What's
New @ RamsarIraq and Iran plan transboundary Mesopotamian Ramsar site
Hope for the Mesopotamian Marshlands
It was a strange sight
- after eight years of bloody war in the 1970s - to have the Iraq and Iran delegations
sitting amicably side by side and agreeing on working together to designate
the shared Hawr Al Hawizah wetland, one of the major remaining parts of the
Mesopotamian Marshlands, as a transboundary Ramsar Site of International Importance.
This hopeful event occurred during the 'High-level
Conference on the Restoration of the Mesopotamian Marshlands', held
in Manama (Bahrain) on 28 February and 1 March 2005, co-organised by UNEP and
ROPME (Regional Organisation for the Protection of the Marine Environment).
The meeting was well attended by representatives of most of the governments
of the region, UN agencies, the World Bank and a number of NGOs already involved
with these wetlands, but not of any delegation from the indigenous Ma'dan people,
the Marsh Arabs.
The great Mesopotamian Marshlands, one of the iconic wetlands of the world,
were inhabited by a proud people, inheritors of the Sumerian civilisation, with
a vibrant culture and a unique architecture based on the ingenuous use of reeds.
They lived in balance with nature, in a vast area (of about two million hectares),
fed by the waters of the Euphrates and the Tigris Rivers, rich in biodiversity.
In the early 1990s, the impact of large upstream dams in the countries sharing
their catchment basin resulted in a dramatic reduction of freshwater inflow.
The coup de grace was given by Saddam's government, which implemented just after
the first Gulf war and within 2-3 years a policy of draining the Marshlands.
The result was the almost total destruction of the wetland ecosystems and the
flight of the inhabitants to the towns, while a large number of refugees crossed
the border to Iran.
After the fall of the Saddam regime, starting in late 2003, returning Ma'dan
breached some of the dikes and initiated the re-flooding of the marshes. The
interim Iraqi government agreed to the restoration of the wetlands and established
CRIM (Centre for the Restoration of the Iraqi Marshlands) to co-ordinate this
major effort. The UN (mainly through UNEP), a number of countries (such as Canada,
Italy, Japan and the US) and various organisations rallied to assist. Already
a considerable number of the Ma'dan have returned to their wetland villages,
and, in spite of a variety of difficulties, the outcome for the future may be
considered as positive.
Ramsar participated in the meeting through Thymio Papayannis, MedWet Senior
Advisor, who represented the Secretary General and intervened with a joint presentation
with the title 'Wetlands and human wellbeing: The case of the Mesopotamian sites'.
The designation of Al Hawizah as a Ramsar site presupposes the accession of
Iraq to the Convention on Wetlands. The Iraqi delegation expressed its willingness
to complete rapidly the necessary procedure, with the advice of the Ramsar Secretariat,
and to take part in COP9 with an observer status. All in all, the potential
contribution of the Ramsar Convention to the rehabilitation of the Mesopotamian
Marshlands was highly appreciated by the participants, who would welcome a more
active role by this international body. In a broader context, the need of a
regional wetland initiative was felt by many of the participants, and Iran suggested
it would consider playing a catalytic role for its launch.
Thymio
Papayannis
MedWet Senior Advisor
Convention on Wetlands
Athens, Greece
thymiop@hol.gr
For
further information about the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, please contact
the Ramsar Convention Secretariat, Rue Mauverney 28, CH-1196
Gland, Switzerland (tel +41 22 999 0170, fax +41 22 999 0169, e-mail 
).
Posted 11 March 2005.
