When Saddam Hussein drained the Iraq marshes in order to punish the Marsh Arabs for post-Persian Gulf War uprisings, he also inflicted serious damage on the country's wetlands.
Directly following the fall of Hussein's regime in 2003, the marshlands--thought by many to be the site of the Biblical Garden of Eden--were reflooded by area residents, and Duke is lending a helping hand.
"Agriculture capabilities are returning to the regions," said Curtis Richardson, director of the Duke University Wetland Center, who has traveled to Iraq a number of times in the past few years to restore the marshes. "For the first time in 13 years, they were able to grow rice--once a major staple for Iraq's economy."
While the flooding at first restored the area, the high salinity of the water will inhibit the growth and development of plant and animal life.
Members of Arab Marsh populations have largely resumed their role in agricultural pursuits, which yields a biannual harvest. The future of the fishing industry in the region, however, is a major area of concern.
"The problem with agriculture is that it gives you income twice a year if you are lucky--while fishing gives you daily income," Azzam Alwash, CEO of Nature Iraq and the director of its Eden Again project, wrote in an e-mail.
Studies suggest that there is enough water in other areas of Iraq to restore the marshlands to double their current size. Such an approach would counter the high salinity levels near the marshlands that pose a major threat to the area's recovery for both its agricultural and fishing industry.
Complicating the problem is the fact that limited funding is available for future restoration efforts, Richardson said.
As the biggest wetlands region in the Middle East, the marshlands once covered an area twice the size of the Florida Everglades.
By 2001, however, approximately 90 percent of the marshlands were dried out, forcing the migration of many of the land's habitants to more fertile regions.
Since the areas were first reflooded, more than 90,000 Marsh Arabs have returned to the region, despite the lack of "the most basic of services, be it health care, education, electrical services, or portable water," Alwash said. "Yet, they have come back and are staying and more are coming back!"
Alwash questioned the decision of the Arab Marsh population to return to their impoverished land, but added that a need for self-sustainability-and a history of 5,000 years in the region-probably played a role in their return.
Richardson's latest research, published in the June issue of BioScience, however, suggests hope exists for ecological and cultural renewal.
He has worked to help restore the diminishing Everglades in Florida for about 15 years, and was first approached in 2002 by the U.S. Department of State to conduct a "what-if" analysis of how to restore the region's wetlands if Hussein were to be deposed.
Richardson will present his research at the annual meeting of the British Ecological Society today. "At the meeting I hope to stress the need for planning of how to allocate resources," Richardson said. "[But] how practical carrying those plans out will be is another question."
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