UN project hopes to preserve Iraq’s marshlands
A new UN-funded cultural project has been launched in the Ahwar of Southern Iraq to save the inhabitants of the marshlands from poverty.
The Italian-based humanitarian organization Un Ponte Per (UPP) on July 15 launched an ambitious two-year project in southern Iraq, funded by the United Nations Development Program and dubbed Sumerian, which aims to promote economic growth and preserve cultural heritage in the Ahwar of Southern Iraq in Dhi Qar Governorate, in partnership with a group of non-governmental organizations, namely Humat Dijlah (Tigris Protectors), Safina Projects and Carlo Leopardi Studio.
The Ahwar are marshlands made up of bodies of water located in southern Iraq and are divided into three main sections: the Hawizeh Marshes, the Hammar Marshes and the Central Marshes, whose water areas change from year to year according to the amount of water coming in from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. For over 5,000 years, Ahwar inhabitants have relied on the marshes for fishing, hunting birds and ducks, cultivating rice and raising animals.
