’. This is because the calcareous
soils lack sufficient nitrogen and phosphorous.
‘N is virtually always needed for nonlegume crops
F. Hole:
Drivers of Unsustainable Land Use in the Semi-Arid Khabur River Basin, Syria
7
© 2008 The Author
Journal compilation © 2008 Institute of Australian Geographers
Figure 2 Satellite images of the headwaters of the Khabur River on the border with Turkey. Images are derived from 432
TGB Landsat TM/ETM+ false colour composites, rendered in gray tones in this figure. Irrigated fields and riparian vegetation
are in dark tones. Images compare 2 September, 1990 (left) with 4 September, 2000 (right). Huge increases in the use of
groundwater for irrigation in both Turkey and Syria have left the fields dry that depended on drawing irrigation water from
the springs and upper course of the Khabur River.
8
Geographical Research
•
March 2009
•
47(1):4–14
© 2008 The Author
Journal compilation © 2008 Institute of Australian Geographers
and ... economic yields are impossible without
fertilization’ (Ryan, 2004, 279). Except where
precipitation exceeds 250–300 mm, soil is
poorly developed, often shallow, and it lies over
gypsum substrate over much of the middle and
lower Khabur River basin where irrigated fields
are subject to salinisation (USAID, 1982).
Conversely, the upper, wetter part of the basin
enjoys deep, well-drained soil whose fertility is
ensured when a fallow cycle is observed
(Boghossian, 1952). Nevertheless, using flood
methods and without adequate provision for
drainage, salt builds up quickly in irrigated
fields, rendering them less productive (Karajeh,
1999). Salt build-up can also result from
drainage from adjacent agricultural basins, as
has occurred between the Harran plain of Turkey
and the Balikh River in Syria (Beaumont, 1996;
Ngaido, 1997; Çullu, 2003).
Much of the degradation of soil is a result of
deep ploughing that removed native vegetation
and exposed soil to wind and water erosion, as
well as destroying much of its organic content
(Ilawi
et al
., 1992). Unfortunately, disturbance
of soil can lead rapidly to a downward spiral of
quality and hence lower productivity. The
principles of soil preservation are simple: avoid
mechanical disturbance, especially through deep
mould board ploughing; maintain permanent
soil cover by crop residues and crops; and rotate
crops to avoid nutrient depletion (Nuhu
et al
.,
2007). Nevertheless, farmer resistance and lack
of understanding, as well as considerations of
economy and immediate societal needs, prevent
implementation of sustainable practices (Lambin
et al
., 2001; Stewart and Koohafkan, 2004; El
Dessougi, 2006).
The farmers’ reality is influenced by other
constraints such as labor shortages, insecure
land ownership, capital constraints, and
limitations in human capacities ... . What is
produced in the field is strongly affected by
social, economic, and institutional conditions
(Nuhu
et al
., 2007, 327).
For example, while rotation with a legume crop
improves the quality of barley, farmers prefer
not to grow it because ‘farmer priority is for
security of feed production, with viable “salvage”
strategies as insurance in poor seasons’ (that is,
sheep can green-graze barley in early spring and
graze a failed crop in summer) (Jones and
Singh, 2000, 258). Because of these multiple,
competing needs, the sustainability of soils is
already severely impacted.
History of land use
During the French Mandate, which ended in
1945, the few settlements in the Khabur were
along the river, and the vast steppe was controlled
by migratory tribes who pastured camels and
sheep seasonally, holding the land in common
according to well-established customary tribal
law (Boghossian, 1952; Rae
et al
., 2001). The
tribes migrated with sheep and camels to fresh
pastures on an annual cycle, which allowed veg-
etation to regenerate and also support herds of
gazelle. The closing of the border between Syria
and Turkey curtailed some of the traditional move-
ments of nomadic tribes, which once migrated into
the pastures of the Taurus Mountains during
summer. Today livestock are provisioned with
feed stocks and graze agricultural stubble when
it is available, but as much as 90% of the animal
feed is supplied through government sources
during dry years, derived from locally-produced
cottonseed cake, sugarbeet pulp and wheat bran.
