Did Climate Change Spark the Syrian Civil War?

Professor Jan Selby will deliver a Sussex Development Lecture to discuss claims that climate change was behind Syria's descent into war. For proponents of the view that anthropogenic climate change will become a ‘threat multiplier’ for instability in the decades ahead, the Syrian civil war - now entering its seventh year - has become a recurring reference point, providing apparently compelling evidence that such conflict effects are already with us. According to this view, human-induced climatic change lay behind an extreme pre-civil war drought in Syria; this drought in turn caused large-scale migration; and this migration exacerbated the socio-economic stresses that underpinned Syria’s descent into war. This lecture will interrogate these claims and offer a counter-interpretation - one with important implications both for understanding the conflict and security implications of climate change, and for the politics of development more broadly. About the Speaker Jan Selby is Professor of International Relations, and Director of the Sussex Centre for Conflict and Security Research (SCSR). His research focuses on peace processes; environmental security; the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; and International Relations theory.