Drought causing Iraqi marshes to shrink
Historically, the marshes covered an area of around 15,000 square kilometres and supported a rich variety of wildlife, as well as the Marsh Arabs, who have lived there for more than 6,000 years. However, they shrank to just 760 square kilometres during the 1980s, after Saddam ordered the damming of the rivers that sustained the marshes in an attempt to drive out rebels.
After he was overthrown in 2003, the dams and dykes were destroyed, and the marshes returned to an area of around 9,000 square kilometres. Since then, they have shrunk back to roughly 30 per cent of their original size – and with another year of low rainfall predicted, things are only going to get worse.
‘The current reduction is a problem,’ Hazim al-Dalli, a water engineer from the Ministry of the Environment, told the BBC. ‘We can see its impact on water quality, on biodiversity in the marshes, aff ecting the inhabitants, who are leaving their areas. We can even see its eff ect on the water levels of the Tigris in Baghdad.’
Iraq is currently suff ering the worst drought on record, according to the UN Environment Programme, which also published a report stating that about 70 per cent of the water entering Iraq comes from rivers controlled by Turkey, Iran, and Syria.
May 2009
After he was overthrown in 2003, the dams and dykes were destroyed, and the marshes returned to an area of around 9,000 square kilometres. Since then, they have shrunk back to roughly 30 per cent of their original size – and with another year of low rainfall predicted, things are only going to get worse.
‘The current reduction is a problem,’ Hazim al-Dalli, a water engineer from the Ministry of the Environment, told the BBC. ‘We can see its impact on water quality, on biodiversity in the marshes, aff ecting the inhabitants, who are leaving their areas. We can even see its eff ect on the water levels of the Tigris in Baghdad.’
Iraq is currently suff ering the worst drought on record, according to the UN Environment Programme, which also published a report stating that about 70 per cent of the water entering Iraq comes from rivers controlled by Turkey, Iran, and Syria.
May 2009
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