Restoring the Garden of Eden, Iraq

The Iraqi marsh lands, which are known as the Garden of Eden, cover an area about 15-20 103. km2 in the lower part of the Mesopotamian basin where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers flow. The area had played a prominent part in the history of man kind and was inhabited since the dawn of civilization. The area was considered among the largest wetlands in the world and the greatest in west Asia. Saddam regime began to drain the marsh lands for military and political reasons. Accordingly, at 2000 less than 10% of the marshes remained. The consequences were that most of the marsh dwellers left their places and some animals and plants are eradicated now. After the fall of Saddam regime in 2003, the process of restoration and rehabilitation of Iraqi marshes started. There are number of difficulties encountered in the process. Some of them are land use changes, climatic variations and changes, soil and water salinity as well as ecological fragmentation where many species were affected as well as the marsh dwellers.In this research we would like to explore the possibilities of restoring the Iraqi marshes. It is believed that 70- 75% of the original areas of the marshes can be restored. This implies that 13 km3 water should be available to achieve this goal keeping the water quality as it is. To evaluate the water quality in the marshes, 154 samples were collected at 48 stations during summer, spring and winter. All the results indicate that the water quality was bad. To improve the water quality, then 18.86 km3 of water is required. This requires plenty of efforts and international cooperation to overcome the existing obstacles.<p>Validerad; 2012; 20120607 (nadhir)