If the Garden of Eden was in your country, what would you do about it?

Garden of Eden?

Mesopotamia Marshlands Photo courtesy of U.N.

The Garden of Eden is described in the Book of Genesis gives a little information about the location of the Garden of Eden; "A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers". The four rivers are the Tigris and the Euphrates, which are still known today (unless the modern ones are simply named after the originals), and the Pishon and the Gihon, whose identity is uncertain. There are many guesses as to where it might have been, if indeed it ever physically existed, and one of these is in Mesopotamia.

Mesopotamia means "the Land between the Rivers", the two rivers being the Tigris and Euphrates, though it is often expanded to include surrounding lands so that it is bordered by the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Desert, the Zagros Mountains and the Caucasus mountains. It straddles Iraq and Syria.

Iraq's marshes once totalled total almost 9,000 square kilometres, and were very lush, providing fishing for the local inhabitants and food for many migratory birds. Rare species included the sacred ibis and African darter.

While Saddam Hussein was in power, most of the marshlands were drained. Dams upriver also diverted water away. There are more than 30 large dams on the Tigris and the Euphrates, and between them they can hold several times more water than there is in the rivers. Satellite pictures show that it shrank to only 760 square kilometres in 2002, less than 10% of its normal size (for maps see here). There were forecasts that it could be completely gone by 2008. Salinization was already a problem before the drainage, and is likely even more so as a result of the desertification.

After the fall of Saddam Hussein, some of the dikes were breached and some of the water flowed back. The area grew from 10% of its original extent to 37%, or 3,500 square kilometres, according to a U.N. report. It was up to 50% in the spring but there has been evaporation since. Some of the inhabitants are back too, though there is still a long way to go before it can support its original inhabitants; humans, birds, fish and other species. Electricity, drinking water and sewage systems need to be restored.

The local people, the Marsh Arabs, are an indigenous people who have been living there for 5,000 years, following on from the ancient Sumerians and Babylonians. There are about 500,000 of them, but they were all dispersed under Saddam Hussein.

At least 40 species of waterfowl at risk were put at risk by the loss of the marshlands. The marshlands are also essential as nursery and spawning grounds for the fish in the Gulf. Several local species of fish and mammals are now believed extinct.

Satellite pictures have been, and still are, the main way of determining what is happening in the area. Civil unrest makes it unsafe for many government officials and international aid workers to go there. The United Nations has drawn up plans for the restoration of the marshlands for their own sake and for the people, and obtained some funding from Japan, but taking action is difficult. A conference had been scheduled in Tokyo for Thursday and Friday for donors to coordinate their plans for the revival of the marshlands of Southern Iraq. It has been postponed because the Iraqi constitution has not been completed on schedule.

The return of so much water is a good sign, but with Iraq still threatening to degenerate into civil war, and the ever increasing demand for water from the rivers, the marshlands have only had a stay of execution; they are still under considerable threat. How sad it would be if the Garden of Eden was destroyed in our lifetime.

Iraqi Marshes Show Signs of Rebirth

In the 1990s Saddam Hussein drained much of the marshlands in southern Iraq, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In addition, Turkish dams drew more water away. Now some of the dikes have been breached and some of the water is back from 10% of its original extent to 37%, according to a U.N. report. Some of the inhabitants are back too, though there is still a long way to go before it can support its original inhabitants; humans, birds, fish and other species. Electricity, drinking water and sewage systems need to be restored.

Civil unrest makes it unsafe for many government officials and international aid workers to go there, and a conference planned for this week was postponed because the Iraqi constitution ha not been hammered out.

Japan Scrubs Iraq Marshland Donor Meeting

A conference had been scheduled in Tokyo for Thursday and Friday for donors to coordinate their plans for the revival of the marshlands of Southern Iraq. It has been postponed because the Iraqi constitution has not been completed on schedule.

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Here's the part of FEMA's National Situation Update for Thursday, August 25, 2005 relating to hurricane Katrina:

[Views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of CompuServe, Netscape, any government, agency, or news organization. External Websites are "At Your Own Risk," and no endorsement is expressed or implied.]

"As the cradle of Western civilization, Mesopotamia and its marshlands are the origin for most of the plant species that humans have propagated world-wide. For example, there are only two genus types of apples common worldwide; the balance, about 67, are still only available in wild form in the old Mesopotamia. If any parasite or disease affects the two strains that have been propagated, the only way to get more apples is through the ones growing there. If we turn that area into desert, we all lose a treasure trove of seed varieties and varied plant types. That's not to say that bananas aren't a great fruit, but why should we destroy the source of apples and other good things?"

That's fascinating, thanks. In that respect, Eden is all around us; all around the world. We are destroying biodiversity and restricting ourselves to limited strains and varieties of all sorts of things all over the world. Besides, bananas don't grow very well here, and I prefer local fruit and veg. :)

People are beginning to wake up to this - and patenting and commercializing plants and genes. :(

It makes you wonder, really. The fundamentalists of all three Abrahamic faiths claim to revere the bible, but casually destroy the places it describes as important.

Yes, they proclaim their faiths and yet show no sign of respect for holy sites or for God's earth. Jesus was more aware of nature than they,saying things like "Consider the lilies in the field, how they grow. They neither toil or spin and yet I tell you that Solomon in all his glory was never arrayed as one of these." or the story of the seed that fell on various kinds of ground. And the old testament is full of animals. I'm no believer and even I know that and care.

[Views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of CompuServe, Netscape, any government, agency, or news organization.]