event
Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center

Syria's Triple Crisis: Environmental Challenges, Earthquake Impact, and Humanitarian Response in 2023

Tue. September 19th, 2023
Virtual

Syria’s environmental challenges, resulting from a decade of violent conflict, along with the February 2023 earthquake, have aggravated Syria’s vulnerabilities, particularly in the northwest. Syrians already faced myriad problems relating to water scarcity, wildfires, reduced agricultural productivity, and public health concerns. The earthquake amplified the impact of these crises and hampered local coping mechanisms. It also intensified the displacement of Syrians across the northwest, damaged critical infrastructure, and exacerbated poverty. Delivering relief has been a considerable challenge in the current political context of normalization with President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

To understand the underlying factors contributing to human insecurity, the challenges faced by local populations and organizations, and the type of humanitarian and political support required from international actors in the aftermath of the 2023 earthquake, the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center is organizing an event on September 19, at 5:00 PM Beirut Time. The speakers will be Joseph Daher, Marwa Daoudy, Muzna Dureid, and Hani Khabbaz. The event will focus on recently published Carnegie paper examining these issues, titled “Northwestern Syria in the Time of Cholera, Earthquakes, and Environmental Degradation”, co-authored by two of the panelists (Marwa Daoudy and Muzna Dureid).

The discussion will be held in English and moderated by Lama El Hatow. Viewers may submit their questions to the panelists using the live chat feature on Facebook and YouTube.

For more information, please contact Najwa Yassine at najwa.yassine@carnegie-mec.org

Political ReformSyria
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
event speakers

Joseph Daher

Joseph Daher is a teacher at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and is an affiliated professor at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, where he co-directs the “Syrian Trajectories” project.

Marwa Daoudy

Nonresident Scholar, Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center

Marwa Daoudy was a nonresident scholar at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center and is a professor of political science and Middle East politics at Georgetown University whose research focuses on climate, human security, and environmental politics in the Arab world.

Muzna Dureid

Muzna Dureid is an advocacy and partnership manager at Nobel Women’s Initiative. She was a former program development senior officer at the White Helmets, also known as the Syria Civil Defense. She holds a master’s degree in public policy and public administration from Concordia University.

Hani Khabbaz

Hani Khabbaz is the Director General of the Syria Recovery Trust Fund (SRTF) since June 2014. Established in 2013, by Germany, the United Arab Emirates and United States, the SRTF is a multi-donor trust fund that finances projects for the rehabilitation and restoration of essential services inside Syria to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people.

Lama El Hatow

Lama is a Professor and Program Coordinator at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) in Washington DC, in the Environmental Science and Policy (ESP) and Energy, Policy and Climate (EPC) departments..