Skip Navigation Links.
Journal of Food Security. 2019, 7(1), 20-27
DOI: 10.12691/JFS-7-1-4
Original Research

Effects of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria on Cropland Area

Glen Gibson1,

1Institute for Environmental and Spatial Analysis, University of North Georgia, Dahlonega, Georgia, USA

Pub. Date: February 04, 2019
Full Text PDF

Cite this paper

Glen Gibson. Effects of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria on Cropland Area. Journal of Food Security. 2019; 7(1):20-27. doi: 10.12691/JFS-7-1-4

Abstract

Land cover data derived from satellite remote sensing was used to determine if there was a significant change in cropland area in territory once controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) compared to periods before the rise of ISIS. Results revealed that mean cropland area was largest during the pre-drought period (2000-2005) at 21,707 km2, decreased during the drought period (2006-2010) to 17,119 km2, and remained at about drought levels during a period of instability in both Iraq and Syria (2011-2013) and the Islamic State period (2014-2017), 17,530 km2 and 17,335 km2, respectively. Cropland area never returned to previous highs of the pre-drought period in ISIS territory but did return to previous highs in non-ISIS territory. Results of Analysis of Variance indicate that the effects of ISIS on cropland area were similar to devastating drought.

Keywords

land cover change, Islamic state, cropland, remote sensing, Iraq, Syria

Copyright

Creative CommonsThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References

[1]  Gibson, G. R., J. B. Campbell, and R. H. Wynne. 2012. Three decades of war and food insecurity in Iraq. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing. 78, 885-95.
 
[2]  Gibson, G. R., J. B. Campbell, and C. E. Zipper. 2015. Sociopolitical influences on cropland area change in Iraq, 2001-2012. Applied Geography. 62, 339-346.
 
[3]  Gibson, G.R., N.L. Taylor, N.C. Lamo, and J. K. Lackey. 2017. Effects of Recent Instability on Cultivated Area Along the Euphrates River in Iraq. The Professional Geographer. 69, 163-176.
 
[4]  National Aeronautics and Space Administration Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (NASA LP DAAC). 2017. Moderate resolution imagine spectroradiometer MOD12Q1 yearly L3 Global 500 m SIN grid land cover product. http://daac.ornl.gov/ (accessed 17 December 2018).
 
[5]  Kranz, M. and S. Gould. 2017. These maps show how drastically ISIS territory has shrunk since its peak. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/maps-of-isis-territory-2014-2017-10/ (accessed 17 December 2018).
 
[6]  Trigo, R. M., C. M. Gouveia, and D. Barriopedro. 2010. The intense 2007-2009 drought in the Fertile Crescent: Impacts and associated atmospheric circulation. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. 150, 1245-1257.
 
[7]  Sykes, H. 2009. Iraq’s drought: Eden drying out. BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8279290.stm/ (accessed 19 November 2015).
 
[8]  Schnepf, R. 2003. Iraq’s agriculture: Background and status. Congressional Research Service Report for Congress. Washington, DC: Library of Congress.
 
[9]  Alnasrawi, A. 2001. Iraq: economic sanctions and consequences, 1990-2000. Third World Quarterly. 22, 205-218.
 
[10]  Ismael, S.T. 2007. The cost of war: the children of Iraq. Journal of Comparative Family Studies. 38, 337-357.
 
[11]  Woertz, E. 2014. How long will ISIS last economically? CIDOB Notes Internacionales. 98, 1-5.
 
[12]  Brennan, R. 2014. Withdrawal symptoms: the bungling of the Iraq exit. Foreign Affairs. 93, 25-30.
 
[13]  Kulaksix, S. 2015. Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG): Economic and social impact assessment of the Syrian conflict and ISIS insurgency. World Bank. https://www.wdronline.worldbank.org/handle/10986/21628/ (accessed 19 November 2015).
 
[14]  Al-Khateeb, M. A., N. Al-Ansari, and S. Knutsson. 2014. Sustainable university model for higher education in Iraq. Creative Education. 5, 318-28.
 
[15]  Gelvin, James L. 2012. The Arab Uprisings: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford University Press.
 
