Drought threatens Iraq's marsh Eden

Miles of reed stalks and baked mud are all that can be seen of much of Iraq's ancient marshes this year, as a lack of water threatens to turn one of the world's most important wetlands to wasteland.

Thought to be the biblical Garden of Eden, Iraq's marshes have for years been more known locally as a haven for smugglers, bandits and kidnappers. Police say recent security gains could be reversed if their inhabitants do not get help.

Dusty boats lie abandoned on caked earth, where water once teemed with fish, and forests of tall reeds gave shelter to migratory birds. Reed stumps now stretch into the horizon, and water buffalo crowd the small remaining pools.

"The water went and now look at us," said Marsh Arab Zuhair al-Haideri. "Our situation is terrible. We are of this water, the fish, the birds, the reeds and buffalo. Now the marsh is dried. Where's the help?" A combination of a lack of rainfall last year, damming of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and increased agriculture as the country becomes calmer after years of war are putting growing demand on Iraq's scant water resources.

Whereas Saddam Hussein, who accused the Marsh Arabs of treachery during the 1980-88 war with Iran, dammed and drained the marshes to flush out rebels hiding in the reeds, now there are concerns that neighbouring countries may be choking supply.

According to a United Nations Environment Programme report, about 70 percent of the water entering Iraq comes from river flow controlled by Turkey, Iran, and Syria.

Turkey is embarking on a programme of dam building, and Iran is also building a new dam.

Marsh water coverage fell to about 43 percent by mid January from about 71 percent a year ago, an Iraqi official working to restore the marshes said, but Marsh Arabs say the problem is more severe than the figure suggests. Haideri's school-age daughter sat near him washing clothes in a rivulet of water only inches deep, under an overcast but rainless sky. Her father's skin was dry and cracked with salt now concentrated in the water.

Many of the people living in the marshes now have only just returned. After Saddam's downfall in 2003, locals wrecked many of the dams to let water rush back in, and foreign environmental agencies stepped in to help breath life back into the marshes.

Everything was going well until a year ago, when the waters receded again, said Marsh Arabs of the Al-Hammar marsh, one of Iraq's three main marsh areas. "This is our life as you see it. We have no water and no livelihood," said Muthaq Shibab outside his reed home.

REUTERS