ABSTRACT
The marshes of southern Iraq-often called the Iraqi marshlands or the Mesopotamian marshlands-were once among the largest wetlands in the world, covering more than 10,000 km2 (roughly the size of Lebanon) and supporting diverse flora and fauna and a human population of approximately 500,000 (Coast 2003). Fresh water for the marshes came almost entirely from the two major rivers of the region-the Tigris and Euphrates-and their tributaries. Both rivers have their source in southeast Anatolia in Turkey and eventually flow into Iraq, coming together in the marshes to form the Shatt al-Arab River. The Shatt al-Arab then flows through the city of Basra into the Persian Gulf (see figure 1).
