[posted on 28 March 2005]

Can culture be restored in the Mesopotamian Marshlands?

It was a strange sight –after 8 years of bloody war in the 1970s– to have the Iraq and Iran delegations sitting amicably side by side and agreeing on working together to designate the shared Hawr Al Hawizah wetland, one of the major remaining parts of the Mesopotamian Marshlands, as a transboundary Ramsar Site of International Importance. This hopeful event occurred during the ‘High-level Conference on the Restoration of the Mesopotamian Marshlands’, held in Manama (Bahrain) on 28 February and 1 March 2005, co-organised by UNEP and ROPME (Regional Organisation for the Protection of the Marine Environment). The meeting was well attended by representatives of most of the governments of the region, UN agencies, the World Bank and a number of NGOs already involved with these wetlands, but not of any delegation from the indigenous Ma’dan people, the Marsh Arabs.

The great Mesopotamian Marshlands, one of the iconic wetlands of the world, were inhabited by a proud people, inheritors of the Sumerian civilisation, with a vibrant culture and a unique architecture based on the ingenuous use of reeds. They lived in balance with nature, in a vast area (of about two million hectares), fed by the waters of the Euphrates and the Tigris Rivers, rich in biodiversity. In the early 1990s, the impact of large upstream dams in the countries sharing their catchment basin resulted in a dramatic reduction of freshwater inflow. The coup de grace was given by Saddam’s government, which implemented just after the first Gulf war and within 2-3 years a policy of draining the Marshlands. The result was the almost total destruction of the wetland ecosystems and the flight of the inhabitants to the towns, while a large number of refugees crossed the border to Iran.

After the fall of the Saddam regime, starting in late 2003, returning Ma’dan breached some of the dikes and initiated the re-flooding of the marshes. The interim Iraqi government agreed to the restoration of the wetlands and established CRIM (Centre for the Restoration of the Iraqi Marshlands) to co-ordinate this major effort. The UN (mainly through UNEP), a number of countries (such as Canada, Italy, Japan and the US) and various organisations rallied to assist. Already a considerable number of the Ma’dan have returned to their wetland villages. The problems though to be faced are daunting. On the ecological side, re-flooding is not a sufficient condition for the restoration of the functions and values of the marshes. Rebuilding the social structures that sustained the Ma’dan people may be even more difficult, and may require considerable time until a social and political balance is re-established. The provision of means for survival and of necessary services is also a daunting task. Perhaps a major question is whether the returning Ma’dan, who have lived mainly in urban milieus for the past decade, will be able to rebuild the continuity of their ancient culture.

The Convention on Wetlands participated in the meeting through Thymio Papayannis, MedWet Senior Advisor and Med-INA Director, who represented the Secretary General and intervened with a joint presentation with the title ‘Wetlands and human wellbeing: The case of the Mesopotamian sites’. The application of Ramsar Resolution VIII.19 in the management of the Mesopotamian Marshlands may act as a catalyst for the re-establishment of the unique cultural heritage associated with them.