15 July 2009
Shouldering a saw, Amer, 18, heads to the woods every night to cut down trees near his village of Markieh in the northern coastal province of Latakia. With his family, he decided a few years ago to abandon tobacco growing after three years of severe drought caused productivity to plummet.To deal with the family’s deteriorating financial situation, Amer started working in the production of charcoal from the oak trees of the nearby Al-Shoaira forest.The charcoal fetches a good price because of dem