World Heritage Status Proposed for Iraqi Marshlands

The ancient marshes of southeast Iraq — nearly drained during Saddam Hussein’s rule and partly restored since his fall — should be recognized as an ecologically and culturally significant World Heritage Site, the United Nations said. The U.N. Environment Programme and the Iraqi government plan to apply for World Heritage status for the Marshlands of Mesopotamia, which covered close to 3,500 square miles in the early 1970s but had shrunk to less than 300 square miles by 2002. Fed by the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, the wetlands were home to the historic Marsh Arab communities as well as abundant birds, fish, and other wildlife. After Saddam’s ouster, local residents tore down some dams, restoring more than half the wetlands, the Iraqi government says. The UNEP has spent $14 million helping to rejuvenate the marshes by planting pollution-filtering reeds and providing drinking water to locals.