The Largest Act of Environmental Terrorism You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

The Mesopotamian marshlands were once one of the world’s largest wetlands, covering more than 20,000 km². Mesopotamia literally translates to “between rivers.” The Mesopotamian marshlands are fed by both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and were home to approximately 100,000 Marshland Arabs. Many biblical scholar place the Garden of Eden within these marshlands. Once known for its unique biodiversity of macro-invertebrates and birds, Saddam Hussein, in what is considered an engineering feat of the latter 20^th-century, used the restriction of water to reduce the marshlands into a vast area of hardpan.

During the first Gulf War in 1990, the Marshland Arabs of southern Iraq sided themselves with the Coalition forces. When the Coalition forces withdrew from Iraq, the Shia Marshland Arabs were left unprotected against the Saddam’s Sunni regime. Saddam appropriated every single piece of construction machinery to create irrigations systems and dikes to divert the waters from the Tigris and the Euphrates from reaching the southern wetlands. Saddam then ordered his military troops to set fire to the reeds, finalizing the destruction of the once massive wetlands.

With the two main rivers no longer feeding the marshes, the wetlands literally dried up. Consequently, the loss of biodiversity in the region was severe and catastrophic. In the 1980s, the Mesopatamia marshes were home to more than 80 species of birds. Additionally, at its peak the marshes served as flyaway for migrating birds between Siberia and Africa. However, shortly after the fall of Saddam’s regime in 2003 restoration on the marshes commenced. Primarily funded by USAID and the United Nations Environment Programme, restoration works are responsible for 40% of the destroyed lands now having standing water—due to re-flooding.

The methodic and systematic destruction of the Mesopotamian marshlands was undoubtedly an act of terror. 100,000 Marshland Arabs became refugees within their own country within days of Saddam setting fire to their reeds. Today, USAID estimates that as of August 2009 only 10,000 Marshland Arabs have returned to the marshes. The Marshland Arabs represented—and still represent—the periphery of Iraqi society. The plight of the Marshland Arabs—and the wetlands themselves—is put on the backburner to make room for other reconstruction within Iraq. The Marshland Arabs represent a tiny demographic within Iraq. It is unlikely the wetlands will ever fully recover, nor will the majority of the Marshland Arabs move back to the wetlands. Several botanists have state that it is unlikely all the original vegetation will return with the reflooding. This example highlights that those on the periphery are often at the political mercy of those at the core.

Bonn, Dorothy. “Iraq Marshland Restoration Begins.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. Vol. 2, No. 7 (Sep. 2004) p.343. Available from:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/3868351

Richardson, Curtis J. and Hussain, Najah A. “Restoring the Garden of Eden: An Ecological Assessment of the Marshes of Iraq.” Journal of BioScience. Vol. 56, No. 6 (June 2006) pp.477-489. Available from:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/38768403