[16]  Werrell, C.E., F. Femia, and T. Sternberg. 2015. Did we see it coming?: state fragility, climate vulnerability, and the uprisings in Syria and Egypt. SAIS Review of International Affairs. 35, 29–46.
 
[17]  Matar L., Kadri A. (2016) Investment and Neoliberalism in Syria, in: Kadri A. (eds) Development Challenges and Solutions after the Arab Spring. Rethinking International Development Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London, pp. 200-217.
 
[18]  Zajac, J. 2015. The EU in the Mediterranean: between its international identity and member state’s interests. European Foreign Affairs Review. 20, 65-82.
 
[19]  Bagchi, A., and J.A. Paul. 2018. Youth unemployment and terrorism in the MENAP (Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan) region. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences. 64, 9-20.
 
[20]  Droz-Vincent, P. 2014. “State of Barbary” (Take Two): from the Arab Spring to the return of violence in Syria. The Middle East Journal. 68, 33-58.
 
[21]  Human Rights Council. 2011. Report of the independent international commission of inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic. United Nations General Assembly Human Rights Council Seventeenth Special Session (A/HRC/S-17/2/Add.1).
 
[22]  Gerges, Fawaz A. 2016. ISIS: A History. Princeton University Press.
 
[23]  Gulmohamad, Z.K. 2014. The rise and fall of the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (Levant). Global Security Studies. 5, 1-11.
 
[24]  Cronin, A.K. 2015. ISIS is not a terrorist group: why counterterrorism won’t stop the latest jihadist threat. Foreign Affairs. 94, 87-98.
 
[25]  Isakhan, B. 2011. Targeting the symbolic dimension of Baathist Iraq: cultural destruction, historical memory, and national identity. Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication. 4, 257-281.
 
[26]  Younis, N. 2011. Set up to fail: consociational political structures in post-war Iraq, 2003-2010. Contemporary Arab Affairs. 4, 1-18.
 
[27]  Natali, D. 2017. Syria’s spillover on Iraq: state resilience. Middle East Policy. 24, 48-61.
 
[28]  Al-Marashi, I. 2018. Iraq and the Arab Spring: from protests to the rise of ISIS, in: M.L. Haas and D.W. Lesch (Eds.), The Araba Spring: The Hope and Reality of the Uprisings. Routledge, New York, pp 147-164.
 
[29]  Estes, R.J. and H. Tiliouine. 2016. Social development trends in the Fertile Crescent region: Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria, in: R.J. Estes and H. Tiliouine (Eds.), The State of Social Progress of Islamic Societies. International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life. Springer, Cham, pp 179-210.
 
[30]  Aenab, A., and S. K. Singh. 2012. Evaluation of drinking water pollution and health effects in Baghdad, Iraq. Journal of Environmental Protection. 3, 533-37.
 
[31]  Wu, W. 2014. Mapping soil salinity changes using remote sensing in central Iraq. Geoderma Regional. 2, 21-31.
 
[32]  Al-Saidi, A., and S. K. Al-Jumaiali. 2013. The economic costs and consequences of desertification in Iraq. Global Journal of Political Science and Administration. 1, 40-45.
 
[33]  Al-Ansari, N. 2013. Management of water resources in Iraq: Perspectives and prognoses. Engineering. 5, 667-84.
 
[34]  Murphy, K. 2013. Access to agricultural inputs, technology and information, communicating with farmers, and the role of women in agriculture: Perceptions of Iraqi extension agents. Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education. 20, 6-18.
 
[35]  FAO, 2012. Syrian Arab Republic Joint Rapid Food Security Needs Assessment (JRFSNA). United Nations Foreign Agriculture Office Report. http://www.fao.org/giews/english/otherpub/JRFSNA_Syrian2012.pdf/ (accessed 17 December 2018).
 
[36]  Eklund, L., M. Degerald, M. Brandt, A.V. Prishchepov, and P. Pilesjö. 2017. How conflict affects land use: agricultural activity in areas seized by the Islamic State. Environmental Research Letters. 12, 1-10.
 
[37]  Abdelali-Martini, M., K. Ibrahim, and D. Boubaker. 2016. Migrants from marginal dry areas in Syria: destinations, employment, and returns. Journal of Development and Migration. 5:23, 1-14.