Restored Iraqi Marshlands threatened by drought
The
Iraqi Marshlands - the largest wetland ecosystem in the
Middle East are being threatened by a severe drought, intensive
dam construction and irrigation schemes in Iraq and surrounding
countries.
The marshes used to cover an area of up to 15,000 square kilometers and secured the access to drinking water, providing livelihoods for Marsh Arabs and habitats for many migratory waterbirds.
However, in the 1990’s they were almost destroyed by the former regime and reduced to barely 760 square kilometers. As from 2003 the marshlands had been partially re-flooded and were able to recover to a remarkable extent. Now they are back to 30% of their former size and the situation could worsen if predictions of another year of low rainfall prove to be correct.
"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”, said UNEP expert Hassan Partow.
But even if the levels of rain and snowfall were above normal, the proliferation of dams and irrigation schemes have choked off much of the supply and muted the annual snowmelt floods. New dam and irrigations projects in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran are threatening waterlevels further downstream including those of the Iraqi Marshlands.
The protection and recovery of the Iraqi Marshlands is dependent on sound water-sharing agreements between all the countries involved and advanced management plans for water use both upstream and in the marshes themselves.
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