Restoration of Iraqi wetlands

HOORC Director Professor Lars Ramberg, Professor William Mitsch of Ohio State University and Professor Jianjian Lu of East China Normal University met in Venice on September 10th to 15th to carry out a peer review of the New Eden Master Plan for Integrated Water Resource Management in the Marshland Areas developed by Nature Iraq and a team of Italian experts. The plan is an extensive series of documents that constitute a collection of data and analytical tools provided to policymakers in Iraq to help decision-makers to allocate water, plan new development, and manage the environment of southern Iraq. Originally of a size similar to the Okavango Delta, the marshes were drained in the 1990s by the former government to control opposition forces. Soon after the war began in 2003, dams were breached and reflooding began. Now about 50 per cent has been reflooded: the plan proposes reflooding of 75 per cent. You can find the master plan online. In HOORC's Library, you can find The Iraqi Marshlands : a human and environmental study.