ABSTRACT
The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the
pessimist fears this is true.
—James Branch Cabell
Many ecocultural parallels were drawn between Iraq and Cambodia and Peru in chapter 14. These countries do share another nal, dark similarity that offers, however, an optimistic contrast to coverage in the daily newspapers or television reports about the stagnant situation in Iraq. As Iraq sometimes seems to teeter on the edge of slipping into civil war, it is hard to think of a time in the future when the situation
Introduction ............................................................................................................485 Integrated Water Management ...............................................................................487 Community Fisheries Management ....................................................................... 489 Sustainable Livelihoods Management ................................................................... 491 Summary ................................................................................................................ 492 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 493 References .............................................................................................................. 493
will stabilize enough to allow for the further restoration of the marshes within such a framework as that proposed by the practitioners and theorists brought together in France (2011). And as to the restorative redevelopment of the marshlands and their inhabitants along the lines of the sort of examples gathered from around the world and laid out in the pages of the present book … well, that simply seems too far away to be realistic. But look around that world and it is possible to see situations where such commensurate feelings of despair have been replaced by those of buoyant optimism. It was only a decade and a half ago, for example, when unrest and violence had effectively ended international tourism in both Peru and Cambodia. Today, the turmoil in both counties has abated and their governments are actively rebuilding their formerly devastated rural communities at the same time as welcoming millions of tourists (and their money) to visit their spectacular historical and natural wonders. In the long view, Iraq is a place where citizens and environments have rebounded time and again from the ravages inicted by capricious nature or despotic rulers (France 2007). And things will certainly improve there yet again.
