Abu Abbas knew more about the Iraqi marshes than most, having lived there all his life.
So when the Iraqi government of former dictator Saddam Hussein drained the wetlands of southern Iraq in the early 1990s, Abu Abbas witnessed the devastation.
Then, a decade later, when young men with pickaxes and small water pumps began tearing down the dikes that kept water out of the former wetlands after Hussein’s fall, he was among those who saw water rush back into the marshes.
It hasn’t been easy since then. Wetlands are struggling due to climate change and mismanagement. Even so, Abu Abbas’s optimism remained.
At the beginning of last year, lying in bed in poor health, he received a visit from his nephew, Jassim Al-Asadi.
“What’s the situation with the swamps?” Abu Abbas asked.
“Things are terrible,” Jassim replied.
Before Jassim could continue, Abu Abbas interrupted him.
“Don’t be afraid for the swamps,” he said. “They will survive, even if the water is salty, as long as there are people like you who defend them.”
The marshes were once among the largest wetlands in the world, covering 10,500 square kilometers (4,050 square miles) in 1973, an area roughly the size of Lebanon.
They were home to a wide variety of flora and fauna, and in the mid-20th century supported a human population estimated at 500,000.
The great cities of Ur, where most Bible scholars believe Abraham was born, and Uruk, the largest city in the world in 3200 BC, were adjacent to the marshes.
Although most of the wetlands are in Iraq, a smaller section known as Hawr al-Azim is in Iran.
During his lifetime, Abu Abbas observed the natural cycles of creation and destruction of wetlands, as floods and drought affected traditional livelihoods based on fishing, hunting, reed production and agriculture.
At the same time, he experienced the increasing impact of human activities on the marshes: warfare, upstream dams, oil development, and agricultural pollution.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
