The Central or Qurna Marshes are a large complex of

wetlands A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

that, along with the Hawizeh and Hammar marshes, make up the

Mesopotamian Marshes The Mesopotamian Marshes, also known as the Iraqi Marshes, are a wetland area located in southern Iraq and southwestern Iran as well as partially in northern Kuwait. The marshes are primarily located on the floodplains of the Euphrates and Tigris ...

of the

Tigris–Euphrates river system The Tigris–Euphrates river system is a large river system in West Asia that flows into the Persian Gulf. Its primary rivers are the Tigris and Euphrates, along with smaller tributary, tributaries. From their sources and upper courses in the Ar ...

. Formerly covering an area of around 3000 square kilometres, they were almost completely drained following the

1991 uprisings in Iraq The 1991 Iraqi uprisings were ethnic and religious uprisings against Saddam Hussein, Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist Iraq, Ba'athist regime in Iraq that were led by Shia Islam in Iraq, Shia Arabs and Kurds in Iraq, Kurds. The uprisings lasted f ...

and have in recent years been reflooded.

Characteristics

The Central Marshes stretched between

Nasiriyah Nasiriyah ( , ; , BGN: , ), also spelled Nassiriya or Nasiriya, is a city in Iraq, the capital of the Dhi Qar Governorate. It lies on the lower Euphrates, about south-southeast of Baghdad, near the ruins of the ancient city of Ur. Its po ...

, Al-'Uzair (Ezra's Tomb) and Al-Qurnah and were mainly fed by the

Tigris The Tigris ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the eastern of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian Desert, Syrian and Arabia ...

and its distributaries (the Shatt al-Muminah and Majar al-Kabir). They were drained by the (partially artificial) Prosperity Canal, and by the Glory River. The Central Marshes were characterised by tall ''qasab'' reeds but included a number of freshwater

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

s, of which the largest were the Haur az-Zikri and Umm al-Binni (literally "mother of ''binni''", the latter being a species of

barbel Barbel may refer to: *Barbel (anatomy), a whisker-like organ near the mouth found in some fish (notably catfish, loaches and cyprinids) and turtles *Barbel (fish), a common name for certain species of fish **''Barbus barbus'', a species of cyprini ...

.)The Physical Characteristics of the Mesopotamian Marshlands
edenagain.org The marshes support breeding populations of the Basra reed-warbler and marbled teal, along with several other species of non-breeding birds.Central Marshes
birdlife.org It was feared that the Levant darter (''Anhinga rufa chantrei''), a subspecies of the

African darter The African darter (''Anhinga rufa''), sometimes called the snakebird, is a water bird of sub-Saharan Africa and Iraq. Taxonomy The African darter is a member of the darter family, Anhingidae, and is closely related to Anhinga, American (''Anhin ...

, and the ''maxwelli'' subspecies of the

smooth-coated otter The smooth-coated otter (''Lutrogale perspicillata'') is a freshwater otter species from regions of South and Southwest Asia, with the majority of its numbers found in Southeast Asia. It has been ranked as " vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List since ...

had disappeared entirely, but small and threatened populations remain of both.Al-Sheikhly, O.F.; and Nader, I.A. (2013).
The Status of the Iraq Smooth-coated Otter Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli Hayman 1956 and Eurasian Otter Lutra lutra Linnaeus 1758 in Iraq.
' IUCN Otter Spec. Group Bull. 30(1). It is feared that the Bunn's short-tailed bandicoot rat (''Nesokia bunnii'', syn. ''Erythronesokia bunnii''), which had only been described from specimens obtained in the Central Marshes, is extinct. The area was formerly populated by the

Marsh Arabs The Marsh Arabs (Arabic: عرب الأهوار ʻArab al-Ahwār "Arabs of the Marshlands"), also referred to as Ahwaris, the Maʻdān (Arabic: معدان "dweller in the plains") or Shroog ( "those from the east")—the latter two often conside ...

or Ma'dan, who grazed buffalo on the natural vegetation and carried out cultivation of rice.

Draining

By the early 1980s, it was evident that irrigation projects were already affecting water levels in the marshes.Spencer, M
''The Marsh Arabs Revisited''
''Saudi Aramco World'', April 1982 In the early 1990s, the government of Iraq undertook a series of major drainage projects, at least partly in retribution for the events of the 1991 uprisings, and to prevent the area being used as a refuge by militias. The flow southwards from the distributary streams of the Tigris was blocked by large embankments and discharged into the Al-Amarah or Glory Canal, resulting in the loss of two-thirds of the Central Marshes by as early as 1993. A further canal, the Prosperity Canal, was constructed to prevent any overflow into the marsh from the main channel of the Tigris as it ran southwards from Qalat Saleh. By the late 1990s, the Central Marsh had become completely desiccated, suffering the most severe damage of the three main areas of wetland. By 2000,

United Nations Environment Programme The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the Declaration of the United Nati ...

estimated that 90% of the marshlands had disappeared.

Reflooding

Following the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, embankments and drainage works were broken open, and the marshes began to reflood. The Central Marshes showed little recovery through 2003, but by early 2004 a patchwork of lakes had appeared in northern areas; there was flooding in southern areas which had previously been dry since the early 1990s.Iraq Marshlands Restoration Program
iraqmarshes.org, p.6 There has been some corresponding recolonisation by the natural marsh vegetation since that time, and return of some species of fish and birds, although recovery of the Central Marshes has been much slower compared to the Huwaizah and Hammar Marshes; the most severely damaged sections of the wetlands have yet to show any signs of regeneration.Missan Governorate Assessment Report

UNHCR The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and Humanitarian protection, protect refugees, Internally displaced person, forcibly displaced communities, and Statelessness, s ...

, 2006, p.44 Bunn's short-tailed bandicoot rat is suspected to have become extinct.

References

{{coord, 31, 02, 24, N, 47, 01, 30, E, region:IQ_type:waterbody, display=title Marshes of Iraq Euphrates Environmental issues in Iraq Tigris River Shatt al-Arab basin Ramsar sites in Iraq Mesopotamian Marshes