Demand for grain during the Second World
War encouraged expansion of agriculture (Masri,
1991), but it was not until the early 1950s, when
the new Syrian State abolished tribal land
tenure, that agriculture, supported by mechanical
ploughs, expanded on to virgin steppe (Leybourne,
1998). Much of this land, lying below the 250 mm
isohyet, proved to be unproductive, but the steppe
vegetation was destroyed by deep ploughing,
leaving the thin soils vulnerable to wind and
water erosion. Today, all arable land with access
to adequate rainfall or irrigation is cultivated.
Individual pumps irrigating small fields now
cover those parts of the landscape where ground
water can be extracted. Nearly all of these farms
use a form of basin irrigation where the plots are
periodically flooded. While summer cultivation
using ground water has now been banned, much
of the supplementary winter irrigation is not
needed and is therefore wasteful of water.
However, owing to the absence of a price incentive
for water, farmers use as much as they want
(Oweis
et al
., 1998; Oweis, 1999; Varela-Ortega
and Sagardoy, 2003; Rida
et al
., 2004; Ryan,
2004). Resettlement of families from other parts
of Syria, and high birth rates have led to a
rapidly growing population with demands on living
space, water and other services (Sarrage, 1935;
Dodge, 1940; Epstein, 1940; Rowlands, 1947).
Social, economic and political drivers of land
use change
In 1950 the population of Hassakah Province
numbered in the low tens of thousands. A recent
F. Hole:
Drivers of Unsustainable Land Use in the Semi-Arid Khabur River Basin, Syria
9
© 2008 The Author
Journal compilation © 2008 Institute of Australian Geographers
census puts the number at 1 156 000 (CIAO,
2007). This includes the large city of Hassakah,
several smaller cities, and hundreds of villages
and hamlets scattered across the landscape. The
environmental footprint and impact of these
settlements, with their connecting roads, is
immense, as is their demand for ecological
services, especially water. Much of this increase
was not planned and could not have been foreseen
70 years ago, but its history goes back nearly
100 years when the first foreign elements were
introduced. Tribal Arabs and Kurds occupied the
area seasonally, but the resettlement of refugees
from Iraq and Turkey following the First World
War introduced various Christian sects, including
Armenians who occupied farms on the upper
Khabur or settled as merchants in town (Dodge,
1940; Boghossian, 1952). At the time there were
only small market settlements on the border with
Turkey, or French military outposts (Dillemann,
1962). In the 1970s resettlement of farmers
displaced from the Euphrates reservoir added to
a growing Arab, but not tribal, population.
Settlement of tribal herders in small hamlets
along the river or on the steppe added another
component to the growing diversity. The
hamlets on the steppe required wells to irrigate
their crops and potable water trucked in for
human consumption. Once the process of
settlement on the steppe was started, natural
increase has inexorably and continuously changed
the relations of people to resources. In other
words, diminishing resources must accommo-
date more users. Despite its rich agricultural
potential, ‘today this region has the greatest
incidence, depth and severity of poverty, where
38.5% of the individuals are poor’ (FAO, 2005, 1).
In an attempt to alleviate this problem, the gov-
ernment has introduced policies and programs to
subsidise agriculture and secure maximum returns
(World Bank, 1977; 1993; Nguyen, 1989). Since
1965 the government, through the Ministry of
Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, has set quotas
on cotton production and subsidized seed and
fertilizer. The Cotton Ginning and Marketing
Organisation guarantees purchase of the cotton
and gins it either for local mills or export. A
similar practice subsidizes the growing of wheat
and its purchase by the State.
