Environmental Science: Iraqi Marshlands

Iraqi Marshlands

                Between Amarah and Basrah along the South-Eastern border of Iraq and Iran, in what was once the heart of the Mesopotamian cultures of Uruk and Ur (Ancient Mesopotamia, 2006), a battle over water and a way a life gets a little reprieve. The once lush marsh lands called the Ahwar, “are unique, [being] as [they are] one of the world’s largest inland delta systems, [surviving] in an extremely hot and arid environment” (Unesco, 2016). Home to the Madaan, or Marsh Arabs, for thousands of years (Wikipedia, 2016) the Madaan formed homes within the marsh in reed houses and typically fell into one of three economic patterns: those that raised buffalo and sold the milk for drinking and to make cheese, those that spear fished, and those that farmed rice or harvested dates and other wild foods (Ali, 2003). Traditionally subsistence farmers, since the 1970s Saddam Hussein systematically moved to destroy their way of life.

The once vast marshlands covered nearly 20,000 km² (Mitsch & Gosselink, 2015) however, they currently only cover around 30% of their original size (Wikipedia, 2016), some estimates showing that at one point they had shrunk to less than 300 sq. miles (BBC, 2018). “While some of the marsh decline can be traced to dams built upstream in Turkey, Syria and Iran, the decline accelerated dramatically in the early 1990s after the Gulf War, thanks to the massive drainage project ordered by Hussein” (Ali, 2003). Hussein ordered a drainage program that was manned twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and included the construction of a 350 mile long river and a series of canals to divert water from the Euphrates. All to flush out Shiite rebels and other anti-regime fighters (Ali, 2003).

Since the end of the war and the overthrow of Hussein in the early 2000s, the Madaan who fled the devastation are finding their way back to their homeland, but what they are finding is closer to a wasteland than the once pristine and reed filled waterways.

The greatly reduced water flow…of the Tigris and the Euphrates…once more threatens the[ir] livelihoods... ‘The water's just bad. It's so salty, it's not like it was before,’ said Amjad Mohamed. Dam construction in Turkey and Iran has reduced the combined volume of the rivers by up to 60 percent... Given the impact of low rainfall and wasteful irrigation practices in Iraq, environmentalists predict the marshes will remain at a fraction of their typical size. (Schwartzstein, 2015)

The lack of water has had serious consequences on the Madaan’s way of life. The fish available are smaller than the old species and the once fresh water has become so salty the fishermen are now seeing salt water varieties coming in from the sea. Metal corrodes quickly on the boats and engines and the inhabitants are no longer able to drink directly from the marshes, instead they must rely on purchased water from the towns. (Schwartzstein, 2015)

Akbar Saad has tended water buffalo in the southern Hammar Marshes since his family moved there soon after the invasion. Each of his animals used to produce between eight and nine liters (nine quarts) of milk a day. But the high water salinity has reduced the quality of their feed and afflicted Saad's herd with a host of health problems, including skin diseases and high blood pressure, cutting his yield in half. ‘There are not enough nutrients in the grasses anymore. The milk's thick, and there's just not enough of it,’ Saad said as he helped hoist a 53-gallon (200 liters) drum of milk into a truck headed to a cheese factory. (Schwartzstein, 2015)

The Islamic State's surge into northern and western Iraq last summer has created another obstacle. ‘We used to sell to Tikrit, Ramadi, and other places in Anbar, but that's not possible now,’ he said with a bitter laugh, referring to areas that have been overrun by the jihadists. (Schwartzstein, 2015)

Between the jihadists and the salinity levels one might think the future is set for the marshes, however the last few years have brought a measure of relief and a renewed feeling of hope as first, Eden Again, a restoration effort to re-flood the marshes, was started (Ali, 2003), and then just last month, UNESCO declared the region a World Heritage site (Unesco, 2016). According to the UNEP their program:

Support for Environmental Management of the Iraqi Marshland, commenced in August 2004, in order to respond to the Iraqi priorities in the Marshland area in an environmentally sound manner. The UNEP project aims to support the sustainable management and restoration of the Iraqi Marshlands, by facilitating strategy formulation, monitoring marsh conditions, raising capacity of Iraqi decision makers, and providing water, sanitation, and wetland management options on a pilot basis. (UNEP Marshlands Project, n.d.)

With the new funding and educational outreach, the Ahwar may yet again swell the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers and the Madaan, who have been stewards to this land for over 5,000 years, will once again have a home.

References

Ali, S. (2003). Restoring the Mesopotamian Marshlands in Southern Iraq, vol. 47, no 5, p.27. Retrieved from Land and Water: http://www.landandwater.com/features/vol47no5/vol47no5_1.html

Ancient Mesopotamia. (2006). Retrieved from Seekonk Public Schools: http://seekonk.sharpschool.com/webquests/ancient_mesopotamia

BBC. (2018, July 18). Retrieved from Iraq Marshlands Named Unesco World Heritage Site: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36823417

Iraqi Marshlands Named as Unesco World Heritage Site. (2016, July 18). Retrieved from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/18/iraqi-marshlands-named-as-unesco-world-heritage-site

Mitsch, W. J., & Gosselink, J. G. (2015). Wetlands (Fifth ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Schwartzstein, P. (2015, July). Iraq's Famed Marshes are Disappearing Again. Retrieved from National Geographic: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/07/150709-iraq-marsh-arabs-middle-east-water-environment-world/

UNEP Marshlands Project. (n.d.). Retrieved from United Nations Environmental Programme: http://marshlands.unep.or.jp/

Wikipedia. (2016, August 27). Retrieved from Mesopotamian Marshes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamian_Marshes