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GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

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Government agencies within and outside Iraq who have been involved with marshland restoration through technical or financial assistance include the following organizations.

Center for Restoration of the Iraqi Marshlands (CRIM)

The Center for Restoration of the Iraqi Marshlands (CRIM) was created by Iraq's Ministry of Water Resources in 2003. The CRIM has 12 employees including engineers, and administrators, and has its offices in the MoWR Sadr al Qanat office Complex in Baghdad. CRIM is currently working on plans to prepare a Sustainable Restoration Plan for the Mesopotamian Marshlands in Iraq. The Iraq Foundation is on CRIM's Steering Committee, and is assisting the agency with conducting the scientific surveys, ecological monitoring, and hydrologic modeling tasks that are necessary to build the scientific basis for restoration planning. CRIM has not yet established a website.

Iraq Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR)

Iraq's Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR), formerly known as the Ministry of Irrigation, is the lead agency for restoration of the Iraqi Marshlands and has declared this to be their highest priority. The Ministry has already acted to restore water flow to portions of the marshlands, as requested by the local marsh dwellers. The Iraq Foundation has a Memorandum of Understanding with the MoWR and works closely together to achieve a sustainable restoration.

Iraq Ministry of the Environment (MoE)

The Iraqi Ministry of the Environment (MoE) is a new ministerial-level agency created in 2003. Its current focus with respect to the Mesopotamian Marshlands is the conservation of biodiversity in the Hawizeh Marsh and on evaluation and remediation of environmental contamination in the soil, water, and air. Employees of the MoE participate in the monthly field visits to Abu Zirig and Kurmashia marshes. The MoE is also on the Steering Committee of CRIM and takes an active role in its leadership.

Italian Ministry of the Environment and Territory (IMET)

The majority of the Iraq Foundation's work in Iraq has been completed in partnership with the Italian Ministry of the Environment and with Italian experts through the "New Eden" project. The general objective of this project was to focus on the identification of key water management problems and to develop a priority action plan to improve the quality of life and the environment in southern Iraq. The New Eden team contacted relevant organizations to gather and review the available water resources and water infrastructure in Iraq over the last 50 years. The team also developed a modeling strategy to check for water availability in southern Iraq, and the developed a general hydrodynamic model of the Central and Hammar Marshes. The Italian experts on the team include Augusto Pretner, Marco Gonella and Andrea Cattarossi.

The results of the project were detailed in a report entitled "The New Eden Project: Final Report," presented by Dr. Corrado Clini, Director General of the Italian Ministry of the Environment, at the United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development CSD-12 meeting in New York, April 14-30. The report provides a detailed plan for development of an Integrated Water Resources Management Plan that includes potable water, irrigation water, environmental restoration, and other beneficial uses. The report also outlines a workplan for gathering the scientific data necessary to develop a Sustainable Restoration Plan in collaboration with Iraq's Center for the Restoration of the Mesopotamian Marshlands (CRIM). The Italian Ministry of the Environment has pledged substantial support towards implementing the workplan as outlined in the new Eden Report.

The New Eden working group identified two immediate projects that the Italian Ministry of the Environment and Territory has sponsored. The first project is concerned with monitoring the Abu Zirig Marsh and developing engineering plans for improving water flow conditions and water quality in the Abu Zirig Marsh. This includes hydrologic modeling, ecological monitoring and restoration, monitoring of water quality, and engineering design studies for control structures and other engineering solutions to improve water flow and quality. The second project involves a Feasibility Study for Potable Water in the Qurnah-Basrah-Nasriyah Triangle. The project evaluates the feasibility of recovering energy from natural gas that is currently flared from the oilfields of the south, using that energy for desalination of brackish water of the rivers of southern Iraq.

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

USAID has established a $4-million program for integrated marshland restoration and social and economic assistance in the area of the Mesopotamian marshlands, with a strong focus on agriculture and agribusiness. The program is led by USAID's contractor, Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI). The program aims to: provide technical training and capacity building for the Ministry of Water Resources; to assist the Center for Restoration of the Mesopotamian Marshlands (CRIM) with developing its Sustainable Restoration Plan through the provision of technical experts from outside Iraq; to re-establish basic health care services in the marshlands through collaboration with Amar Appeal; to monitor conditions in re-flooded marshlands (with Iraq Foundation); to establish non-traditional field crops, primarily alfalfa, within areas of the dried marshlands; to construct wetlands for wastewater treatment within the dried marshlands; to establish date palm nurseries in the marshlands; and to establish fish farms within the marshlands and fish hatcheries at the University of Basrah. More details are available in the USAID Workplan.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)

Since March 2003, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has provided technical assistance to Iraq's Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) throughout Iraq. Since liberation, a staff of engineers and administrators, led by Dr. Eugene Stakhiv, Mr. Jerry Webb and Dr. Edwin Theriot, have worked tirelessly to help Iraq restore its water resources management capability. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Ministry of Water Resources are jointly developing a hydrologic model of the Tigris and Euphrates basin.

Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)

As of June 2004, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has pledged up to $300 million in overall assistance for humanitarian and reconstruction efforts in Iraq. As part of this effort, CIDA has granted $3 million (Canadian) to the University of Waterloo to provide technical assistance for restoration of the Mesopotamian Marshlands.

In June 2004, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) with the assistance of the Eden Again project and the Government of Iraq held a workshop in Amman Jordan to discuss the needs of Iraq for the restoration of the marshlands. Canada has granted $3 million (Canadian$) to the University of Waterloo's Wetlands Research Centre towards this effort. The meeting was attended by over 40 Iraqi scientists, engineers, and government officials from the Ministries of Water Resources Environment, and Science and Technology, along with over 30 representatives from the Iraq Foundation and other international partners supporting work or with interest in being involved in the marshes (UNEP, USAID, Italian Ministry of the Environment, UNESCO, AMAR, IUCN, BirdLife). The Canadian assistance will focus on building scientific and wetland policy capacity with various stakeholders in Iraq. Dr. Barry Warner of the University of Waterloo and Mr. Clayton Rubec of Environment Canada are the team leaders for the Canadian initiative.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)

USEPA has been providing technical assistance to the new Iraqi Ministry of the Environment (MoE) since November 2003. USEPA has designated a Program Manager for Iraq (Mr. Mazin Enwiya), who has been working to assist the MoE garner the necessary resources to build its capacity to address the significant environmental challenges that currently face Iraq. As an initial step, USEPA has been working to establish a technical library for the MoE.

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

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