Iraqi marshes pdf file

The repression against the marsh arabs since 1988 has been motivated by a combination of factors. Satellite imagery shows the southern marshlands now occupy about 3500 km 2 after having dwindled to just 760 km. Scientists fight to save iraqs marshes nov 5, 2004. This investigation was designed to study a bacterial community qualitative and quantitative in southern iraqi marshes for three marshes al hammer h,al chebiash,al hawiza, and two sites. Restoration activities showing 14 of 11 pages in this report. Iraqs southern marshes something special to be conserved. Water buffalo, for which the marshes have provided a longtime favorable habitat, were affected. In 2011, sam kubba published the iraqi marshlands and the marsh arabs. Phytoplankton index of biological integrity pibi in. Nevertheless, saddam husseins plans for the marshes were related to marshes use as a hiding ground for iraqi outlaws, dissidents, and opponents of the regime.

Marshlands are important ecosystem for living organisms. Iraq increasingly and more frequently experiences conditions of water scarcity or water stress. Water buffalo in the iraqi marshes page 4 introduction 1. The marshlands used to be the largest wetland ecosystem in western eurasia, representing a rare aquatic landscape in the desert and providing a habitat for important populations of wildlife. Screening study on potential world heritage nomination. Biodiversity and ecosystem management in the iraqi. Media in category mesopotamian marshes the following 20 files are in this category, out of 20 total. Iraq s famed marshes are disappearingagain a decade after the restoration of their once fruitful wetlands, the marsh arabs are struggling to cope with the countrys water shortage.

We advocate for policies that secure the sustainable and equitable use of water for all who live in the region. The mesopotamian marshes of iraq were once the largest wetland in the middle east and home to an ancient civilization of marsh dwellers know as the madan. The iraqi ministry of environment confirmed that it had submitted the nomination file to the specialized bureau of unesco. Save the tigris and iraqi marshes campaign seeks to link groups and movements concerned with the adverse impacts of megaprojects on the tigris and euphrates. Application of 317 the ccme wqi on east hammar marsh 40% of their former levels, according to unep. If the work of the iraqi and american scientists involved in the sealands programme is successful, the marshes may yet be turned to a new use, to improve the quality of the environment. Jul 18, 2016 iraqs alahwar marshes, which were once drained by saddam hussein, have been added to the world heritage list by the uns culture agency unesco. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. Iraq has multiple biomes which include the mountainous kurdistan region in northern iraq to the wet marshlands along the euphrates river. Iraqs marshlands bloom again, restoring traditional way of life. Assessment of environmental changes in the iraqi marshes by. Agenda more than 20 participants, international and from all over iraq gathered in erbil, iraq for the. Ali3 abstract the iraqi marsh lands, which are known as the garden of eden, cover an area about 1520 103 km2 in the lower part of the mesopotamian basin. Twelve years ago, iraqi dictator saddam hussein ordered the destruction of the marshes in retaliation for an uprising against his regime.

Nearly 20% of the original 15,000squarekilometer marsh area was reflooded by march 2004, but the extent of marsh restoration is unknown. Iraq, marsh, functional diversity, cultural and natural heritage. Leaked intelligence reports expose how iran dominates iraq. It was his first trip to iraq, and he accompanied pournelle there to assess the feasibility of bringing back the marshes and gauge iraqis will to do so. On the current and restoration conditions of the southern. The marshes are home to 40 species of birds, and several species of fish, plus demarcating a range limit for a number of bird species. Pdf iraqi marshlands observation system researchgate. The marshes of southern iraq is located in the southern part of the mesopotamia fig.

Media in category marshes of iraq the following 107 files are in this category, out of 107 total. The iraqi marshes are located in the lower mesopotamian basin, in the vast floodplain wetlands created by the tigriseuphrates river system. Historically the marshlands, mainly composed of the separate but adjacent central, hawizeh and hammar marshes, used to. Save the tigris and iraqi marshes campaign strategy meeting report erbil, may 1012, 2015 1. The southern iraqi marshland is the central habitat for freshwater fish, provides habitat for important populations of wildlife and serves. The iraqi government started to drain the marshes for political and military reasons and at 2000 less than 10% of the marshes remained. The draining of the marshes of southern iraq, now being carried out by saddam hussein in an attempt to drive out dissident marsh arabs, is not a new plan. Restoring the garden of eden, iraq nadhir alansari1, sven knutsson2 and ammar a. Iraqs marsh arabs test the waters as wetlands ruined by.

