On the Geopolitics of Fire, Conflict and Land in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

被引:9
|
作者
Eklund, Lina [1 ,2 ]
Abdi, Abdulhakim M. [3 ]
Shahpurwala, Aiman
Dinc, Pinar [1 ,2 ]
机构
[1] Lund Univ, Dept Phys Geog & Ecosyst Sci, POB 117, S-22100 Lund, Sweden
[2] Lund Univ, Ctr Adv Middle Eastern Studies, POB 117, S-22100 Lund, Sweden
[3] Lund Univ, Ctr Environm & Climate Sci, POB 117, S-22100 Lund, Sweden
基金
欧盟地平线“2020”; 瑞典研究理事会;
关键词
conflict; geopolitics; fire; land use; land cover; Kurdistan; Earth observation; ARMED CONFLICT; IMPACTS; WARFARE; AREAS; WAR; GOVERNORATE; ALGORITHM; COVER;
D O I
10.3390/rs13081575
中图分类号
X [环境科学、安全科学];
学科分类号
08 ; 0830 ;
摘要
There is limited understanding of the geopolitics of fire, conflict, and land, for example, how conflict and fire are related and how conflict impacts the biophysical environment. Since 2014, the natural environment in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has been negatively affected by recurrent conflict that coincided with a sharp increase in the number of reported fires. Against this background, this study explores the spatiotemporal aspects of conflict, fire, and land use and land cover in this region. We combine several satellite-derived products, including land use and land cover, active fire, and precipitation. We apply a partial correlation analysis to understand the relationship between fire, conflict, climate, and land use and land cover. Conflict events and fires have increased since 2014 and have followed a similar temporal pattern, and we show that certain conflicts were particular to certain land use and land cover contexts. For example, the conflict involving the Islamic State was concentrated in southern areas with bare soil/sparse vegetation, and the conflict involving Turkey largely took place in northern mountainous areas characterized by natural vegetation and rugged topography. This dichotomy indicates divergent effects of conflict on the land system. A surprising finding was that fire hotspots had a low positive correlation with the amplitude of distance to conflict while accounting for other variables such as land cover and climate. The high statistical significance of this relationship indicates nonlinearity and implies that a larger range of distances to conflict creates more space for the fires to spread in the surrounding landscape. At the same time, fire hotspots had a weaker but negative correlation to distance from conflict events, which is somewhat expected as areas farther away from conflict locations have lower exposure risk to fires. We discuss the implications of these findings within the geopolitical context of the region and acknowledge the limitations of the study. We conclude with a summary of the main findings and recommendations for future research.
引用
收藏
页数:19
相关论文
共 50 条
  • [1] GIS-Based Modeling for Vegetated Land Fire Prediction in Qaradagh Area, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
    Salar, Sarkawt G.
    Othman, Arsalan Ahmed
    Rasooli, Sabri
    Ali, Salahalddin S.
    Al-Attar, Zaid T.
    Liesenberg, Veraldo
    SUSTAINABILITY, 2022, 14 (10)
  • [2] The Archaeological Renaissance in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
    Ur, Jason
    NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY, 2017, 80 (03) : 176 - 187
  • [3] The Privatisation of Security in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
    Uysal, Gonenc
    KURDISH STUDIES, 2016, 4 (02) : 208 - 211
  • [4] TURKISH BUSINESS IN THE KURDISTAN REGION OF IRAQ
    Fidan, Christina Bache
    TURKISH POLICY QUARTERLY, 2016, 14 (04): : 117 - 126
  • [5] The Politics of Agricultural Development in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region in Iraq (KRI)
    Jongerden, Joost
    Wolters, Wouter
    Dijkxhoorn, Youri
    Gur, Faik
    Ozturk, Murat
    SUSTAINABILITY, 2019, 11 (21)
  • [6] Training of psychotherapists in post-conflict regions: A Community case study in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
    Beckmann, Julia
    Wenzel, Thomas
    Hautzinger, Martin
    Kizilhan, Jan Ilhan
    FRONTIERS IN PSYCHIATRY, 2022, 13
  • [7] Tongues of fire: women's suicide and self-injury by burns in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
    Rasool, Izaddin A.
    Payton, Joanne L.
    SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW, 2014, 62 (02): : 237 - 254
  • [8] The nature of the political system in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
    Abdullah, Farhad Hassan
    Hama, Hawre Hasan
    ASIAN JOURNAL OF COMPARATIVE POLITICS, 2020, 5 (03) : 300 - 315
  • [9] History of hydrocarbon exploration in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
    Mackertich, David S.
    Samarrai, Adnan I.
    GEOARABIA, 2015, 20 (02): : 181 - 220
  • [10] The quality of higher education in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
    Atrushi, Dawood Sulaiman
    Woodfield, Steve
    BRITISH JOURNAL OF MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES, 2018, 45 (04) : 644 - 659