Mesopotamian Marshes

Mesopotamian Marshes
Tigris-Euphrates alluvial salt marsh
Chibaish Marshes
Location of the Mesopotamian Marshes (Tigris-Euphrates alluvial salt marsh)
Ecology
RealmPalearctic
Biomeflooded grasslands and savannas
Borders
Geography
Area35,572 km2 (13,734 sq mi)
Countries
Conservation
Conservation statusCritical/endangered[4]
Protected3,070 km² (9%)[5]

The Mesopotamian Marshes, also known as the Iraqi Marshes, are a wetland area located in Southern Iraq and southwestern Iran.[6][1][2][3] The marshes are primarily located on the floodplains of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers bound by the cities of Basra, Nasiriyah, Amarah and a portion of southwestern Iran. Historically the marshlands, mainly composed of the separate but adjacent Central, Hawizeh and Hammar Marshes, used to be the largest wetland ecosystem of Western Eurasia. The unique wetland landscape is home to the Marsh people, who have developed a unique culture tightly coupled to the landscape – harvesting reeds and rice, fishing, and herding water buffalo.[7][8][9]

Draining of portions of the marshes began in the 1950s and continued through the 1970s to reclaim land for agriculture and oil exploration. In the late 1980s and 1990s, during the presidency of Saddam Hussein, this work was expanded and accelerated to evict Marsh people from the marshes.[10] Before 2003, the marshes were drained to 10% of their original size.[11] After the American overthrow of Hussein in 2003, the marshes have partially recovered but drought along with upstream dam construction and operation in Turkey, Syria and Iran have hindered the process.[12] Since 2016 the Mesopotamian marshes have been listed as an UNESCO Heritage Site.[13]

  1. ^ a b Irzoqy, Israa Mahmooed Mohammed; Ibrahim, Lamia Flaieh; Al-Tufaily, Hodoud Mohamed Abboud (2022). "Analysis of the environmental reality of the marshes and its sustainable development". IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science. 1002 (1): 7–15. Bibcode:2022E&ES.1002a2010I. doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1002/1/012010.
  2. ^ a b Hurst, Christon J. (13 May 2019). The Structure and Function of Aquatic Microbial Communities. Springer. ISBN 978-3-030-16775-2.
  3. ^ a b Wilson, Anthony (15 November 2017). Swamp: Nature and Culture. Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1-78023-891-3.
  4. ^ "Tigris-Euphrates alluvial salt marsh". Terrestrial Ecoregions. World Wildlife Fund., accessed 30 June 2020
  5. ^ Dinerstein, Eric; Olson, David; et al. (June 2017). "An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm". BioScience. 67 (6): 534–545. doi:10.1093/biosci/bix014. PMC 5451287. PMID 28608869.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) Supplemental material 2 table S1b.
  6. ^ "Mesopotamian Marshes". earthobservatory.nasa.gov. 2002-03-03. Retrieved 2022-07-02.
  7. ^ "The past, present and future of the Mesopotamian marshes". 24 September 2021.
  8. ^ Broadbent, G., "The Ecology of the Mudhif," in: Geoffrey Broadbent and C. A. Brebbia, Eco-architecture II: Harmonisation Between Architecture and Nature, WIT Press, 2008, pp 15-26
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "Iraq's marshes, once drained by Saddam, named world heritage site". Reuters. 2016-07-17. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
  11. ^ CURTIS J. RICHARDSON AND NAJAH A. HUSSAIN (June 2006). "Restoring the Garden of Eden: An Ecological Assessment of the Marshes of Iraq" (PDF). www.biosciencemag.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-06-06.
  12. ^ Muir, Jim (24 February 2009). "Iraq marshes face grave new threat". BBC News. Retrieved 7 August 2010.
  13. ^ "Iraqi marshlands named as Unesco world heritage site". TheGuardian.com. 18 July 2016.