Ecosystem and Its Geographical Effects on the Marshes of Southern Iraq (An Analytical Study)

Abstract

It seems that the ecosystem of the marshes of southern Iraq has been exposed to fundamental changes in its various elements, and this is due to two factors, natural and human, as the continuous rise in temperatures has led to an increase in the amount of evaporation and the intensity of the demand for water, which led to both Syria and Iran building dams to store water at the sources to reduce the amount of water coming to Iraq from the two rivers, which is considered the most important reason for not submerging areas of the marshes whose features were visible on the map in the seventies and eighties of the last century, as in the central marshes. On the other hand, the region was exposed to the application of the idea of the old project that called for drying up the marshes by cutting off all sources of water supply coming to them, especially the Hawizeh and Hammar marshes, which are the largest marshes in Iraq in terms of area, so that those areas would turn into exposed lands devoid of any plant, animal or human presence.

The combination of these two factors led to the dismantling of the ecosystem of this region, and the situation continued until after April 9, 2003, when the residents tried to re-flood the marshes again after the dams were broken to open the feeding channels.