Return of the Wetlands? Restoration possible for some Iraqi marshes
By Sid Perkins
Field studies in Iraq conducted during the past year suggest that some of the region’s ecologically devastated marshes could be restored, scientists reported at a meeting on Feb. 20.
As recently as the 1980s, a Connecticut-size swath of southeastern Iraq was a thriving marsh ecosystem. A 1984 census tallied about 75,000 people in the region, says Peter Reiss of Development Alternatives, a consulting firm based in Bethesda, Md. Many of those marsh Arabs lived in homes woven from 8-meter-tall reeds and made their livings by raising water buffalo and fishing.