The Iraqi Marshlands was once called the “Garden of Eden “by those who knew it. Thriving with fish, birds, buffalo and the marshland people, who fished and used the land for farming. Basic people, living in huts and modest homes until 1991. It was then that war and a dictator decided to make the marshlands into a desert.
The marshland Arabs opposed Saddam Hussein and were strong supporters of the Shiite uprising. This support caused Saddam Hussein cut the flow of water to the Basin between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Hussein used dams, dikes and canals to bring an end to the Shiite supporters. In doing so, the marshlands transformed from a beautiful garden paradise to a desert void of the life it had once been home to. Most of the marshland people, who were fisherman moved to the cities, as there was no life and their financial stability depended on the marshlands, which was now completely gone. After 90% of the marshland had been destroyed, many people believed the marshland had been destroyed forever. Thankfully, this was not the case. After the fall of Saddam in 2003, the water was again allowed to flow freely. The people of the marshland and formerly of the marshland began to break the dams and dikes to bring the water back. Many others, who were concerned with the Iraqi marshlands, also, came back to bring the water back to the marshlands. Within months, life came back to the “desert” marshlands. The people returned, the birds and fish returned and much of the wildlife has returned. The fisherman have begun to be able to provide, once again, for their families in the marshland.
United Nations and environmentalist have created a system to keep the system from becoming stagnant and have keep the waters flowing. The UN and other environmentalists are looking into re-creating this area to become more modern with modern homes that have running water and technology including internet and TV. They want to bring schools and medical facilities. In the hopes of bringing back the native people who moved to the city and refuse to move back due to the marshlands primitiveness. They are looking to bringing ecotourism into this area, as well.
Currently, this beautiful marshland is flourishing, however, the dams up river are keeping the marshlands from flooding. Flooding in the marshlands, helps keep the balance of the marshlands. Flooding keeps the salinity to a lower level, thus, providing an ideal habitat for the freshwater fish. The rains in this area during the winter of 2012-2013 proved just how much the freshwater is needed to bring life to areas such as this. After a significant amount of rain last winter, the salinity levels dropped tremendously, causing a abundance of plant life and many animals have come back to make the Iraqi marshlands their home once more. The lower the salinity, the more life to be seen in the marshlands.
The “Garden of Eden” is well on its way to being the magnificent wetland area it was always meant to be, but not without continuing help. Shell Iraq Petroleum Development are developing a large project in the Oil Majnoon Oil Field which overlaps the Hawizeh Marsh Ramsar Site. Underneath the marshes in Iraq, there are many very large oilfields. Oil development is risky, as extreme amounts of water are needed for production. The marshlands would not survive this massive water usage. Nature Iraq and other conservationists are trying to work out a solution with Shell to prevent the oil Industry from using the water needed for marshes, drinking water and agriculture.

Works Cited
Gies, Erica. "Restoring Iraq's Garden of Eden." The New York Times. The New York Times, 17 Apr. 2013. Web. 30 Aug. 2014.
"Iraq's Marshlands Bloom Again, Restoring Traditional Way Of Life." RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Aug. 2014.
"Nature Iraq." Nature Iraq. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Aug. 2014.
"Restoring Iraqi Marshlands." NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 30 Aug. 2014.
GoldStein, David, Jennifer R. Pournelle, and Carrie Hritz. "Feeding History: Deltaic Resilience, Inherited Practice, and Millennial-Scale Sustainability in an Urbanized Landscape." Environment & Sustainability Program. UNiversity of South Carolina, 2011. Web. 30 Aug. 2014.