Saddam drained the
great marshes of the Tigris and
Euphrates confluence area, supposedly in order to irrigate farmland and
improve agriculture and so the standard of living for the people. What
happened was the opposite, lending weight to the opinion that he did it
to punish the Marsh Arabs for opposing him and his Baath Party, and to
remove the
area as a possible refuge for insurgents. Large
areas which
had been biologically productive reedbeds, waterways and seasonally
flooded and watered farmland became barren wastes of blowing dust and
salt pans.
Fish and waterfowl were no longer available to
augment the dates and wheat grown on dry land and general living
standards dropped radically. With the fall of Saddam's regime after 25
years of drainage projects the reversal started with breaking many
earth dams and allowing water to return to its natural courses. By 2000
about 14% in overall area
remained from the 3,446 square miles of
marshland seen in satellite images from 1973. By 2004 this had
returned to a much larger area of wetlands , though many areas remained
comparatively barren , with high levels of salt or pollutants and
restricted ecological recovery.Western Governments have
pledged small
amounts for restoration of this former Eden, with Canada offering $2.5
million and the US $4 million of the total $30 million pledged .
People have been taking the initiative in reclaiming their
heritage in the area, returning to their old lifestyles as far as
possible, while wildlife has returned in strength in some areas, and
vegetation shows great vigour. Reeds in many places growing six
feet above water within two months of clean water being supplied to
flush out salts and poisons.
More abstracts about the Iraq's marshes