[posted on 20 September 2005]
Iraqi Marshlands: On the road to recovery
Following the article posted in the Med-INA website in March on the Iraqi Marshlands, we were extremely pleased to receive a press release from the United Nations Environment Programme, regarding the further improvement of the situation.
The deteriorating trend that started in the early 1990s, when the upstream dams reduced the freshwater inflow and Saddam’s regime decided to dry up the marshlands, is now being reversed and the wetland enjoys a considerable recovery. Back in the 1970s, the Iraqi marshlands totalled almost 9,000 km2, while in 2002 they were diminished to 760 km2. In August 2005, they covered 3,500 km2, 37% of the 1970s extent. It should be noted that in the spring, earlier this year, the percentage reached nearly 50%, but the summer evaporation reduced that figure.
The almost complete destruction of the Marsh Arabs did not only have ecological repercussions. It nearly destroyed a 5,000 year-old civilisation, driving away its former inhabitants, inheritors of the Sumerian civilisation and possessors of a distinctive tradition that gives birth to an inimitable architecture, based on the ingenuous use of reeds. After the fall of the Saddam regime in 2003, some of the inhabitants decided to return.
Klaus Toepfer, UNEP Executive Director stresses that the rapid revival of the marshlands does not only benefit the environment and its inhabitants, but also adds to the establishment of peace and security for the Iraqi people and the region as a whole. He mentions, as well, that the effort to re-flood the marshes will take a long time to get to completion, therefore, the situation needs further and constant monitoring. It is hoped that the lessons learned from this attempt will provide a positive example for the restoration of other degraded ecosystems elsewhere.
The findings of the marshland restoration were obtained through the new UNEP’s Iraqi Marshlands Observation System (IMOS), co-financed by UNEP’s multimillion dollar marshland project and the Government of Japan, which helps Iraq to restore the environment, and at the same time to provide clean drinking water for up to 100,000 inhabitants around the wetland. These goals are achieved by promoting the dissemination of appropriate ‘environmentally sound technologies’ (EST) and the establishment of an internet-based information network that allows those with an interest in the region to share their ideas and strategies.
The EST activities involve close collaboration with the Government of Iraq (both at national and local level) and local people –250 Iraqis have been trained in wetland management and restoration, remote sensing and community-based resource management. Apart from training, they also include provision of drinking water, sanitation systems, reed bed restoration, as well as of other marshland habitats that act as natural, water-filtration systems.
The IMOS is accessible at: http://imos.grid.unep.ch and more information about the UNEP Marshlands project can be obtained at: http://marshlands.unep.or.jp/.
