The thesis deals specifically with water use policies and the socioeconomic conditions of its exploitation in Syria. This includes the identification of the contributing elements to the creation of mechanisms for dialogue and negotiation around water resource use and sharing with a perspective to strengthening the role of water in social cohesion, resilience and reconciliation in post-conflict Syria. In the complex context of the Syrian conflict, the assumption is that water plays a unifying role in Syrian society as a basic common resource. Access to water can therefore be a means to starting negotiations and strengthening social cohesion between users and a step in the process of reconciliation.
Furthermore, this thesis analyses et locates the effects of the Syrian century-long various development policies, as well as the effects of the ongoing conflict on water resources, agricultural and industrial production, population displacement and evolution. of social structure. It also analyzes the evolution of relations between political power, its popular base and economic influence groups.
Finally, this work looks at the modes and logics of water use at the local level in the sense that it may be either a means of strengthening the popular base, a tool of war or a tool for cooperation. It clarifies the territorial strategy of the international actors involved in the Syrian conflict and/or in the control of water resources.
The analysis allowed us to identify the socio-economic, technical and natural elements which will be essential in the process of infrastructure rehabilitation and water management with a perspective to reconciliation. Those elements were introduced into the strategies of the hydraulic infrastructure rehabilitation and water management projects implemented as part of this thesis in Ar Ruj and Afrin. The objectives of these projects go beyond meeting drinking and irrigation water needs to address issues related to strengthening resilience, social cohesion and reconciliation.
Supporting access to water is not only a response to a critical need but is also a means of engaging local communities in negotiations with a wider range of stakeholders (such as “local water users” and displaced people”, local power structures, economic actors…) in order to put in place viable water management systems and to address other social issues that are not directly related to water sharing. This is organized by the water user associations as an ancillary activity to its core water supply management. They were created as part of these projects.