The impact of war-induced population migration on land use changes in the governorate of Sweida, Syria

Abstract

The war in Syria began in 2011 and has continued until the present time but at a slower pace. The clashes between armed factions led to massive destruction of infrastructure, state facilities, and government departments, which resulted in a state of chaos, insecurity, and instability. Migration began, from unsafe areas to safe areas, including the city of Sweida, which was characterized by peace and security during the war years. A large number of people moved from other governorates to Sweida Governorate, which resulted in great pressure on economic sectors, especially the agricultural sector. This led to the need to cultivate a larger area of agricultural land to fill the agricultural gap. The research aims to show this increase in agricultural land cultivation after the beginning of the war in two years, i.e., from 2013 to 2021, by calculating the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for each year and creating a line graph