Salinity Management in Arid Regions - Restorative Redevelopment of Devastated Ecocultural Landscapes - page 427

APPLICATION IN THE IRAQ MARSH CONTEXT
The first thing that needs to be attended to in dryland agriculture is the distribution
of water in time and in space in order to keep salinities in an acceptable range (see
also chapter 22). Those living and farming between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
(Figure 21.3) have known this for millennia, as, for example, shown in an ancient
Sumerian farmer's first instruction to his son (circa 1700 bce): “When you have to

FIGURE 21.3 The unchanging landscape of the Fertile Crescent, the birthplace of agri-
culture. Vast fields of grain located beside the 3,000-4,000-year-old archaeological tells of
Halaf, Harmoukar, and Sheikh Hamad between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in what was
once ancient Mesopotamia. ( Continued )