UNESCO describes the site as a “refuge of biodiversity and the relict landscape of the Mesopotamian Cities.”
“The Ahwar is made up of seven sites: three archaeological sites and four wetland marsh areas in southern Iraq. The archaeological cities of Uruk and Ur and the Tell Eridu archaeological site form part of the remains of the Sumerian cities and settlements that developed in southern Mesopotamia between the 4th and the 3rd millennium BCE in the marshy delta of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The Ahwar of Southern Iraq – also known as the Iraqi Marshlands – are unique, as one of the world’s largest inland delta systems, in an extremely hot and arid environment.”
The marshes are located south of Qurna, where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers come together. Archaeological evidence indicates they were formed when the water of the Arabian Gulf receded southwards.
The Madan, Marsh Arabs, live in the marshes in houses built from reeds. The mashuf, a narrow canoe, is the main mode of transportation in a way of life that has changed little in 6,000 years.
The marshlands are home to many bird species and are a spawning ground for fish of the Arabian Gulf.
In the 1950s, the Iraqi government began gradually draining the marshes to create profitable farmland and, later, for oil exploration.
In the 1990s, Saddam Hussein built extensive dykes and drains to clear the marshlands and flush out rebels who he accused of treachery during the Iran-Iraq war.
The population living in the marshes dropped from an estimated 500,000 in the 1950s to just 20,000. The marshes were reduced to just one tenth their former size.
After the 2003 American invasion of Iraq and toppling of Saddam Hussein, locals destroyed many of the dams and the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) began working to return the marshlands to their original state.
"The near-total destruction of the Iraqi marshlands under the regime of Saddam Hussein was a major ecological and human disaster, robbing the Marsh Arabs of a centuries-old culture and way of life as well as food in the form of fish and that most crucial of natural resources - drinking water," said Klaus Toepfer, executive director of Unep, in a statement at the time.
The Madan began to return home and the Iraqi government hopes to recover 6,000 square kilometres of marshlands, two-thirds of the approximately 9,000 square kilometres the marshes used to cover.
UNESCO’s World Heritage program aims to protect national and cultural heritage. It helps governments to establish plans to manage and care for heritage sites, and provides emergency assistance for sites that are under threat.
Iraqi officials welcomed the addition of the al-Ahwar site to the World Heritage List.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi welcomed the decision in the context of Iraq’s war with the Islamic State saying it “coincides with the consecutive military victories in the war against” ISIS.
Vian Dakhil, Yazidi member of the Iraqi parliament, offered her congratulations on twitter.
#UNESCO ,, #Al-ahwar of southern #Iraq is inscribed as #WorldHeritage ,, congratulation pic.twitter.com/f8YU8HistP
— Vian Dakhil (@VianDakhil) July 17, 2016
