Rehabilitation of a Historic Wetland - Restorative Redevelopment of Devastated Ecocultural Landscapes - page 73

a partially restored ecosystem and a wetland interpretive center run by the Royal
Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN). This chapter briefly reviews the
intriguing history of the Azraq Oasis, which I believe to be the most success-
ful wetland restoration project in the Arab Middle East. The project has gained
international attention (Pearce 2004; Mitchell 2005) and may offer many practical
insights into how such future endeavors might be undertaken in neighboring Iraq.
THE PLACE
As described by Jordanian Minister of Environment, Khalid Irani (2004), the Azraq
wetlands are an oasis ecosystem that is unique to the region and are located at the
junction between basalt bedrock to the north and limestone-flint geology to the
south. The oasis is an important area for migrating birds and a safe refuge for a vari-
ety of rare species, including an endemic killifish that only exists in these marshes;
as a result, it is an official Ramsar site. The Azraq Basin is situated in the lowest
depression of a great underground water system, 94 percent of which is in the east-
ern part of Jordan on the ancient crossroads leading to Iraq, with 5 and 1 percent
being in Syria and Saudi Arabia, respectively. The oasis is fed by aquifers that drain
rainwater filtered through the basalt into a large shallow basin in which are located
five springs and ten seasonal rivers, or wadis. In Lawrence's day and depending on
the season, up to 50 km 2 could be flooded to a depth of about a meter. At one time,
more than a million migrant birds would visit the oasis each year, with representa-
tives of over 85 percent of all the avian species that have ever been recorded in
Jordan. Wild horses and particularly water buffalo similar to those found to the west
in the Hula swamps (see chapter 6) and to the east in the Iraqi marshes (Young 1977)
used to be common.
The oasis has a rich history of occupation (Figure 7.3) that has shaped neighbor-
ing local activities such as fishing, hunting (which was a very big problem in the
1970s and 1980s), water pumping for local use, limited farming, and the salt industry
(which depended on evaporating rainwater). Throughout the world as well as in Iraq,
the marginal landscape of the wetlands has always provided refuge for marginal eth-
nic groups. Bedouin have lived in the Azraq area for centuries, and for the last one
hundred years Chechen and Druze minorities have also been present.
WATER IN JORDAN
Jordan is one of the ten poorest countries in terms of water resources, with 90 per-
cent of the country being classified as desert. More than 780 million cubic meters
(mcm) of water are used each year, with the country running an annual deficit of
19 percent (Irani 2004). In the recent past, Jordan used 70 percent of its freshwater
resources for unsustainable agriculture, an amount that has recently decreased to 64
percent and that is targeted for further reductions in the future.
Following the war with Israel and the influx of tens of thousands of Palestinians,
cities like Amman grew at a rapid rate and became very thirsty. The Azraq Basin
became the first place to be selected for water extraction in order to satisfy the
country's increasing demand for the resource. Large-scale pumping started in the