At the heart of this work is azzam alwash, an iraqi, who himself fled saddams regime. Jan 18, 2011 with the marshes virtually destroyed the wildlife populations collapsed. Oilfields and facilities from iraq a map folio, cia, 1992 182k. The marsh arabs live in iraq and hawizeh people live in iran. The hawizeh marshes have been populated for more than 5,000 years. Dewan award for architecture school in the iraqi marshes. Assessment of environmental changes in the iraqi marshes. Restoration activities summary during the 1990s, saddam hussein drained approximately 90% of the iraqi marshes. Moreover, the migration phenology and breeding status of the eurasian marsh harrier in the central marshes were investigated. This phenomena lead to tremendous structural changes in ecosystems, however after 2003 rehabilitation policy applied to the area was implementd in order to reestablish marshes ecosystems. Results of application of zibi on the iraqi marshes in this study indicate a slight improvement of water quality in the central marshes and degradation in other parts of the marshes.

The economy of the iraq marshes in the 1990s alexander tkachenko. Jul 19, 2016 iraqi american environmentalist azzam alwash and nature iraq, the group he founded, have set up an ecocamp in the heart of the marshes. Present work aimed to study the systematicaccount for algae and to add new records species of algae for the first time in marshes of iraq. The most important development in the 20 th century was the establishment of modern water controls in the tigris and euphrates basins.

The archive is made up of hundreds of reports and cables written mainly in 2014 and 2015 by officers of irans ministry of intelligence and security, or mois, who were serving in the field in iraq. The hammar marsh and the central marshes dried once again. Ten metrics were selected for measuring pibi for the first time in iraq as a proposed project from nature iraq and twin rivers institute, american university of iraq sulaimani. This led to a decrease in the great floods that had affected iraq and consequently also the marshes. Division of early warning and assessment, united nations environment programme. The marshes area has unique properties that rarely can be. The process of preparing this file is a long, complicated, technical procedure, and a basic step on the way to accomplish the ultimate goal. Uncontrolled releases of tigris and euphrates river waters after the 2003 war have partially restored some former marsh areas in southern iraq, but restoration is failing in others because of high soil and water salinities. Iraqi marshlands named as unesco world heritage site. The other two parts of the marshes were designated as ramsar sites in 2014. Iraq marshes former marshes and water diversion projects in southeastern iraq from the destruction of iraq s southern marshes, cia publication ia 9410020, 1994 243k iraq.

The garden of eden becomes a unesco world heritage site. Jul 18, 2016 the wetlands, which supports about 40 species of birds, is an important migratory stop as they fly from siberia to africa. The dewan award is the newest prize to join the tamayouz excellence awards programme that champions and celebrates the best of architecture in iraq and around the world. Eightyfive stations were studied, some of which appear to overlap with others in this image. The draining of the mesopotamian marshes has been described by the united nations as a tragic human and environmental catastrophe on par with the deforestation of the amazon rainforest and by other observers as one of the worst environmental disasters of the 20th century. Pdf study of microbial content in southern iraqi marshes. Country profile map, cia, january 2003 157k and pdf format 160k iraq. Conserving and restoring the iconic marshes of southern iraq. The draining of the mesopotamian marshes occurred in iraq and to a smaller degree in iran between the 1950s and 1990s to clear large areas of the marshes in the tigriseuphrates river system. One of the legacies of saddam husseins regime is the near destruction of the iraqi marshlands near the lower tigris and euphrates rivers, home to the 5000year marsh arab civilization and site. The area had played a prominent part in the history of mankind and was inhabited since the dawn of civilization. Save the tigris and iraqi marshes campaign strategy meeting. Water buffalo in the iraqi marshes iraqi civil society. Missan governorate is to the northeast, while thi qar is to the southwest.

Paper open access classification of the key functional. An ecological assessment of the marshes of iraq pdf. Background southern iraqi marsh desiccation was an environmental disaster that severely impacted a variety of species. The wildlife of iraq includes its flora and fauna and their natural habitats. What happened to the iraqi marsh arabs and their land. Jul 18, 2016 unesco has named iraqi marshlands once ravaged by dictator saddam hussein as a world heritage site, a bright spot for a country where jihadists have repeatedly sought to wipe out history. In a february 2018 report, iraq realistically claims that the water flow of the euphrates and tigris rivers the regions and particularly iraq s most important water resource has reduced by 30% since the. Preventing water flow through the marshes in southern iraq was a policy of the previous regime in iraq during 1990s. Unesco has named iraqi marshlands once ravaged by dictator saddam hussein as a world heritage site, a bright spot for a country where jihadists have repeatedly sought to wipe out history.

