Jump to full article: Environment News Service (ENS), 2009-07-13
Intro: To deal with the family's deteriorating financial situation, Amer started working in the production of charcoal from the oak trees of the nearby Al-Shoaira forest.
The charcoal fetches a good price because of demand for it to use in nargiles, the hubble-bubble tobacco pipes popular in cafes across the country, but the uncontrolled harvesting of wood is endangering the country's forests.
It is thought that hundreds of Syrians work in the production of charcoal today, especially in the heavily wooded northern coastal areas of Tartous and Latakia.
The numbers have increased because of the recent rise in unemployment and inflation, observers say. Some people with other jobs produce charcoal in their spare time to raise cash because their salaries are insufficient. . . .
Dr. Mahmoud Ali, a professor of environmental sciences at Tishreen University in Latakia, said the green cover is decreasing "dangerously" in Syria and the area of forest per inhabitant and relative to the country's total land area is low.
"Producing charcoal could kill the trees or affect the quality of the wood by making them more vulnerable to attacks by pests," Ali said.
The growing deforestation is also leading to climate change and other undesirable effects on the environment, said Dr. Amin Moussa, an agricultural expert also teaching at Tishreen University.
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