Iraq's ancient marshlands, which were drained by former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein to put down a Shiite uprising, are nearly half-restored, giving hope of saving traditional habitats for both people and animals, the UN said yesterday.
A Japanese-funded UN project launched a year ago has used the Internet and eco-friendly technology to restore the Middle East's main wetland area, which is believed to be the basis for the biblical Garden of Eden.
Shiite fighters hid in the labyrinth of waterways and reeds after Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime crushed a Shiite insurrection following the 1991 Gulf War.
In retaliation, Saddam diverted waterways and burned down the reedbeds, reducing the 9,000km2 of permanent wetlands in the 1970s to just 760km2 when the regime was toppled in 2003.
The UN Environment Program (UNEP) said that its satellite images showed that 37 percent of the permanent wetlands were now restored, with the figure nearing 50 percent in the spring before water evaporated with the summer heat.
"The near-total destruction of the Iraqi marshlands under the regime of Saddam Hussein was a major ecological and human disaster, robbing the Marsh Arabs of a centuries-old culture and way of life as well as food in the form of fish and that most crucial of natural resources, drinking water," UNEP executive director Klaus Toepfer said in a statement.
"The evidence of their rapid revival is a positive signal, not only for the environment and the local communities who live there, but must be seen as a contribution to wider peace and security for the Iraqi people and the region as a whole," he said.
But he added: "While the reflooding bodes well for the Iraqi marshes, their recovery will take many years."
Saddam's draining of the wetlands forced the bulk of the Marsh inhabitants to give up their traditional farming and fishing and to head to cities to work as laborers.
The draining of the wetlands also deprived migratory birds and fish, some of them unique to the area, of a key habitat.
Residents opened floodgates and embankments when Saddam was toppled in the 2003 invasion.
Toepfer said he hoped that the project could be a model for other environmentally ravaged areas.
"I hope the lessons learnt to date in restoring this vital ecosystem and its economically important natural services can help in the restoration of other damaged and degraded ecosystems elsewhere," he said.
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