Drought threatens Iraq’s southern marshes – BBC

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraq’s southern marshes, by far the Middle East’s most important wetlands, are under threat again, the BBC reported on Tuesday. “At stake is a unique ecosystem that for millennia has sustained a vibrant and diverse wildlife, as well as the extraordinary way of life evolved by the Marsh Arabs,” the BBC said. “Partially drained by Saddam Hussein in the 1980s to drive out rebels, the marshlands were revived after his overthrow in 2003,” it added. Now they are shrinking again, thanks to a combination of drought, intensive dam construction and irrigation schemes upstream on the Tigris, Euphrates and other river systems, according to the network. Some Marsh Arabs, who have lived in harmony with the wetlands for 6,000 years, returned after Saddam’s downfall but are now leaving again as the marshes dry up. Throughout the area, what used to be large expanses of open water and reedbeds have been reduced to shallow creeks and mudflats. “Historically, the marshes covered a sprawling area of up to 15,000 square kilometres, though in more recent times 9,000 sq km has been regarded as the baseline,” it said. “By the time Saddam Hussein had finished, the wetlands had been reduced to barely 760 sq km,” the BBC noted. After 2003, dykes were broken down and the area partially re-flooded, bringing 40 percent of the original marshes back to life. Now the situation has gone into reverse, shrinking the wetlands back to roughly 30 percent of their former size and it could get worse if predictions of another year of low rainfall prove correct. “The current reduction is a problem, it’s not normal,” said Ministry of the Environment water engineer Hazim al-Dalli. “We can see its impact on water quality, on biodiversity in the marshes, affecting the inhabitants, who are leaving their areas. We can even see its effect on the water levels of the Tigris in Baghdad.” The most immediate cause is low rainfall, though it’s far from being the only problem “The drought is indeed very serious,” UN Environment Programme (UNEP) expert Hassan Partow told the BBC. “The 2007-2008 season was one of the worst droughts on record, and snowfall in the catchments feeding the Tigris and Euphrates has also been limited.” “All predictions are that the drought will continue over the 2008-2009 winter, with rainfall levels well below average. “For the marshes, which are fed by a snow-driven hydrology, the spring snowmelt in March/April is critical, and so it is too early to tell what the flood will bring this year. But the signs don’t look great.” “This pulse cycle has been disrupted by the dams built in Turkey, Syria and Iraq itself, but mostly Turkey,” wrote Azzam Alwash, director of Nature Iraq, who has been deeply involved in efforts to restore the marshes. “The natural flow system is not going to return until and unless the dams outside Iraq are actively managed as part of a basin-wide coordinated management of the Tigris and Euphrates.” “We need to make sure that there is a just and equitable distribution of the water resources and improved efficiency of usage.” SH (I)/SR 1