By 2007 george packer, a new yorker reporter, told me iraqs marsh restoration had become the success story of the war. Mar 21, 2014 this video introduces the beauty, people, culture, and historic significance of the iraqi marshes in the iraqi southeast, between the tigris and the euphrates rivers a civilisation of marsh. Thirtyeight new records for algal species of iraqs marshes. The mesopotamian marshes or iraqi marshes are a wetland area located in southern iraq and partially in southwestern iran and kuwait. As of 2001, seven of iraq s mammal species and 12 of its bird species are endangered. Two years of field research by iraqi and american scientists concluded that there had been a remarkable rate of reestablishment of native macroinvertebrates, macrophytes, fish, and birds in reflooded marshes. The hawizeh marshes are by the tigris and euphrates rivers in presentday iraq and the karkhen river in presentday iran. Formerly covering an area of around 20,000 km 2 7,700 sq mi, the main sub marshes, the hawizeh, central, and hammar marshes and all three were drained at different times for different reasons.

Iraqi marshlands observation system unep technical report 8 march 2003 only part of the hawr alhawizeh marsh remains. Migration pattern and wintering population of the eurasian. The western part of the country comprises desert and some semiarid regions. Historically the marshlands, mainly composed of the separate but adjacent central, hawizeh and hammar marshes, used to be the largest wetland ecosystem of western eurasia. Jul 20, 2016 through all of this, only a small part of the marshes on the border with iran, the hawizeh marshes, has remained and is the first ramsar wetland of international importance in iraq. Rory stewart described the marsh arabs and his experiences as deputy governor in the maysan province 20032004 in his 2006 book, the prince of the marshes also published under the title occupational hazards.

While drainage of the marshes was a deliberate government policy, desiccation and pollution of. Iraqi marshlands observation system unep technical report. Our paper seeks to examine how the draining of southern iraq by saddam. Iraqi forces had learned to use portable dams and sluices to dryout the marshes, allowing advances by iraqi mechanized forces. This video introduces the natural beauty, people, culture, and historic significance of the iraqi marshes in the iraqi southeast, between the tigris and euphrates rivers a civilization of marsh arabs dating back continuously over 5,000 years to the sumerian people. In addition to the fact that marsh arabs are shia, iraqi authorities have targeted them because the remote terrain of the marshlands provided refuge for political opponents of the regime and because. It is a rare aquatic landscape in the desert, providing habitat for the marsh arabs and. Using newly available iraqi government archives, this paper argues that the destruction of the marshes was the result of a complex interplay between sectarianism, development planning, and security imperatives. This work may fill part of the existing research gap in the application of the ibi index in iraqi inland waters to illustrate the effects.

Tamayouz excellence award is delighted to announce the winners of the dewan award for architecture and its 2018 theme, school in the iraqi marshes. This action displaced 200,000 to 250,000 madan marsh arabs and severely harmed an important ecosystem. The plan of action for the marshes was in fact linked to the wish to control iranian intruders, who entered iraq through the marshes mitchell, 2003. Environmental rehabilitation and global profiteering in.

Pdf on the current and restoration conditions of the. Sediment samples as bottom surface sediments were collected from the same sites by means of van veen grap sampler, and sediment samples were put in polyethylene bags. The marshes were once home to millions of birds and the stopover for millions of migratory birds, including flamingo, pelican and heron as they migrated from siberia to africa. The restoration potential of the mesopotamian marshes of iraq. From the time of the sumerians and babylonians the people used the marshes as a place to live. Central qurnah and alhammar marshes are virtually totally desiccated. The iraqi mesopotamian marshes, an extensive wetlands system in iraq, has been heavily impacted by both human and climate. Jul, 2014 this april, a few weeks after pournelle took southern iraqi doctoral students to south carolinas marshes, she arranged for morris to ride through basras remaining marshes on a skiff. After 2003, the process of restoration and rehabilitation of. Jul 28, 2015 using newly available iraqi government archives, this paper argues that the destruction of the marshes was the result of a complex interplay between sectarianism, development planning, and security imperatives.

A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Often called the garden of eden, the marshes of southern iraq were once home. On the current and restoration conditions of the southern iraqi marshes. Nov 05, 2004 scientists fight to save iraqs marshes. Dna sequences confirmed the morphological identification by 99 % similarity to published 16s sequences. The introduction vector for this nonnative species into the wild is considered to be unintentional escapes from iranian aquaculture. Visitors can stay in modernized reed houses, go out on. Ahmed visiting professor at basrah university a report presented to a meeting of project partners for the center for southern iraq restoration studies and to a special seminar for the culture in global affairs ciga program, the elliott school of. But since the fall of saddam there has been a concerted effort to restore the marshes and reestablish both the wildlife and the marsh arab way of life. However, the lack of connectedness among the various reflooded marshes remained a concern for species diversity and local extinction. Materials and methods samples had been brought from 10 stations at hammar, hawizah and chebaish marshes aleiz, alkasrrah, um. Biodiversity and ecosystem management in the iraqi marshlands. This file is licensed under the creative commons attribution 3. The southern iraqi marshland is the central habitat for freshwater fish, provides habitat for important populations of wildlife and serves as a source of income for native economies through reed.