The Syrian Future Movement has been following with deep concern the catastrophic fires that have swept through Latakia Governorate since early July, causing unprecedented environmental, agricultural, and social losses since the beginning of the Syrian conflict. According to reports from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the fires have destroyed more than 100 square kilometers of forests and agricultural land, representing approximately 3% of the national forest cover, and affected approximately 5,000 people in more than 60 residential areas. They also caused direct damage to the vegetation and rural economy.
While we, the Syrian Future Movement, commend the launch of the “With Our Hands We Revive It” campaign on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, announced by the Syrian government, we believe it is necessary to shift from an emergency approach to building a sustainable national disaster management system that goes beyond the logic of immediate response to proactive environmental planning, and mobilize the efforts of civil society and the region to formulate an institutional response capable of containing the effects of the disaster and confronting future threats.
The Syrian Future Movement considers the Lattakia disaster not merely a natural disaster, but rather an indicator of the fragility of Syrian environmental management, the absence of an early warning system, and the institutional shortcomings in linking agricultural, forestry, and logistical policies.
Therefore, we, in the Syrian Future Movement, are establishing the following principles as foundations for an integrated response:
- Technical and organizational institutionalization through the establishment of an independent body for climate disaster and fire management, linked to the Council of Ministers and managed by experts in forestry, emergencies, and rapid response, as is the practice in many Mediterranean countries such as Turkey, Cyprus, and Spain.
- Reengineering forestry and agricultural plans and linking them to predictive heat mapping systems and geographic environmental analysis (GIS) programs, allowing for the opening of preventive fire lines and the allocation of safe intervention corridors for civil defense teams, as indicated by the Ministry of Emergency Situations in its recent press conference.
- Transforming the campaign from a media slogan into an agricultural and environmental program with specific objectives, based on scientific studies, with a separate budget allocated within the 2025–2030 plan for the rehabilitation of coastal forests and the development of surrounding rural communities.
The Syrian Future Movement calls for a comprehensive national study of the extent of damage in Latakia, including a scientific field survey, in cooperation with universities and agricultural research centers. The results should be transparently published to the public.
The Syrian Future Movement recommends launching a “Coastal Green Belt” project to reforest the affected mountains according to fire-resistant climatic characteristics, using carefully selected local plant species. This project should be implemented in multiple phases.
The Syrian Future Movement calls for the establishment of a national-international fund to compensate farmers, in cooperation with United Nations organizations. This fund should focus on fair funding and revitalizing the role of affected local agricultural production.
The Syrian Future Movement stresses the importance of adopting a national program for community environmental education in schools and municipalities, including workshops on fire management, forest protection, and transforming local communities into “environmental guardians,” as Greece successfully implemented after the 2021 fire crisis.
The Syrian Future Movement recommends inviting countries in solidarity, particularly Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, and Cyprus, to continue providing technical support through regional cooperation protocols, providing assistance in developing early warning systems, and exchanging training teams.
The Syrian Future Movement believes that recovery from the Latakia fires should not be limited to symbolic campaigns or momentary support. Rather, it must be built on a national environmental-developmental vision spanning at least ten years, reshaping the relationship between state and nature, institutions and society, and planning and response.
The land that burned will also burn in the conscience of the nation if life is not restored.
Despite our support for the Syrian government and the challenges it faces, the Syrian Future Movement holds the Syrian government responsible for overcoming its administrative and structural shortcomings. We call on it to declare a special environmental emergency in the affected areas and to cooperate with all societal, political, and scientific forces to build a sustainable preventative strategy that restores life to the land and restores community confidence.
