Syria Environment - 2024

Environment - current issues

deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion; desertification; depletion of water resources; water pollution from raw sewage and petroleum refining wastes; inadequate potable water

Environment - international agreements

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification

Climate

mostly desert; hot, dry, sunny summers (June to August) and mild, rainy winters (December to February) along coast; cold weather with snow or sleet periodically in Damascus

Land use

agricultural land: 75.8% (2018 est.)

arable land: 25.4% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 5.8% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 44.6% (2018 est.)

forest: 2.7% (2018 est.)

other: 21.5% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 57.4% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 5.38% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Food insecurity

exceptional shortfall in aggregate food production/supplies:due to civil conflict and economic crisis - the latest available nationwide food security assessment estimated that about 12 million people, 60% of the overall population, were food insecure in 2021, a slight decline from 12.4 million in 2020, but 5 million more than at the end of 2019, mostly due to constrained livelihood opportunities and a rapidly worsening economy (2022)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 25.14 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 28.83 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 12.93 megatons (2020 est.)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 4.5 million tons (2009 est.)

municipal solid waste recycled annually: 112,500 tons (2010 est.)

percent of municipal solid waste recycled: 2.5% (2010 est.)

Major rivers (by length in km)

Euphrates (shared with Turkey [s], Iran, and Iraq [m]) - 3,596 km; Tigris (shared with Turkey, Iran, and Iraq [m]) - 1,950 km
note – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth

Major watersheds (area sq km)

Indian Ocean drainage: (Persian Gulf) Tigris and Euphrates (918,044 sq km)

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 1.48 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 620 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

agricultural: 14.67 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources

16.8 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)