Marshlands of the Tigris-Euphrates
Delta 90 Percent Gone

Washington, DC May 18, 2001 (ENS) - The once fertile crescent created by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is rapidly drying up. Drainage and damming has destroyed close to 90 percent of these Mesopotamian marshlands, according to thousands of previously unpublished satellite images donated today by the United States government to the United Nations Environment Programme UNEP.

UNEP executive director Klaus Toepfer (Photo courtesy IISD)

While damming of the two rivers in more than 30 places since 1960 has cut off water from the entire area, the immediate cause of loss of marshland is the massive drainage works implemented in southern Iraq in the early 1990s following the second Gulf War.

Satellite image of the Mesopotamian marshland in 2000 (Maps and images courtesy UNEP/GRID-Geneva)

The news, which Toepfer says highlights the mounting pressure facing freshwater areas across the globe, was unveiled today as the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), gave the UN agency a unique set of more than 16,000 satellite images taken in 1992, the year of the Earth Summit, and in the year 2000.

The images, well over half of which have never been seen or analyzed before by the scientific community, are valued at US$20 million.

A study by UNEP scientists, drawing on historical and new satellite images, has collected the first hard evidence detailing the true extent of damage to the fertile crescent, often called the cradle of civilization, which provides important habitat for people, birds, fish and wildlife.

UNEP is urging Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey, the countries responsible for these marshlands and the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that feed them, to agree to a recovery plan. A scientific assessment of the Tigris-Euphrates river basin is being carried out by UNEP in collaboration with regional organizations to help demonstrate how improvements can be made.

Map of the Mesopotamian marshlands in 1973. The bright green color indicates permanent marsh, the yellow represents seasonal marsh, the gray is mudflats, the dark blue indicates permanent lake, and the light blue is seasonal lake.

The cause of the decline is mainly as a result of damming upstream as well as drainage schemes since the 1970s. The Tigris and the Euphrates are amongst the most intensively dammed rivers in the world. In the past 40 years, the two rivers have been fragmented by the construction of more than 30 large dams, whose storage capacity is several times greater than the volume of both rivers. By turning off the tap, dams have substantially reduced the water available for downstream ecosystems and eliminated the floodwaters that nourished the marshlands.

Map of the Mesopotamian marshlands in 2000. The dark green color is permanent marsh, the dark blue represents permanent lakes, the light blue is seasonal lakes, the pink is dry or dead vegetation, and the white area is the former extent of the marshlands.

Even this last vestige is rapidly disappearing as its water supply is impounded by new dams and diverted for irrigation.

One result has been the collapse of Marsh Arab society, a distinct indigenous people that has inhabited the marshlands for millennia.

Around one fifth of the estimated half-million Marsh Arabs are now living in refugee camps in Iran with the rest internally displaced within Iraq. A 5,000 year old culture, heir to the ancient Sumerians and Babylonians, is seriously in jeopardy of coming to an abrupt end, UNEP warns.

The impact of marshland loss on the area's wildlife threatens global biodiversity, including migratory birds, from Siberia to southern Africa. The marshlands disappearance has placed an estimated 40 species of waterfowl at risk.

Mammals, such as the smooth coated otter, that exist only in the marshlands are now considered extinct. Coastal fisheries in the northern Gulf, which depend on the marshlands for spawning grounds, have experienced a sharp decline.

Still, UNEP believes that there is hope. "Bold measures need to be taken by the custodians of this natural treasure for the conservation of the remaining transboundary Al-Hawizeh/Al-Azim marshes before it is too late," the agency says.

UNEP is calling on Iraq and other countries through which the rivers flow, as well as international donors to give the Mesopotamian marshlands a new lease on life by re-evaluating the role of water engineering works and modifying them where necessary, with a long term view to reinstating managed flooding.

The UN agency is proposing an integrated river basin approach involving the three main riparian countries Iraq, Syria and Turkey as well as Iran for the Tigris tributaries. Toepfer is proposing the start of a regional dialogue that would lead to the adoption of an international agreement on sharing the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates for the benefit of people and nature, and to ensure an adequate water supply to the marshes.

The marshlands as they were in 1976. The Marsh Arabs, who made this environment their home for thousands of years, have fled the ecosystem collapse. (Photo by Nik Wheeler)

Concerted actions could be taken to manage decreasing water resources sustainably and reverse negative environmental trends in the region. To continue in present ways would spell the wholesale ecological demise of lower Mesopotamia, and ultimately undermine the foundation of life for future generations, Toepfer warns.

Toepfer said the gift to UNEP of the satellite images by the U.S. government and NASA will contribute a great deal of information about the true level of environmental damage happening everywhere on Earth, "from the real extent of illegal logging in South East Asia and urban sprawl in the United States, to habitat loss in sub-Saharan Africa."

Tim Foresman, director of UNEP's Division of Early Warning and Assessment, said, "One of UNEP's key roles is to monitor the state of the world's environment. For this we need hard facts. Satellites, some of which have been in orbit for decades, have documented the rapid shrinking of Lake Chad and the Aral Sea, the growth of the Sahara, the deadly effects of oil spills and other major environmental changes. And today they are helping us in disclosing the true extent of damage to the Mesopotamian wetlands. Their importance cannot be underestimated."

The data will also be used to pinpoint areas of the globe at particular risk from the effects of natural disasters and speed up UNEP's push to create an index of vulnerable locations, Foresman said.

"The way we misuse land plays a significant role in aggravating the impact of cyclones, hurricanes, earthquakes, storms and other natural disasters on peoples' lives, livelihoods and property. Deforestation increases the risks of landslides, and badly planned development, from the shanty towns of the world's growing cities to sprawling settlements along the coasts, and exacerbates the harm caused by severe floods and storms," said Foresman.

"More precise information on the extent of environmental degradation, urban sprawl and the effects of phenomena such as El Niño and global warming should allow us to better predict areas of the world at greatest risk from natural calamities. In turn this should help local, regional and national governments to act before it is too late," he said.

The decision to give UNEP the first complete set of detailed, up-to-date, satellite images was announced by the United States government last year. Over the past six months NASA, working with other U.S. agencies, has been assembling the images taken by its Landsat spacecraft.