Re Extrapolation For The Iraq Marshes Which Falling Within The World Heritage List (A Literature Review)

Submission Track Abstract The Mesopotamian Marshlands or The Garden of Eden, lies in the southern part of Iraq with estimated area of 15000-20000 km 2 . Historically, the area had pioneering role in the human civilization for over 5000 years. The indigenous people of the area are called ―Marsh Arabs‖ or ―Ma‘dan‖ who are the descendants of the Sumerians and Semitic people. The former Iraqi regime (Saddam Hussein) had violently led an aggressive campaign to drain the marshes in 1991. Only %7 of the total area survived this campaign, which caused a mass destruction of the ecosystem and dwellers‘ displacement. In 2003, water started to flow back to the area. Yet, the reflooding did not restore the whole former area of the wetlands. Moreover, the new ecosystem influenced the diversity and characteristics of the co-existing species in the area. In 2016, due to the importance of the Mesopotamian Marshlands, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed three marshes from the area as World Heritage Sites requiring conservation, namely: Hammar, Hwezeh and Central Marshes. The aim of this study is to re-evaluate the ecosystem of those three sites from a biological perspective by examining some challenges that should be dealt with to restore stability to this multi-thousand-yearold system. Received : 9/7/2017 Final Revision :19/7/2017


Introduction
Iraq lies in the Middle East with a total area of 438320 km 2 (1).It is surrounded by six countries, namely: Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south and southwest, and Jordan and Syria to the west; besides its outlet on the Arabian Gulf to the southeast.The marsh area lies in the southern part of the country on the juncture of Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.The marsh area has unique properties that are hard to be found in any other spot on the planet, which makes it one of the most important wetlands on the global level (2).The dominant environment of the area varies depending on several factors among which water temperature, water salinity, water availability and nutrients availability (3).The marshes are mainly fed from Tigris and Euphrates which are originated from Turkey.The wrong water policy adopted by the former Iraqi regime has led to water scarcity, which affected the marsh area and rendered most of the area dry during the 1990s.The dried marshes transformed into barren lands covered with salt.The destruction reached human, animal and plant lives in the marshes (4).This loss was not limited to only species lost, but also the genetic diversity, the functional communities and the interactions among the living organisms in the area (5).Such catastrophic results provoked the environmental experts and Human Rights activists all over the world (6) along with the UNEP.The issue was brought up in the European Parliament in several occasions (7).Upon governmental and non-governmental efforts for over a decade, three sites in the marshes were chosen (Hammar, Hwezeh, and Central Marshes) for the World Heritage List (8).The UNESCO had adopted in November 1972 a convention to protect the cultural and natural heritage to aid the efforts of the international community for the conservation of sites of global value as they belong to the future generations.Signatories to this convention were 192 countries.The list attached to the convention included many unique sites from all over the world.The inclusion to the list means that the site is belongs to many unique other sites.The southern marshes of Iraq were included in July 17 th 2016.This represents an international recognition of their global value according to United Nations Environment Program (4).As one of the largest inland systems in the globe under such sever heat and dryness (9), its recognition from the IUCN is a kind of fairness which could represent a new stage for a civilization that lived for over 5000 years.This requires preserving the area as a joint responsibility that is accomplished by international cooperation (9).

