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A green streak

While the oil wells’ fires were put out soon after the occupying Saddam forces were driven out of Kuwait in 1991, the Iraqi marshes continued to face the wrath of the tyrant until he was thrown out two years ago. The 9,000 sq km wet lands at the confluence of Tigris and Euphrates rivers were first hit by drainage schemes launched in 1950s.

But its deathblow came soon after Baghdad got a bloody nose in the Gulf war when the Baathist regime started building an extensive network of dams and canals to drain water out of the area. A decade later, satellite images showed that the enormous swampland had shrunken down in size to just 760 sq km. Thus Saddam’s revenge against local population spelt doom for thousands of inhabitants and disaster for ecology.

Further degradation of the area had stopped with the fall of Saddam in April 2003 and breaking of dykes by the returning marsh Arabs. According to the latest United Nations Environment Programme estimates, about 40 per cent of the wetland has returned to its original condition, which is good news for natives and environmentalists who are concerned about the effect of havoc unleashed by the evil regime on the natural reserve. Though it will take a long time before it regains its past splendour, most of the indigenous population has returned and the flora and fauna, which vanished in the last decade, is slowly reappearing.

All this would not have been possible without international efforts. . However, much more still remains to be done. The key is to recharge the area with fresh water that flows from Tigris and Euphrates and remove salinity and pollutants from the soil. As the two rivers form crucial lifeline for Iraq and the region and water being precious, a great deal of understanding and commitment are required to revitalise the marshlands, which are said to be 5,000 years old. Nevertheless, a beginning has been made — decidedly encouraging sign in a land plagued by war and conflict.