With the fires contained, what is the future of Latakia’s forests?

PARIS — Working among the ashes, Syrian Civil Defense teams continued cooling and monitoring operations in the Latakia countryside on Tuesday, nearly two weeks after catastrophic wildfires broke out in the coastal region. 

The wildfires burned more than 16,000 hectares as of Monday evening, Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management Raed al-Saleh told regional media. More than 1,150 people have been displaced, with thousands more affected, according to OCHA. 

Firefighters in recent days grappled with rugged terrain, high winds and outdated equipment in their efforts to fight back the flames. As of Sunday evening, around 90 percent of the fire was contained, the Latakia Governorate announced. 

Writing on social media, al-Saleh linked the Latakia fires to a broader threat facing the battered country: its most severe drought in 60 years. Wildfires on the coast “carry serious implications for the threat of the drought crisis in Syria,” he posted on Sunday, noting that “climate challenges do not wait.” 

The emergency ministry held a coordination meeting over the weekend with the ministries of agriculture, local administration and environment, energy and communications—alongside local and international organizations—to develop a comprehensive framework to respond to the drought crisis. 

‘Unmanaged forests’

From the start, firefighters faced an uphill battle to save Latakia’s rugged woodlands, Abdulkafi Kayyal, the civil defense director in the province, told Syria Direct. One major challenge was the “presence of mines and war remnants in the forests, as some were battlefields.” 

“The Latakia countryside is one of the most mine-contaminated parts of Syria, whether in the forests or even towns whose residents were displaced years ago by former regime forces,” he added. “The area was virtually depopulated, which allowed the fire to spread faster due to a lack of local reports and overgrowth along roads and between houses.”

The area’s rocky cliffs, high mountains and deep valleys also “hampered the work of our teams and prevented heavy machinery from moving and working,” resulting in “serious difficulties in cutting firebreaks in the forests to prevent the spread,” he added. 

The forests lack roads and firebreaks, and are not divided into “organized sectors based on terrain, wind movement and plant cover density,” Kayyal said. 

“Syrian forests in general are unmanaged and lack a road network serving all their points,” a former forestry official, who asked to remain anonymous, told Syria Direct. “In many of the fires we have seen, there were difficulties with getting personnel and equipment to points deep inside the forests.” 

“There is a shortage of early warning and monitoring devices, and existing equipment is old and outdated,” he added. 

High winds also made it more difficult to control the fires’ rapid spread. “On a daily basis, we have been making notable progress towards extinguishing fires, and the number of hotspots is shrinking, but in the morning the fires flare up and spread due to the wind,” Kayyal said. “The intense wind made the firebreaks we established—10 meters wide and one kilometer deep—ineffective at times. The flames were jumping 300 or 400 meters due to sparks flying in the air.” 

Other factors, related to “extreme temperatures and the type of trees” also fueled the blaze, the forestry official said. “Some tree species affect how fast a fire spreads,” he noted. “We have trees that produce a fiery spray when they burn, and release flammable oils that help the fire ignite and spread.” 

Serious damage

Plant and animal life in Syria’s forests have been significantly impacted by the fires. “The consequences of the fires are severe for both humans and the environment,” Majd Suleiman, head of the Forestry Directorate, said. “Syrian forests contain aromatic trees that are used in industries, and are a natural habitat for animals.” Damage to the forests “also affects the level of rainfall, temperatures and humidity levels.” 

The impact of fire runs deep. The exposure of soil to high heats, “at a depth ranging from a few centimeters to dozens of centimeters, destroys their physical structure—especially cohesion and granular structure,” said Mwaffak Chikhali, a consultant at the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and founder of the Flora Syria scientific website. “They are more vulnerable to erosion when exposed to rainfall or high winds, after they dry from the water used to extinguish the fire.”

The damage extends to plant cover. “The coastal mountain region is rich in biodiversity, both in terms of the number of plant species and the number of individuals within each species,” Chikhali said. “The fires will lead to the demise of this plant cover and expose the soil, as there are two vertical levels of vegetation,” he added. “Trees provide shade and protection for grassy vegetation, and thus mitigate the effects of weather on it, whether in terms of sun, heavy rain or wind.” 

“The forests that are burning are the only ones in Syria that encompass a forest ecosystem in the scientific sense: from trees at varying heights up to 30 meters to annual vegetation and bulbous or rhizomatic plants such as irises and lilies,” Chikhali said. “Animal biodiversity—the number of birds, reptiles and mammals in the region” was also impacted, “from deer, hyenas and snakes to scorpions, turtles and others.” 

Can the forests recover? 

“The ecosystem is damaged, and we have a significant loss of trees. Recovery will be a long-term process,” the former forestry official said. “The return of the forests to their previous state is relative, and requires scientific studies of the sites before starting restoration.”

Over the first two years after a fire, “it is not recommended to carry out restoration or replanting efforts, as many species naturally regenerate,” he said. “We need at least 10 years for the renewal of the forests, with the exception of trees that will renew themselves. Broad-leaf trees, such as eucalyptus, regenerate when their branches are cut and come back better than they were. Conifers, such as cypresses, die when the top is cut off.” 

“Fires are part of the life cycle of ecosystems, so the recovery of any ecosystem after fire depends on the effectiveness of treatment mechanisms and procedures,” Chikhali said. 

The most recent amendment to Syria’s 2023 Forestry Law “imposed a two-year period  of natural regeneration before any intervention, which is the ideal scenario to let the ecosystem recover part of its vitality itself,” Chikhali said. “After that, appropriate measures are taken to intervene based on the rate of natural recovery, climate conditions and the significant financial resources required for restoration.” 

For 15 years, Chikhali has worked to document wild plant species in Syria—identifying them, mapping their distribution and photographing them. Estimating the scale of what has been lost, at the level of plant and animal species, “can only be done through field surveys, linking species identification records with their precise distribution sites,” he said. 

The ecosystem “needs decades to return to a state of balance and spontaneous renewal, even if supported by replanting efforts and human intervention,” he added

What are the solutions?

Latakia civil defense director Kayyal said a plan is in place to “establish fire lines, set up forestry stations and rely on artificial intelligence and cameras to monitor the forests, as well as securing water resources for firefighting operations.” Work is underway to “establish firebreaks and build roads in areas that have not experienced fires,” he added. 

“It is known that forests renew themselves two years after fires, but the Ministry of Agriculture has plans for continuous afforestation in the coastal region and beyond,” forestry director Suleiman said. The directorate is working to “reassess the technical situation of the forests overall, in order to work on establishing fire lines.” 

The former forestry official, for his part, suggested that “in forest restoration, we must consider the types of trees being planted, so that they are fast-growing, and consider watering, soil cultivation and the age of the trees, as these factors will play a role in the forests’ recovery.” 

“I hope the issue of forest restoration and renewal will be done through studied plans, taking into account organizing forests along firebreaks and roads, so that fire brigades can reach any point in the forest,” he added. 

“Syria is a member of a number of international agreements that include state obligations to protect biodiversity,” Chikhali noted. “These obligations require member states to declare 30 percent of their ecosystems natural reserves, in exchange for certain international support. Syria’s coastal forests “make up more than 80 percent of Syria’s natural forests,” he added. 

Chikhali proposed that Damascus “implement the provisions of Forestry Law No. 39 of 2023” and “not allow anyone to interfere in any way through planting and encroaching on forests and woodlands, under any pretext.” 

He also called for the formation of “technical committees at the Ministry of Agriculture and Syrian universities, charging them with assessing sites exposed to the fires according to the main factors: topography, soil, vegetation, water resources and financial resources.” 

This report was originally produced in Arabic and translated into English by Mateo Nelson.