The Evolution of the Mesopotamian Marshlands
Many studies have discussed the origin and evolution of the Mesopotamian Marshlands, and perhaps the most acceptable theories relevant to the subject are those which indicate that the marshlands formed at the end of the Pleistocene Age (20000-37000 years ago).During that age, some kind of a Tsunami stroke due to an elevation of sea level (10).The area faced a second era represented by climate changes in the northern polar regions of Europe, Asia and North America some 12000 to 17000 years ago.Such changes led to a decrease in oceanic level of about 130 meters.This resulted in a severe decline in the levels of coastal basins to become dry lands, like the transformation of the Persian Gulf area into an almost dry land and the ancient rivers at that time (Tigris, Euphrates and Karon) became directly pouring out in Oman Gulf.This helped form fresh water ecologies.Accordingly, wetlands formed in the depressions about 11000 to 13000 years ago 1.The last 7000 years: semi-dry area characterized by saline lake formations.2. The last 6000 to 7000 years: wet area characterized by heavy rain and high sea level (floods).3. The last 4000 to 6000 years: semi-dry area characterized by water level retreat and the reshape of the marshlands.4. The last 3000 years: dry area with characteristics as seen today.The precipitation of the organic materials in the Mesopotamian Marshlands through the ages helped the human settlement as there is a significant connection between the environmental factors that formed the marshes and the use of these marshes by man as a means of living (13), especially with the existence of the desert formation surrounding the marshes (14).

Cultural Heritage
The use of the term Mesopotamia is related to the concept of the marshlands.Mesopotamia, a Greek word indicating to the land between two rivers (15).Hence, the term points out to all the lands between the two rivers including the southern marshlands.The inhabitants of Mesopotamia are habituated to living next to water, therefore the marshlands represent ideal environment of living on and benefit from its natural resources (16).Thus, the discussion of the history of Mesopotamia normally implies the cultural heritage of the marshlands, which are historically known as Garden of Eden (in the Holy Scriptures) or the land of Abraham or the land of Sumer.Pottery relics found in Tel Ubaid-Eridu indicate the Sumerians settled in the marshlands 5000 years ago (17).There is an indication to the marshlands in the Sumerian literature (18), which is the first written literature in the history of mankind (19).The Sumerians had their own language, which is not connected to any other linguistic family and is considered one of the most ancient languages on earth (20).Besides, the Sumerians were founders of the urban civilization along with their precedence in breedinganimals and agriculture and first of the invention of writing , also, they have the world ' Their remains are still land marking their great civilization and cities on the edges of the marshlands like Lagash, Ur and Uruk (13).Marsh dwellers lived and a somehow buffered environment and conserved their original lifestyle through the centuries (14).The present marsh dwellers (Marsh Arabs or Ma'dan) are the descendants of the Sumerians and they are the living connection between the Iraqis of today and the ancient Sumerians (20).Ma'dan (Shiite Muslims) live on the edges of the marshes or in small artificial isles made of reed within the marshes (4).Their lifestyle significantly resembles that of the ancient Sumerians (35) as they depend on hunting/fishing, buffalo milk products and the use of reed for building houses.The famous reed guesthouse (Mudheef) represents the peak of the social and cultural system of the Ma'dan (4).It is built in the same Sumerian layout surviving 5000 years (Picture 1).
Picture 1:In the left, The mudheef in southern Iraq.In the right, A Sumerian reed hut or mudheef before 3,000 year ago.(4).
Additionally, there is remarkable resemblance between the traditional clothing style of the Ma'dan with the fashion style of the ancient Sumerians indicated in their relics (Picture 2).This unique social texture suffered greatly upon Saddam's campaign to drain the marshes in 1991 and the consequential aggressive displacement and genocide of thousands of the Ma'dan (36).This campaign was considered one of the greatest crimes in Iraq's modern history.The UNEP launched the project of -Support of the Environmental Management of the Iraqi Marshlands‖ in 2004 funded by the USA, Italy and Japan, with the aim of supporting the restoration of the marshlands as a glimpse of hope for those who were displaced to regain their lives and marshes.
Picture 1:In the left, Sumerian statuette of a female covering her head in a headdress in the southern Iraq style.Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.In the right, female of southern Iraq.http://tammuz.tumblr.com/post/19178715516/statuette-of-a-female-wearing-a-headdress-in-the

