Eden Again

SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZATIONS

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The following sections provide information about on going research programs concerning the Mesopotamian Marshlands at universities and research centers throughout the world. In addition to these institutions, please see the listing of Eden Again's International Technical Advisory Panel (ITAP) for other scientists and engineers who have donated their valuable time and expertise to the restoration planning process.

University of Basrah

The University of Basrah is the primary higher educational institution in southern Iraq and historically enrolled approximately 15,000 students. The University was damaged, both physically and economically, since the 1980s through three wars and the lack of funding from the central government. Its Marine Science Center was established in 1976 and employs over 40 full-time professors and researchers. From the time of its creation in 1976 and into the 1980s, the Centre had a very high reputation for research, and maintained a busy schedule of very successful conferences, meetings, workshops and round-table discussions of national and international importance. The faculty of the Marine Science Center's current goal is to regain their prominent role in research related to the waters of the south, including the Mesopotamian Marshlands, the rivers and the Gulf. The Eden Again Project is working with several professors from the University of Basrah to conduct a bird and biodiversity survey and is coordinating the monitoring work in the marshes with the center to share data and to help build capacity.

University of Baghdad

The University of Baghdad, established in 1957 and enrolling up to 40,000 students, is the largest and oldest university in Iraq. It has a comprehensive program of educational offerings. The former Iraqi regime provided somewhat greater resources to Baghdad University than to other institutions of higher education, and under its authoritarian control only the students with the highest comprehensive exam scores were allowed to enroll. However, they also dictated research policy and stifled scientific and academic freedom; international sanctions further isolated and stifled intellectual activities. The University has a badly neglected physical plant, further damaged by the war and exacerbated by post-war looting. The university is especially lacking in computing facilities. The Eden Again Project has contracted with several professors and graduate students from the Environmental Engineering and Biological Sciences Departments to assist with scientific surveys and ecological monitoring of the marshlands. Further, a memorandum of understanding was signed with the university to regulate the relationship. Iraq Foundation has purchased equipment and materials that are being used in the laboratories of the university to handle the samples collected.

University of Mustansiriya

The University of Mustansiriya, located in Baghdad, was established in modern times in 1963 and generally enrolls about 15,000 students. (Its predecessor, Mustansiriya College, was founded in 1232). Iraq Foundation has hired several professors and graduate students through the Environmental Engineering Department to work alongside the Italian partners in a process of capacity building and to help conduct the monitoring work.

Kuwait Institute of Scientific Research

Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) was established in 1967 to carry out applied scientific research in three fields: petroleum, desert agriculture and marine biology. Their research division engages in primary research on Gulf fisheries, aquaculture, and hatcheries, amongst other items. The Institute also works to develop plans and recommendations for optimal utilization of the marine environment, fish by-catch reduction, and management of regional shrimps; to assess marine ecosystem health through the application of biochemical and physiological parameters in Kuwait Bay as well as to prepare coastal habitat inventories and maps; to assess anticipated hydro-biological changes in the northern Gulf and estimate the impact of lost gargoor on demersal fish stocks; and to investigate the degradation of oil and other pollutants in the marine environment. KISR has conducted significant research on the environmental effects of the draining of the marshlands on the Gulf. Dr. Jim Bishop, a fisheries scientist at KISR, is on Eden Again's International Technical Advisory Panel.

Royal Holloway Institute for Environmental Research

The Royal Holloway Institute for Environmental Research is a university-based environmental research and consultancy institution with particular expertise in wetland ecosystems. The Institute undertakes pure and applied research in wetland science, and is also the home of the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management, which provides guidance on integrated ecosystem approaches to the management of natural and modified ecosystems. The Institute's Director, Dr. Edward Maltby, conducted some of the earliest research of the draining of the Mesopotamian Marshlands, in the late 1990s under a grant from Amar Appeal, and is on Eden Again's Technical Advisory Panel. Dr. Edward Maltby and Dr. Azzam Alwash both participated in USAID's scientific expedition to the marshlands in February 2004

Duke University Wetland Center

The goal of the Duke University Wetland Center is to provide sound scientific knowledge that will lead to sustainable wetland functions and values for the nation and the world. The center works toward this goal by conducting, sponsoring and coordinating research and teaching on critical wetland issues. The Center's Director, Dr. Curtis Richardson, is on Eden Again's International Technical Advisory Panel; Dr. Richardson and Eden Again's Dr. Azzam Alwash both participated in USAID's scientific expeditions to the marshlands in June 2003 and February 2004.

University of Waterloo Wetlands Research Centre

The Wetlands Research Centre at the University of Waterloo is committed to research and training on all aspects of wetlands, including evaluation and classification, ecology, hydrology, geochemistry, function, values, management and conservation. The Centre is the recipient of a $3-million grant from the Canadian International Development Agency. The initiative will support the building of wetland science and restoration expertise in Iraqi institutions, providing Canadian expertise from universities, research institutes and museums, nature federations and non-governmental organizations. The project will also support graduate programs and professional training for Iraqis, as well as the establishment of wetland restoration demonstration sites in cooperation with various Iraqi institutions. The Centre's Director, Dr. Barry Warner, is on Eden Again's International Technical Advisory Panel. In June 2004, the Iraq Foundation assisted the Canadian team in convening a workshop in Jordan, bringing 45 Iraqi scientists to discuss the nature and scope of this program.

University of California at Santa Barbara

University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) Geography Department has taken an active interest in the Mesopotamian Marshlands. Dr. Tom Dunne is on Eden Again's International Technical Advisory Panel, and his graduate students provided assistance at our Restoration Planning Workshop in February 2003. Dr. Leal Mertes, also in the Department of Geography, has conducted a wide-ranging survey of satellite imagery of river floodplains, including the Tigris and Euphrates Basin and the Mesopotamian Marshlands. The archives of Landsat images may be found at: http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~rivers/ Dr. Mertes has also developed time-series animations of the marshland desiccation and compiled additional information on the marshlands and marsh dwellers which can be found at: http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~rivers/as/mesomarsh-web/

University of Florida Center for Wetlands and the University of Miami

The Center for Wetlands at the University of Florida was founded in 1973 as a focal point for both basic ecological research on wetlands as well as their sustainable use in meeting environmental management needs of the society. The Center's Director, Dr. Tom Crisman, is on Eden Again's International Technical Advisory Panel. The Center, along with University of Miami (Dr. Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm), has a proposed project entitled: Iraq-AWARE (Advancing Watershed Assessment, Research and Education) in the southern Iraqi marshlands. Iraq-AWARE is a comprehensive research and education infrastructure and capacity building plan to be undertaken by US participating higher education institutions, in close collaboration with Iraqi counterparts. The primary objective of Iraq-AWARE is to develop a long-term program that will address, for the first time in Iraq, the scientific, technological and policy/decision-making aspects of the wetland restoration.

Harvard University Graduate School of Design, in collaboration with the Iraq Foundation, will convene a symposium entitled "Mesopotamian Marshlands and Modern Development" in October 2004. The three-day event will cover restoration of wetlands in the desert environment, sustainability of wetlands and nature reserves throughout the world, and innovative technologies and sustainable development.

Dr. Suzie Alwash
Senior Project Advisor
e-mail: suzie@alwash.net

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