Alan Kurdi was not a climate refugee

The current refugee crisis has its origin in Syria's complicated civil war - and not a global warming event

The desperate and the displaced of Syria's war should not be cast as climate refugees, observers have told the Guardian, as this overstates the role of global warming in setting off the conflict.

Many agree that the collapse began in March 2011, when a group of Syrian teenagers sprayed the words "Ash-shab yurid isqat an-nizam" on a wall in the southwest Syrian town of Dara'a.