Geographical Location
The marshes of southern Iraq form an aquatic triangle with its head in Amara city and its base extending between Basra and Nasiriyah cities, and expanding northward to Kut city including marshes like Shwecheh, Delmaj and Afaq (37).Hammar and Hwezeh marshes and the Central Marshes lie in the Lower Mesopotamian Basin in southern Iraq (1) as shown in (Figure 1) and (Table 1).Tigris and Euphrates represent the main sources feeding the marshes (38).Water level of the marshes varies from 1 to 2 meters above sea level and about 22 meters above sea level near the borders with Iran.Water depth in the marshes does not exceed 2 meters in most marsh sites, but it sometimes reaches 7 meters as in Hwezeh (39).The marsh area is a depression as is apparent in (Figure 2) for 3D graphic of the area .Hammar marsh lies to the south of Euphrates and extends from Nasiriyah city to the west to the outskirts of Basra city to the east.

Figure (2): Major Iraqi Marshlands
The total area of this water body is about 2800 to 4500 km 2 in the flood season.Water depth is about 1.8 to 5 meters (6). the supply of water to the Hammar Marsh by Euphrates with less water quantities from Tigris (40).
Table (1): Geographical subdivision and terminology used for the three marshes with the subdivisions by various authors.The Central Marshes (Qurna) are the heart of the southern marshes and are located in the juncture of Tigris-Euphrates.The water flows to the Central Marshes through a number of tributaries of the Tigris.The total area of the Central Marshes is about 3000 square kilometers reaching up to 4000 km 2 in flood season.Water depth is about 3 meters inside the Central Marshes (46).Hwezeh Marsh lies to the east of Tigris and is divided by the Iraq-Iranian borders.Its main supplies by freshwater are Msharrah and Kahla rivers and Sannaf Marsh, while Kassarah and Sweb rivers are the main drainage.Hwezeh Marshes cover about 3000 km 2 reaching up to 5000 km 2 in flood season, with depth of about 7 meters (47).

The Draining of the Marshes
Saddam regime conducted the draining of the marshes in 1991 via separating and blocking Tigris tributaries flowing Hwezeh Marshes in Amara city (48).Two embankments were built to form an artificial canal of 1200-2000 meter width and 90 km length (49) beginning from Al-Salam Sub-district in Amara city and southward to Qurna city to drain in Euphrates (50).Another embankment was built to divide the marshes into smaller areas for practicality reasons in terms of gaining less evaporation times or water draining.This method was used in all marsh areas (51).Also, Euphrates was diverted to the MOD (Main Outfall Drain) course some 5 kilometers to the east of Nasiriyah city.This operation made change to the historical and natural course of Euphrates with the purpose of eliminating of the river's feed to Hammar Marsh (33).Hammar Marsh was completely disappeared between 1992 and 1994 with all its former length of about 120 kilometers (52).Figure (3) shows the stages of the marshes draining until 2010, when the total area decreased to only %7 of the historical area (7).The division of the marshes was accomplished when water flow was eliminated.The draining project was accompanied by aggressive campaign of arrests, killings, household burnings and displacements of the endogenous marsh dwellers in thousands.By throwing napalm bombs in different parts of the marshes (53).Addition to using a chemicals weapons, artillery and minefields (54).Over 75000 of the Ma'dan population fled to Iran and lived in refugee camps for more than a decade (36).The number of the Ma'dan significantly decreased during the 1990s besides other catastrophic changes that blew the area's ecosystem.Table (2) shows some of the changes in the marshes population, total areas, plan populations, and fishing quantities before and after the draining campaign.Soil salinity in the drained areas elevated due to water overevaporation which was originally saline (57).

Table (2):
The changes in some traits of the marshes before and after the drying.(62) 13200 in (1989) 2000 in (1993) Such sabotage included fisheries and fishing quantities, which deteriorated due to the draining of vast water bodies along with the oppression against people in that period (63).The deliberate draining of the marshes resulted in almost total loss in species, populations and habitats of birds, as the marshes are vital resting spots for migrant birds in the rout of West Asia and East Africa (63).As well as this, the area was extremely polluted as a result of the use of army munitions and poison gas (38; 64).Several mammal species were affected by the draining as (37) mentioned that the deliberate draining of the marshes led to global extinction of Nesokia bunnii sp. and Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli spp.The UNEP described the draining project damaged the biological diversity of the occurring non-aquatic species of plants, birds, invertebrates, in addition to the destruction of the biological diversity of the aquatic species like fisheries, amphibians (4).

