Iraqs marshes revitalised

[Niz1]

Restoring Iraq's wetland marshes to the original Eden

It is thought to be the original Garden of Eden.

A place so beautiful, teeming with water and life, that according to the Christian faith it was the birthplace of mankind.

That was until the 1980s, when Saddam Hussein drained these great wetlands of southern Iraq, destroying them, turning them to desert.

However, since his overthrow, a remarkable effort has begun to restore these Mesopotamian Marshes, among the most important wetland habitat in the world.

One man is leading the way, attempting to rejuvenate the marshes and bring back the diversity of animals and plants that once lived there.

Thought this might be of interest to the biologists amongst us. I watched the documentary mentioned in the article and found it really heartwarming that such an improvement is being made to a once almost totally destroyed habitat. Also of note is that the main man behind it is a local Iraqi rather than a foreign charity.

[Sea Skimmer]

You can see the work Saddam did, and a fair bit of restoration through Google earth. Unfortunately they’ll simply never restore them to more then a fraction of what they once were without extensive heavy engineering. 50% is impressive. Even if the government cared to help out its got a massive backlog of irrigation projects which have suffered from seven years of neglect and blowing sand.

[Ritterin Sophia]

So, the article doesn't answer the question, why exactly did Saddam destroy the marshes? Sounds like a great place for a dictator to put a really pretty Summer palace.

[Zed]

According to this old article (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 36553.html), he drained them under the pretense of agricultural development, but actually wanted to crush the insurgents hiding in the marshes.

[Niz1]

According to this old article (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 36553.html), he drained them under the pretense of agricultural development, but actually wanted to crush the insurgents hiding in the marshes.

Pretty much, he was pissed at the marsh arabs for rebelling against his rule during and after gulf war 1 so he decided to destroy their way of life and culture by eradicating the marshes.