Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
One cannot discuss the Ma'dan without talking about their use of water buffalo.
Water buffalo are both an umbrella species and a cultural icon, and they represent the
well-being of indigenous Ma'dan people. They are also a keystone species in the
marsh ecosystem. “Water buffalo are widespread throughout the marshes in the south
of Iraq” (Stevens 2009). “There are no houses in the marshes without a water buffalo.
They are the main source of livelihood of people in the marshes. In fact, water buffalo
are considered indicators of the quality of marsh life and restoration of the Iraqi
marshes. The Ma'dan depend on their herds of water buffalo; they are valued for their
dairy products, and are part of the family. I expect that the absence of water buffaloes
will lead to the disappearance of people in the marshes.”
Through extensive interviews, I discovered that the Iraqis who lived in the marshes
had a great wealth of biological knowledge about culturally significant resources, such
as reeds, water buffalo, and fish. This traditional ecological knowledge is an important
source of information for emerging models of ecological restoration and ecosystem
management of the marshes. Because the marsh ecosystem is adapted to human man-
agement, any effort to restore the ecosystemmust also be an effort to reestablishMarsh
Arab culture and make use of their traditional management practices. Thus maintain-
ing the integrity, identity, and culture of theMarsh Arab society must be preeminent in
restoration planning, and this must include encouraging the sustainable livelihoods of
Marsh Arabs who have returned to the area. “The future of the 5,000-year-old Marsh
Arab culture and the economic stability of a large portion of southern Iraq are depen-
dent on the success of this restoration effort” (Richardson et al. 2005), however, the
converse is equally true, the success of the restoration effort depends on the actions of
the Marsh Arab culture and the economic stability of a large portion of southern Iraq.
Iraqi Perspective on Healing the Marshes and Helping the Ma'dan People
In 2008, I attended the International Congress on Biodiversity in the Middle East in
Jordan. The following year, I was the invited keynote speaker at the Third Scientific
Conference on the Rehabilitation of the Southern Iraq Marshes in Basra, Iraq. Being
invited to visit the marshes was a dream come true. After six years of studying the
marshes and traveling internationally, I was very excited (and scared) about visiting
Iraqi scientists and the Ma'dan people, and about visiting the Mesopotamian marshes
themselves.
I conducted more than twenty hours of interviews with Nature Iraq (www
.natureiraq.org) biologists while attending the biodiversity conference (Stevens 2009).
According to Dr. Azzam Alwash, director of Nature Iraq, an Iraq nongovernmental or-
ganization accredited by the United Nations Environmental Program and affiliated
with Birdlife International, “The security situation is making it harder to do the work
(in the marshes), but our teams of young scientists are determined to keep the work
going despite the rough conditions and continuing violence....Teams are still taking
monthly trips to the marshes to collect scientific data to . . . understand the state of the
restored marshes” (Stevens 2009).
Nature Iraq is sponsoring the prioritization, identification, and monitoring of Key
Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), as defined by the International Union for Conservation of