Over the years Government policy has responded
to a number of different pressures. These include
a desire to break the political power of the tribal
sheiks, promote socialist structures (herders’
cooperatives), protect the steppe, achieve self-
sufficiency in food production, and alleviate the
economic suffering of herders and farmers. During
the first years of Syrian independence (1952), all
tribal lands were declared to be State land
(Mourad, 1969). In 1958 the tribes were formally
abolished and the steppe nationalised, opening it
to settlement and agriculture, unfortunately at
the start of the devastating 1958 drought. In turn
this led to the establishment of the Steppe Direc-
torate in 1961, responsible for management of
the steppe. In the belief that customary tribal
practices were responsible for land degradation,
the Directorate imposed ‘highly centralized range
management’ (Rae
et al
., 2001, 8). In 1974 the
Peasant Union was formed to implement
herding cooperatives which would provide
subsidized feed concentrate (FAO, 1991; Masri,
1991; Ngaido, 1997). While the details of this
management strategy cannot be repeated here, it
has sustained an enormous increase in the
number of sheep in the Khabur and elsewhere in
Syria, although nearly all their feed comes from
manufactured feedstocks (Leybourne, 1994;
1998).
The stability of the system is far more dependent
upon the availability of supplements and the
price of feedstuffs than upon the availability
of natural forage. Under current circumstances
the total depletion of the remaining rangelands
would have a marginal effect on the sheep
feeding system (Jaubert and Bocco, 1998,
188).
The Five Year Plans of 2001 and 2006 recognise
that water must be conserved – and rapidly – to
avert serious water deficits (Anonymous, 2007;
IRIN, 2007). The Plan’s primary objectives are
conservation of water resources, food security to
meet food production targets, and settlement of
nomad populations (Varela-Ortega and Sagardoy,
2003). The announced plans forbid cultivation of
summer crops using ground water; impose a
different fee structure by hectare for winter
versus summer irrigation; and propose conversion
from traditional to modern irrigation techniques.
Traditional flood irrigation, still practised on most
small farms, uses a national average of about
15 000 m
3
ha
−
1
(Anonymous, 2007). It is hoped
to reduce this to 7000 m
3
ha
−
1
through use of
drip and sprinkler irrigation and pressurised
pipes to replace open canals (Varela-Ortega and
Sagardoy, 2003). To settle nomads it is also
proposed to open some cultivation of new
steppe areas, but not to allow summer cropping.
An assessment of the probable success of any
foreseeable plans and implementations concludes
10
Geographical Research
•
March 2009
•
47(1):4–14
© 2008 The Author
Journal compilation © 2008 Institute of Australian Geographers
that a positive water balance, which will ensure
food security can be achieved only through use
of improved irrigation methods (Varela-Ortega
and Sagardoy, 2003). These authors also note
the possibility that some of the stringent measures
proposed might cause social unrest, especially if
the farmers are not fully engaged in policy
decisions and trained in best practices. A similar
point has been made by Yang
et al
. (2006) in
regard to agriculture in western China.
Consequences of infrastructural
developments
In the early 1960s the State contracted with the
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA,
1980; USAID, 1982) to carry out a nation-wide
survey of soils and water resources (Figure 3).
Resultant reports extolled the potential of the
Khabur basin for irrigation if water could be
captured in reservoirs (Burdon and Safadi,
1963; FAO, 1966; Kerbe, 1987). With substantial
help from foreign governments dams were
built and finally put into operation in the 1990s.
To supply the burgeoning population and to
handle the huge agricultural surpluses that were
generated, new roads connecting the Khabur
with Aleppo were built. The region was added
to the national power grid, further enhancing both
quality of life and business. Sleepy market towns
were transformed into bustling cities almost
overnight.
Interstate impacts
Independent of Syrian interests, Turkey has
developed dams and extensive irrigation in the
Turkish watershed of the Khabur River. The
Southeastern Anatolian Project, which installed
a number of dams on the upper Euphrates, also
impacted Syria through a reduction in the flow
of the river and a decrease in its sediment load
(Kolars and Mitchell, 1998). One use of water
from the Ataturk Dam is to irrigate fields in the
upper (Turkish) drainage of the Khabur River.
Run-off from flooded fields in Turkey, laden
with agricultural chemicals, threatens to adversely
impact both the availability of ground water and
the quality of surface run-off in Syria. It remains
to be seen how and when these impacts will be
felt (Beaumont, 1996; Çullu, 2003; Hole and
Zaitchik, 2006).
