Calls to legislate a law to protect the marshes and support their residents to overcome their plight

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[size=52]Calls to legislate a law to protect the marshes and support their residents to overcome their plight[/size]

[size=45]Dhi Qar / Hussein Al-Amel[/size]
[size=45]The Marshlands and Heritage Committee in Dhi Qar Governorate adopted a number of recommendations to address drought. While it called for the enactment of a law to protect the marshes, officials demanded the formation of a civil pressure group to advocate for its residents and support them to overcome their plight.[/size]
[size=45]A statement issued by the committee after an expanded periodic meeting held in the office of Dhi Qar governorate and attended by a number of representatives of the departments concerned with the marshes, environment and heritage, stated that “after the repercussions of drought in the marsh areas, the periodic meeting of the marsh committee in Dhi Qar governorate was launched today, and a number of decisions were agreed upon. It should cooperate with the concerned authorities. The statement received by Al-Mada added that "the decisions were the first of a major campaign that will be launched from the marshlands to declare them a disaster area and expedite the development of quick solutions to their crisis."[/size]
[size=45]The statement referred to a number of decisions, including "the demand of the Ministry of Water Resources to increase the water releases to the marshes and not to prejudice the share of the marshes based on the decisions of the Sorli plan."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out, "to address the ministry about implementing the management plan for the marshes and maintaining the rates of flooding, not less than the prescribed rates." The statement revealed, "the formation of a delegation to review the prime minister and the republic to address the repercussions of the drought, provide the living requirements of the local population, and present a practical demand paper." He talked about the necessity of “preparing a draft law on the marshes in preparation for its approval in the Iraqi parliament, restructuring the Marsh Recovery Center and disengaging it from the Ministry of Water Resources to be an independent body linked to the prime minister’s office, in order to ensure the preservation of the marshes and their inhabitants.”[/size]
[size=45]The statement called for “allocating a percentage of funds to include fishermen, livestock breeders, and those affected by drought in the social protection network, in line with their numbers in the administrative units of the marshlands,” stressing that “the Ministry of Agriculture approached the preparation of breeders with adequate fodder and the provision of veterinary services.”[/size]
[size=45]The statement also called for “activating the role of the Ministry of Municipalities and the Water Directorate in the field of rehabilitating drinking water complexes after their disappearance and the malfunction of parts of them.”[/size]
[size=45]The water crisis in the Nasiriyah marshes brings the local population back to the era of forced drying under the previous regime, because of its devastating repercussions on Dhi Qar and its neighboring provinces. Officials and activists recently called for the marshes to be declared a disaster area.[/size]
[size=45]In turn, a member of the Marshlands and Antiquities Committee in the Governorate of Dhi Qar, Badi' Lebanon, said in an interview with Al-Mada, that "the marshes today are economically, environmentally, living and socially devastated due to drought and its repercussions and the effects of displacement on the local community."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Khayun added, "The reason for the deterioration of the reality of the marshes is the lack of seriousness of the Ministry of Water Resources in dealing with the file of the marshes and its scientific management."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that a previously approved plan was prepared to deal with drought years, wet years, and years of water abundance, specifying the volume of water releases at each stage to maintain the marshes, but it did not deal with it seriously.[/size]
[size=45]For his part, the Regional Director of Nature Iraq, Jassem Al-Asadi, said that "the suffering of the marsh dwellers caused by drought is worsening."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Asadi added, "The deterioration in the quality of water caused by the scarcity has caused the spread of diseases among the buffalo herds, and some of them have perished."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out, "The percentage of salt has risen to 20 thousand parts per million in the regions of the central marshes and the western Hammar marsh." He stressed that "buffalo breeders, fishermen and weed collectors are the segments most affected by the water crisis and the drought of the marshes."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Asadi continues, “The loss of buffalo breeders has become double and large, in addition to diseases and deaths. The prices of buffaloes decreased from 3 million dinars and 500 thousand dinars per head to two million and 100,000 dinars, and their milk productivity decreased to 3 kilograms from 5 kilograms.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Asadi added, "The owners of buffaloes are moving from one place to another in an internal migration that may expand with the expansion of the drought area to be an external migration."[/size]
[size=45]In conjunction with the sixth anniversary of the marshes’ joining the World Heritage List, officials and environmental organizations in Dhi Qar called at the beginning of the week for the local and central governments to declare the marshes a disaster area. The marshes are linked to the Council of Ministers. The area of ​​the marshes in Nasiriyah is one-fifth of the area of ​​Dhi Qar Governorate, and it is distributed over 10 administrative units out of the 22 administrative units in the province. In 2003, about 50 percent of the total area of ​​the Nasiriyah marshes.[/size]
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