Southern Iraq, the territory of the marsh arabs.
A beautiful nature reserve which doesn't need people to care for it, the marsh arabs are dependent on the environment.
But not for long, because the Iraqi government has decided to build dams on the two main rivers that feed the wetlands.
Does this decision mean the end of the marsh arabs?"

The story
It is said that the marsh Arabs have lived on these islands over 5000 years. Now that the marshes will be drained, they will have to move, but they don’t know where to go. The draining hasn’t been going on very long. 12 years ago, the marshes had very much vegetation, because they were fed by two rivers: the Tigris and the Euphrates. It’s unlikely that this will happen again.
The marsh Arabs are one of the “less known victims” of Saddam Hussein.
He said that the marshes, covering 12000 square miles, should be drained.
Because they were enemies of Saddam, they were one of his main targets. It was known in other countries. Some of them said it to be genocide. Now that Saddam Hussein isn’t in charge anymore, other decisions might be made about the marsh Arabs.
High quality satellite images have been available for 30 years in Iraq. These pictures show what changes have been made in the environment of the marshes. It’s clear that much damage has been done to them. Images made before 1992 show that most of the marshes were still in tact. Now, about 10 % of the original marsh area is left. Because of this, the regional climate is affected. Temperatures in summer will rise and less rain will fall. This will make the region’s conditions worse.
The marsh lands are very important to Iraq, because most of the oil is in the wetlands. Some people think that the money the oil earns, should be used to restore as much of the wetlands as possible. This would be good for the marsh Arabs and for the regional climate. Unfortunately it’s quite unlikely for this to happen, because money isn’t given away very often, but used for own needs. The future of the wetlands and the marsh Arabs are uncertain, but it won’t be very good.

You can make the difference
The Marsh arabs need your help.
But how to help them?
S.M. (Save the Marshes) is an organisation that helps marsh inhabitant who have to move.
S.M. provides the people with shelter, food and other facilities.
The organisation was set up in September 1993, after other marshes were drained too.
According to the S.M., marshes are important for humanity as well as for the nature.
Draining the marshes will kill all living creatures in there.
That’s not the only problem; in the future, we’ll have much more change to have floods, because the water from the marshes flows in the sea.
In combination with the melting ice on the North- and South Pole, this will result in many natural hazards.

The S.M. asks you to help them keeping the marshes wet.
You can deposit your support into our giro account: 1234, or you can contact us by visiting our website: http://www.sm.nu, where you can sign a list which is going to be presented to the government of Iraq, to convince them not to drain the marshes.
We’ve already got 4769 signatures from visitors!