Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
computers, and televisions, and women want to have access to disposable diapers and
other child care amenities.
History, Importance, and Current Condition of the
Mesopotamian Marshes
The
al Ahwar
1
marshes of southern Iraq and Iran encompass the largest wetland eco-
system in the Middle East and western Eurasia, historically covering 5,790-7,770
square miles (15,000-20,000 km
2
) of interconnected lakes, mudflats, and wetlands
within what is now Iraq and Iran. Often called the Mesopotamian marshes, the area is
considered by Muslims, Christians, and Jews as the site of the legendary Garden of
Eden. The marshes are a cultural heritage center of global importance, having sup-
ported the traditional lifestyles of approximately 500,000 indigenous people—the
Marsh Arabs or Ma'dan—and the important agricultural production of rice, wheat,
millet, and dates. A major haven of regional and global biodiversity, the marshes pro-
vide habitat for significant populations and species of wildlife (Iraq Foundation 2003).
For instance, two-thirds of western Asia's wintering waterfowl, estimated from one mil-
lion to ten million birds, are believed to winter in the marshes. The marsh ecosystem
also sustains an economically important local and regional fishery, providing spawn-
ing habitat for migratory fin fish and penaid shrimp species that use the marshes for
spawning migrations to and from the Persian Gulf.
Unfortunately recent history has not been kind to the marshes or the people that
inhabit them, as the area has been the scene of three military conflicts—the Iran-Iraq
War (1980-1988), the Gulf War (1990-1991), and the 2003 invasion of Iraq led by
the United States and Great Britain. For thirty-five years the Iraqi people and marshes
have been in the middle of a war zone. As Hassan Partow reported to the United Na-
tions concerning the fate of the Marsh Arabs: “With the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war
in 1980, their homeland was transformed into a frontline combat zone. Subsequently,
they were faced with cultural genocide and the drainage and destruction of their
marsh home that ultimately shattered their society and way of life” (UNEP 2001). Af-
ter the Gulf War ended in 1991, uprisings against the Iraqi regime of SaddamHussein
broke out. A period of genocide and ecocide began, during which the Hussein regime
drained more than 90 percent of the marshes to obtain access to rebels taking refuge
in the marshes (H. K. Ahmed from discussion with author, December 14, 2008).
Abdul Imam Hatab and Abu Kusai al Helfy, Ma'dan leaders from the Salien
Marshes south of the Al Hammar Marshes, used to have very fertile land and were
well off (H. K. Ahmed from discussion with author, December 14, 2008). Following
the 1991 uprising, the Republican National Guard committed genocide and ecocide
in the marshes, and initiated engineering work that desiccated the marshes. The men
described it as a “tsunami hurricane” passing through their villages, and none sur-
vived apart from those who managed to escape the country. They felt jubilant and
happy to see the toppling of Saddam for what he had done to the Iraqi people. Hatab
and al Helfy said, “What has happened so far is only personal initiatives such as break-
ing dams by local Marsh Arabs, amending the irrigation networks around the marshes,
