Planning for sustainable development and environmental protection in post-conflict phase - case study: Syria

Abstract

Abstract. Syria is a semiarid country suffering from lack of water sources and environmental degradation, as a developing nation, its economy depends basically on agriculture and fossil fuel. Before the crisis, there were some challenges in the urban environment. The unsustainable use of water was expected to negatively affect the population growth. At the same time, the demand for water was increasing because of rapid urbanization, which led to water scarcity challenge. During the conflict the challenges increased, especially with the internal displacement of people, who fled their towns to safer areas to avoid hostilities, such challenges are mainly the lack of potable water, the increased solid waste production, which led to more pressure on daily garbage collection, and the lack of proper sanitation and typically dispose of sewage in the growing informal settlement areas; this increase of daily discharge had deepened both environment and hygiene hazards. This paper is an attempt to first, describe the environmental situation in Syria before and during the conflict, second, to describe the neglected attitude of people toward environment and what the impact was of such attitude and finally, to discuss the role of planning as a main factor in protecting the environment after the conflict ends and what procedures should be considered in this regard.