Biological Diversity
Life came back to the drained marshes in 2003 yet in in the anisotropic form.Most plants, fisheries and waterfowls were restored but in less numbers that before the draining (65).Numbers and species of insects reached 45 as to 2006 (66), while they were about 104 before the draining (67).Table 3 shows the biological diversity in the marshes in 2005-2012.More than 100 invertebrate species were found in the restored marshes along with fish, amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles (68).Health and integrity of any environment is measured by the occurrence of resident rare, not common, species.Accordingly, as an optimistic indicator of the marshes recovery, Euphrates Soft-shell Turtle (Rafetus euphraticus), among the rare amphibian marsh species indicating the marshes health, was found in the restored marshes although registered as endangered species.Additionally, nine resident or visiting marsh bird species were recorded though being marked globally vulnerable (78).These numbers might be increasing with the improvement of the environmental status in the restored marshes.Bird communities in the marshes consist of Resident, Summer/winter visitor and passing birds.In terms of populations, they are either common or rare including region-restricted species to the marshes.( 79) recorded 151 bird species in southern Iraq, 53 of which were breeding, 10 possibly breeding, 44 residents, 110 winter visitors from their breeding areas in Europe and Asia.Pygmy Cormorant (Phalacrocorax pygmaeus) is dominant in Hwezeh marshes as resident bird species, while Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) dominates Hammar Marsh along with gulls and terns (72).The importance of the marshes increases due to the occurrence of the migrant and waders as they play an important environmental role via transporting nutrients from one place to another, and their faeces are also nutrition sources for the plants besides their role as primary and secondary consumers of seeds, aquatic plants, tiny invertebrates, fish, frogs, snakes (80).

