Ilene Mahfoud*(1)
(1). Forestry and Ecology Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Tishreen University, Latakia, Syria.
(*Corresponding author: Dr. Illene Mahfoud. E-Mail: mahfoudilene@gmail.com).
Received: 05/05/2020 Accepted: 26/06/2020
Abstract
This study aimed to estimate the forest sector losses in the north of Lattakia Governorate, as a result of terrorist attacks during the Syrian crisis, that started in March 2011. Three aerial photographs were used with spatial resolution ranged between 30 cm and 50 cm, for the years 2011, 2014 and 2016. The visual interpretation technique was applied to identify the forest types in studied sites. The results showed that the forests occupied about 5022 ha, 12708 ha and 4387 ha in Qastal Maaf, Rabia, and Ain Eido, respectively in 2011. These superficies decreased to 2581 ha, 3568 ha and 1010 ha respectively in 2016. The fires that occurred during the crisis period devoured about 5439 ha in 2014, and about 16077 ha in 2016, in addition to the forests that were slightly affected by the fires, which reached 4476 ha in 2016. In terms of the remaining forests and degraded forestry areas, which represents the main forestry areas in Lattakia in particular and in general in Syria, attained only 21427 hectares, or 51% of what was in 2011, before the crisis.
Keys words: Lattakia Forestry, Fires, Aerial photographs, Visual interpretation.