The shrinking of the region’s meagre forests because of fires and logging means there is less vegetation to hold sand back
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskSuch scenes have occurred almost weekly in Iraq since April. In decades past, two or three big sandstorms were expected every year. This spring Iraq has already logged at least eight, including the one on May 16th that put some 4,000 people in hospital. Two people died across the border in Syria. The more frequent storms are causing misery for millions and doing billions of dollars in damage.
Scientists say dust storms are complex and poorly understood, but their main causes are natural. In 2015 many people blamed a fierce summer storm in the Levant on Syria’s civil war, thinking that armoured cars bouncing through fields kicked up enough dust to blanket the region. Researchers at Princeton University later cited a more prosaic mix of unusual heat and wind—gusts, not gunners.
All of this means more dust to be swept up by the wind. The shrinking of the region’s meagre forests because of fires and logging means there is less vegetation to hold it back. Syria, for example, has lost an estimated 25% of its woodland since 2001, most of it to summer blazes. Climate change will exacerbate the problem.
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