Fish Communities
Conditions; like dissolved oxygen, water depth, pH, salinity, temperature, etc.; influence distribution and occurrence of fisheries in the freshwater systems (81).( 82) stated that there are 44 fish species recorded in the Mesopotamian Marshlands, of which 14 are resident, 24 are freshwater species and 20 are marine species, and most of fish species occur in Hammar Marsh.Hwezeh Marshes include 17 freshwater fish species and no marine fish species.The Central Marshes include 14 freshwater fish species.Figure 4 shows the distribution of fish communities in the three marshes.Fish community in East Hammar Marsh, which is fed by Euphrates and Shat Al-Arab rivers, differ from other marshes and this explains the regular occurrence of marine and mixed fish species along with the original and alien freshwater fish species (83).Therefore, Hammar Marsh is of vital importance for fish species due to the tidal dynamics between the marsh and the Gulf.This character supports fish movements between the marsh and the Gulf, which in turn provides environmental corridor to many marine species for hatching periods, nutrition and shelter.Consequently, Hammar Marsh plays important role in the breeding fish coming from the Gulf, which significantly contribute to the total fishing quantities all over the Gulf area (84).Fish species comprising the fish community in the restored marshes can be described as ilmnophilic, that is, they come from the lower parts of Tigris and Euphrates and they prefer the quiet environment with less water current.The restored fish species came to the marshes from Tigris and Euphrates, that is, they are river species, not the original marsh species which existed and adapted to the area for thousands of years, yet lost forever.Many studies were conducted to examine fish communities in the post-draining marshes.( 86) presented a comparison of fish communities in three marsh site southern Iraq: Soog Al-Shiyookh, Hwezeh and East Hammar.The researchers pointed out that these marsh site include equal populations of the original species with East Hammar is distinguished for including the largest population of the original species due to the occurrence of marine species.P. abu species dominated the southern marshes followed by C. auratu, for the availability of suitable conditions and nutrient sources like organic materials, aquatic plants and algae being the main food for them.The former species is resident and the latter is alien to the Iraqi environment (86).(87) showed that 31 species were found in Hammar Marsh belonging to 14 families and dominance was held by Cyprinidae in terms of the number of species, while P. abu was dominant in terms of population as it was %35.85 of the total collected sample.Fish were divided into three categories: resident (%45.1),alien (%19.4) and marine (%35.5).Fish occurrence differed as 10 species were resident and 5 were seasonal, as well as there were 16 rare species.Mohamed et al. (2009) studied the nature of fish community in Hwezeh Marshes in [2005][2006].The total number of the species was 15 with the dominance of P. abu (%37.1)followed by C. luteus (%29.4),Carassius auratus (%15.3),Alburnus mossulensis (%4.88) and L. vorax (%4.14).Post-draining stage in the marshes included difference in the nutrition system for some fish species of the marshes.( 83) mentioned the changed in nutrition of some fish species in Hammar Marsh.Researchers indicated that change happened to C. luteus from herbivorous to omnivorous.The same applies to C. carpio from omnivorous to carnivorous.Also, S. triostegus and L. vorax shift had their feeding system completely changed to be totally predatory to small fish.Such change also found M. mastocemblus, which became more opt to fish predator.These changes can be related to the evolved environment as well as food scarcity after many years of draining.The co-occurrence of varied fish communities (herbivorous, carnivorous, omnivorous, detritivorous and predators) in one ecosystem, though in various rates, indicates that the food hierarchy is disordered and abnormal in that ecosystem (72).Thus, determinants of environmental stability and balance off the marshes should be addressed, especially those which contribute to the rehabilitation of the marshes like salinity and invasive species occurrence.

Water Status in the Marshes
The key and determinant factor in the restoration of the marshes, including people communities and biological diversity, is the availability of incoming water to the marshlands.Via Tigris and Euphrates.This in turn depends on the upstream countries of the two rivers (Turkey, Syria and Iran).Turkey dams built on Tigris are 17 with storage capacity of 25.3 billion cubic meters, and those built on Euphrates are 40 with storage capacity of 95 billion cubic meters (88).For example, Ataturk's dam was built in Turkey as part of Southeast Anatolia Irrigation Project (Great Anatolia Project = GAP) in 1998 with storage capacity of over 307 billion cubic meters of water flowing annually from Turkey to Iraq via Euphrates and it is said that it could alone dry out Euphrates (2).In Syria, 4 dams were built with storage capacity of 16.1 billion cubic meters.So, Tigris and Euphrates flows witnessed decreases of %15 and %43 of the original quantities in 1972 respectively (89).This could in future lead to lessen the average annual flow of the two rivers up to 52 billion cubic meters per year in 2020 (90).The status queue, if continues with the same rate of inflow decrease, Tigris and Euphrates would be no more by 2040 (91).Water requirements to restore the marshes to their former shape in the 1980s (12900 square kilometers) are about 42 billion cubic meter per year (92).Since water demands from Tigris and Euphrates for the coming periods in terms of agricultural, service and industrial uses would rise to about 70.6 billion cubic meter per year, a water deficit of 8.6 billion cubic meters per year would strike taking into account groundwater resources with that give 1.2 billion cubic meters per year, (%2) of the total water resources in Iraq (93).Therefore, the issue needs a re-consideration in the water plans and programs to be efficiently used according to the strategic importance.The use of the MOD water to stabilize Hammar Marsh and the Central Marshes might be one of the reasonable solutions, especially with the suitable quantities of water in the MOD in terms of discharge (220) cubic meters per second (94).