Figure 3 Plans for reservoirs, dams and districts to be irrigated, on the Khabur and Balikh river tributaries of the Euphrates.
F. Hole:
Drivers of Unsustainable Land Use in the Semi-Arid Khabur River Basin, Syria
11
© 2008 The Author
Journal compilation © 2008 Institute of Australian Geographers
Legacies of past customs and policies
There are ‘legacy effects’ impacts of prior human-
nature couplings on later conditions (Liu
et al
.,
2007, 1515). Many of the effects are unintended
consequences of actions taken in response to
perceived problems. For example, there are still
vestiges of tribal customary law and practices
among both semi-migratory and settled popula-
tions regarding land tenure and inheritance.
These have proven to be enduring and useful
despite official policies that abolished them.
Indeed, ‘their inherent flexibility means that
they are usually better suited to the prevailing
non-equilibrium environment of the Syrian
rangelands’ (Rae
et al
., 2001, 26). Despite this,
the rangelands are still ‘paying’ for the excesses
of ploughing, after the taking of tribal land in
the 1950s, which resulted in nutrient loss and
salinisation. This example shows how policy
decisions concerning land use have long-lasting
implications (Rae
et al
., 2001). Each generation
has to build on the landscape created by its
predecessors. In 1940, the Khabur could be con-
sidered a self-sustaining steppe for the pasturing
of camels and sheep, with highly productive rain-
fed agriculture, and equally productive gravity
irrigation along stretches of the river. Fishing
and hunting of wild gazelle were important con-
tributors to the diet. Both are now extinct, with
no foreseeable possibility of regeneration. Because
of the history of land use, the Khabur is a vastly
different environment than planners 70 years
ago envisioned. It changes at a rate that is hard
to comprehend and is scarcely amenable to
policy decisions that are taken on a country-wide
scale at five year intervals.
Conclusions
The situation as it developed in the Khabur is
similar to that being experienced throughout the
region. Land use during the 20th century
responded to current needs and opportunities,
which occurred on time scales that were too
short and uncontrolled to allow for sustained
policies and regulations. At each stage of
development, actors at local and national levels
attempted to maximize their own interests, leading
to unforeseen results that required corrective
action. In effect there has been a cycle of action-
reaction-action-reaction in which government
policy and infrastructure struggle to keep up
with the dynamic situation on the ground, and
often can only belatedly curtail damage rather
than prevent it. The government wants production
and the small holders want a satisfactory
subsistence. The latter have every incentive to
bore illegal wells, or to cultivate land that is
technically off-limits (El-Fikiki
et al
., 2000).
The State, with an eye on production, has less
incentive to monitor such activity than its long
range goals would suggest.
Both policy makers and scientists tend to focus
in depth on one or more of the principal physical
or social factors and to ignore how they are
conditioned by, as well as impact, the others.
For example, a farmer has traditional knowledge
or experience, and economic and social consid-
erations that lead him to cultivate certain crops,
using certain methods. Rather than calculating a
theoretical best fit of soil and crop, a farmer may
be influenced by the need to feed his livestock
and family, by his tenure on the land, by his
sense of future weather, and the market prices
or subsidies given to various crops. He will not
be able to anticipate how international affairs
may impact his way of life, but uncertainty
about the future may contribute to maximiza-
tion of opportunity rather than to long-term
sustainability.
Individuals who make and implement policies
that affect agriculture need to be aware of the
interconnected social and environmental factors
so that they can anticipate how changes in one
factor – say subsidization of a crop – may
impact the other factors. A change in one will
inevitably engender changes in others. It is cru-
cial for policy makers to have access to data on
each of the principal variables. But most govern-
ments are compartmentalised, so that there is a
ministry or agency responsible for monitoring
and developing policy about each factor, and
these agencies may not share information
effectively. Further, in many cases such information
may be out of date or missing entirely, or purely
political considerations may determine the
outcome.
Moreover, government may operate with
outmoded or wrong conceptions, particularly as
they relate to farmers and herders. Rae
et al
.
