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Oct. 2nd, 2003
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Recovering of the Marsh Arabs
Oct. 2nd, 2003 04:01 pmSeveral months ago I talked about Saddam Hussein's destruction of the Iraqi marshlands in-between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in an attempt to destroy the ancient Marsh Arabs (Madan) culture.
New Scientist has an article today "Iraqis reclaim their ancient wetlands". The Marsh Arabs have taken matters into their own hands and are breaching dykes and shutting down pumping stations, rather than wait for the gradual and slow reflooding proposed by international wetlands experts.
This appears to be both a good and bad thing - due to their expert knowledge of the marshes, the locals have, "by and large, chosen breach sites that would have been picked by a qualified water engineer." And some areas have recovered beautifully already.
However, in other areas, the new floods of water have no proper outlet and are becoming increasingly saline. The Marshlands flora and fauna can't deal with increased levels of salt, and are responding poorly to the reclamation. "salt levels have risen to around 6 parts per thousand (ppt), more than 10 times the salt content of fresh water... this is hampering the recovery of vegetation such as the common reed (Phragmites australis) which can tolerate brackish water but does worse as salinity increases. The reed is the dominant plant in the ecosystem, providing shelter for fish and birds. The Marsh Arabs use it as a material for building, weaving and as fodder for water buffalo."
Problems with heavy metal contamination of the water are also a worry, as is the fact that in an effort to deter sabotage, Saddam Hussein's regime mined many of the dykes used to drain the marshes.
The scale of the task is huge - estimates say only 15 to 20% of the marshes can be restored, and international wetlands recovery & engineering teams have been pulled out of the area after the terrorist attack on UN HQ. Hopefully the coming rainy season will flush out the marshes, however, and continued support from AMAR and other organisations help to restore not just some of the Marsh Arabs' environment, but the culture as well.
Chief amongst many emotions, the article leaves me both saddened and hopeful. Saddened, because like a smashed vase, no matter how you restore and reglue what has been broken it will never be the same again - with a devastated environment and culture you can recover what you may, but the loss of the past will always mar the future. But I'm also trusting, in the resilience of humans and Nature, and hopeful that matters will improve for the Madan and the marshlands.
Link: The Amar Foundation, which has supported the Madan people in exile and is attempting to restore their homeland.
New Scientist has an article today "Iraqis reclaim their ancient wetlands". The Marsh Arabs have taken matters into their own hands and are breaching dykes and shutting down pumping stations, rather than wait for the gradual and slow reflooding proposed by international wetlands experts.
This appears to be both a good and bad thing - due to their expert knowledge of the marshes, the locals have, "by and large, chosen breach sites that would have been picked by a qualified water engineer." And some areas have recovered beautifully already.
However, in other areas, the new floods of water have no proper outlet and are becoming increasingly saline. The Marshlands flora and fauna can't deal with increased levels of salt, and are responding poorly to the reclamation. "salt levels have risen to around 6 parts per thousand (ppt), more than 10 times the salt content of fresh water... this is hampering the recovery of vegetation such as the common reed (Phragmites australis) which can tolerate brackish water but does worse as salinity increases. The reed is the dominant plant in the ecosystem, providing shelter for fish and birds. The Marsh Arabs use it as a material for building, weaving and as fodder for water buffalo."
Problems with heavy metal contamination of the water are also a worry, as is the fact that in an effort to deter sabotage, Saddam Hussein's regime mined many of the dykes used to drain the marshes.
The scale of the task is huge - estimates say only 15 to 20% of the marshes can be restored, and international wetlands recovery & engineering teams have been pulled out of the area after the terrorist attack on UN HQ. Hopefully the coming rainy season will flush out the marshes, however, and continued support from AMAR and other organisations help to restore not just some of the Marsh Arabs' environment, but the culture as well.
Chief amongst many emotions, the article leaves me both saddened and hopeful. Saddened, because like a smashed vase, no matter how you restore and reglue what has been broken it will never be the same again - with a devastated environment and culture you can recover what you may, but the loss of the past will always mar the future. But I'm also trusting, in the resilience of humans and Nature, and hopeful that matters will improve for the Madan and the marshlands.
Link: The Amar Foundation, which has supported the Madan people in exile and is attempting to restore their homeland.
