Nasty drought in Syria, Iraq and Iran wouldn’t have happened without climate change, study finds

By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP Science Writer

A new study says the three-year drought that has left millions of people in Syria, Iraq and Iran with little water wouldn’t have happened without human-caused climate change. Wednesday’s study says the west Asian drought, which started in July 2020, is mostly because hotter-than-normal temperatures are evaporating the little rainfall that fell. The study by a team of international climate scientists at World Weather Attribution is not yet peer-reviewed but follows established techniques. The study’s lead author says without the world warming 1.2 degrees Celsius since the mid-19th century there would be no drought at all.