(2001) argue persuasively that policies of the
Steppe Directorate, based on misconception of
tribal practices, were largely responsible for
degradation of the steppe. Farmers may resist
implementation of policies, particularly when
they affect their income or customary practices
and relations, and even the most advanced
techniques of irrigation cannot work if they are
not installed or maintained properly. A flexible
approach is required to recognise local needs
and variable conditions. At present
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Journal compilation © 2008 Institute of Australian Geographers
it appears that different ministries and
organizations involved in activities related to
agriculture have clear capacity limitations
and lack staff skilled in the wide array of
social, economic, and technical issues neces-
sary for water management rather than develop-
ment (Salman and Mualla, 2003, 8).
Molle (2006, 24) notes the
fundamentally political nature of natural
resources management: interventions have
financial, political, social and environmental
costs ... which are not spread evenly. Decisions
tend to amount to a shifting of costs and risks
by certain stakeholders onto other parts of the
basin, or onto other segments of the society,
or onto Nature.
Outlook
A concept and practice called Integrated Natural
Resources Management has recently been
introduced into some areas of Southwest Asia.
This attempts to bring all stakeholders into a
process of learning, monitoring and evaluating
problems and solutions.
[Integrated Natural Resources Management]
is a conscious process of incorporating the
multiple aspects of natural resource use into
a system of sustainable management to meet
the production goals of farmers and other
direct users (food, security, profitability, risk
aversion) as well as the goals of the wider
community (poverty alleviation, welfare of
future generations, environmental conservation
(Thomas, 2006, 26).
It is coming to be realized that there is no single
solution that can be applied across the arid
regions. To take one example, International Center
for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas
(ICARDA) scientists developed a map of
agricultural regions across Central and West
Asia and North Africa, integrating climate, soils,
landforms and land use systems. The result was
677 agricultural regions, each with its own
characteristics that need to be addressed locally.
They concluded that ‘the task of outscaling
research from benchmark sites will be more
difficult, and take much longer, than we had
imagined’ (De Pauw, 2006, 30).
Clearly the task of devising sustainable practices
is challenging. When problems are addressed on
a piecemeal basis, one factor independently of
the others, there can be no integrated, compre-
hensive appreciation of the potential effects of
individual actions. Long-term studies of land
use and land change, and of water resources and
water quality, help to assess natural variability
and directions or trends of change. These provide
a scientific and historical basis for understanding
the natural systems. The social and economic
systems that operate on this natural background
can vary on spatial and temporal scales that are
difficult to monitor, yet feed back in potentially
counter-productive ways as seen in the Khabur
example. The challenge is to devise means to
monitor change and incorporate changing
information in flexible policy decisions that are
locally appropriate. In an integrated approach,
such information may derive from instruments
or from on-the-ground observation, as well as
from traditional wisdom and daily practice.
Natural resources experts, government ministries
and local agricultural stakeholders have to
learn from each other and devise policies and
practices that work at the local level as well as
contribute to national interests. In short, it is
important to recognize that the interconnected
systems include social as well as physical com-
ponents, and to act in long-term interests of all
rather than in short-term economic or political
interests.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This paper is one of several that derive from the research of
members of the Southwest Asia Project in the Center for
Earth Observation at Yale University. Other members of the
team are Ronald Smith, Roland Geerken, Jason Evans,
Benjamin Zaitchik and Laurence Bonneau. Funding for
satellite image analysis and monitoring of land use and
land cover changes was from NASA – NAG5-9316 ‘Landscape
Changes in the Middle East: A Regional Assessment Using
Remote Sensing’. The National Science Foundation
provided grants NSF-SBR-9515394, NSF-SBR-9510543,
NSF-BNS-9012337 supporting archaeological research in
the Khabur region. A Digital Atlas of photographs of Syria,
and satellite images and related studies of the Khabur and
other regions of Southwest Asia can be accessed at www://
yale.edu/ceo/Projects.swap. html. The author wishes to thank
two anonymous reviewers for helpful suggestions.
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