Salinity
Salinity is one of the most important environmental factors influencing fish survival, development and distribution (95).Environmental disturbs resulting from water quality influence the quality of biological productivity.This leads to alter the structure and a nutrition behavior of the biological communities, reduce native species populations that are more sensitive and increase alien species (96).Consequently, salinity increases contribute directly to population decreases in the aquatic environment (75).It is well-known that salinity in Tigris and Euphrates increases southward (97).This negatively reflects on the biological diversity in the southern marshes (98).Salinity increases in soil due to the deliberate draining campaign led to impose extra loads on water inflows from the two rivers (99) which are already not sufficient to cover the actual demand for the restoration of the marshes (89).It is important to think systematically in this deteriorating situation.The investment in drain water for irrigation and re-fertilizing lands to reach soil salinity balance or upon mixing drain water with freshwater, is one applicable solution.Soil cleanse with drain water then with river water saves %20-30 of cleansing freshwater (90).the fundamental resolution of salinity problem is no easy task, and for this not to negatively reflect on the fish status in the Iraqi marshes, efforts should be intensified to study the impact of salinity acclimatization on the local fish communities.Most inhabitant freshwater fish are categorized as stenohaline fish as they cannot tolerate high salinity and witness enormous mortalities when salinity crosses the tolerable boundaries (100).However, several studies confirmed the potentiality of solving this issue and enhancing salinity acclimatization of fish via using salt feeding technique that refers to incorporating certain salt amounts in the food of those fish (101), given that local fish general exposure to high salinity in their natural environment is not confined to specified age, but all age groups from egg to adult.

Invasive Species
Biotic factors like interspecies interactions including competition, predation and environmental needs interdependence; play important and influential role in the species diversity and richness (102).Invasive species contribute to many negative environmental impacts that are not easily discovered and lead to great loss in the local biological diversity due to the direct environmental interactions among species, let alone the genetic overlap when they mix with local species (103).Many invasive species invaded the Iraqi marshes before and after the draining like Cyprinus carpio, Ctenopharyngodon idella and Carassius carassius, which comes second in dominance following P. abu in the southern marshes.The dominance of invasive fish species in the Iraqi marshes is due to their ability to use the available diet sources; they are not recognized by the enemies of the local fish species like waterfowl, predator fish and reptiles; and their ability to tolerate disturbed conditions (81).Invasive fish species compete with local species if they diet on the same diet components or occupy the same territory leading to the displacement of either of them (87).Hussain showed the types of food overlapping between local and alien fish species as in Table 4. Eight out of 12 fish species with low food overlapping were included in the study.Also, there is considerable food overlapping among 4 local and alien species, besides the overlapping between alien species like Cyprinus carpio and Carassius carassius.Accordingly, immediate management interference is required to uplift and stabilize the productivity of the food chain on the long run, and then ensuring the stability of fish diversity in the aquatic environment (59).Table (4): Food overlap between the local and alien species in the marshes using Morisita Index (72).

Recommendations
 Activating the international agreements to ensure sufficient water inflows in Tigris and Euphrates and monitoring water quality and water pollution. Developing informed programs for the optimal use of water resources to rehabilitate the Iraqi marshes. Conducting regular survey for the populations and species of wetland communities of fish, birds and plants. Engaging relevant NGOs in the programs of the preservation of the biological diversity and educating marsh locals about coping with the environmental status queue without exhausting the riches in those areas.Developing future programs by the governmental agencies and NGOs for the professional and craft development for the marsh population to maintain human communities in those areas.

(
11).The third era took place in the end of the Pleistocene Age about 10000 years ago.Here, another significant marine swift happening took place, which formed the coastal line of the Arabian Gulf with the spread of river-based freshwater marshes.This continued until 9000 years ago.The coastal line of the Arabian Gulf and the southern part of Mesopotamia formed in the Post-Ice Age.(12) has identified four climatic stages of the marshes in the last 10000 years:

Figure 4 :
Figure 4: Distribution of Endemic Fish in the three marshes (78).

Table 3 :
The biological diversity in the Iraqi marshes.