Number: RL32433
Title: The Iraq Marshes: Restoration Activities
Authors: Kyna Powers, Resources, Science, and Industry Division 
Abstract: During the 1990s, Saddam Hussein drained approximately 90% of the Iraqi marshes. This action displaced 200,000 to 250,000 Ma'dan (Marsh Arabs) and severely harmed an important ecosystem. Efforts to rehabilitate the marshes have returned water to about 40% of the former marshland. However, re-flooding additional areas and providing for long-term marsh restoration requires actions to maintain the quantity and quality of water flowing through the marshes. To facilitate such efforts, nongovernmental organizations and U.S. contractors are working with Iraq's Ministry of Water Resources (MWR), Ministry of Environment, the newly established Center for Restoration of the Iraq Marshlands (CRIM), and local Iraqis to implement short-term action plans calling for ecological and socioeconomic studies. These draft studies and the associated monitoring and modeling activities will set the foundation for a long-term restoration management plan. Implementing the overall plan will include training and equipping Iraqi officials, managing water supplies, and negotiating international water agreements. Some of these efforts have already begun.
Pages: 8
Date: June 15, 2004