Posted on 07/19/2005 2:54:21 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Saddam Hussein Polluted Habitat Of Thousands Of Marsh Arabs
They were bigger than the everglades, older than the Bible -- until Saddam Hussein set out to decimate the cradle of civilization.
Now wetland experts in Wisconsin are helping restore historic wetlands in Iraq, reports News 3's Joel DeSpain.
Joy Zedler, who holds the Aldo Leopold chair in Restoration Ecology at the UW, and Dr. Rich Beilfuss, a hydrologist with Baraboo's International Crane Foundation, head the uncommon international restoration mission.
"It's an amazing area," Beilfuss said. "The Mesopotamian wetlands are probably something we all know a little bit about from childhood. It's the meeting of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It's the birthplace of agriculture as we now it -- the birthplace of domestic livestock and so on. It's really where the world began in many ways."
It's also where Marsh Arabs thrived for 5,000 years. Then Saddam went after them with a vengeance.
"The reeds were burned off," Beilfuss said. "In many cases, the fishes were poisoned out of the waters, and ultimately the waters were removed."
Ninety percent of the wetlands were wiped out, and numbers of marsh Arabs plummeted to 20,000.
"As a wetland scientist and wetland lover, it's a phenomenal loss," Beilfuss said. "It's one we can hardly begin to appreciate in Wisconsin. You know we battle, in many ways, acre for acre in Wisconsin, and here we're talking almost 3,000 square miles."
Prior to the U.S.-led invasion, a prominent Iraqi-American placed a call to Madison, saying she had had gotten Zedler's name from the National Research Council.
"She asked if somebody was going try to restore Eden again -- as they put it in their story, in their project name, how would they go about it," Zedler said.
She in turn reached out to colleagues around the globe, including Beilfuss, and the advisory counsel to the Eden Again campaign began.
A small fraction of the wetlands have now been re-flooded.
"We almost haven't had time to grieve over it," Beilfuss said. "It's happened so quickly, and there's suddenly an opportunity to do something about it over it. It's happened so quickly, and there's suddenly an opportunity to do something about it. The world's barely come to terms with the loss from an educational stand point, and so we're already talking about how to fix it, because life marches on very quickly."
Because of the war, many wetland experts are advising from afar for now but hope to get hands-on experience as well someday.
Learn more at http://www.EdenAgain.com.
While EnviroWackos are not my favorite breed of human, I'll give them kudos on this one. ;)
All W had to do to get the left to sign on to action in Iraq was to mention the wetlands destruction.
If it takes them out of wisconsin and the country for awhile, it's a good thing.
I agree with the environmentalists on this one
Correct URL:
http://www.edenagain.org/
good news bump!!!
Correct - rather than a "brutal dictator" W could have pointed out he was "destroying the environment". Al Gore himself would have been leading the demands for immediate miliatry intervention.
Aside from the fact that he is a homicidal maniac, what did Saddam have against the Marsh Arabs? Anyone know? Were they closet Kurds or something?
As much as I know about my own wet diapers which is exactly zilch.
Saddam saw they could create a market and live independent of him through fishing, trade, etc... he put a stop to it. Also historically those Muslims were actually friendly with other religions believe it or not!
Oh, well, we can't have that now, can we? Muslims friendly with other religions ... where will it all end? Dogs and cats sleeping together, no doubt!
They were independent minded.
"One of the diseases controlled by wetland filling was malaria. Until the late 1890s, it was believed that malaria was caused by poisonous vapors coming from ponds and swamps. In 1897, it was discovered that malaria was carried and spread by mosquitoes, which breed in water and therefore are more plentiful near wetlands. The fear of malaria was a real one for residents of Connecticut in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Following the Civil War, returning soldiers brought the disease to the northern states and it spread throughout the mosquito populations here. Mosquito control in Connecticut became a primary public health concern and the filling of wetlands (most often with refuse, construction and manufacturing waste) became even more desirable.
"The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station noted that the elimination of mosquito breeding places was the single most important factor in combating the disease. A law passed in 1915 gave the director of the Agricultural Station the power to “drain, fill or otherwise eliminate any such breeding places”."
"The filling of wetlands was also being recommended for other reasons. In the same year (1915) Dr. Joslin, the Health Officer for Hamden, recommended the establishment of public dumping places, since many people were dumping their garbage and refuse in their yards and creating a public nuisance (Haley & Aldrich, p. 28). Dr. Joslin issued a statement that same year, saying, “there are many low spots where people might like to have refuse dumped for fill (Haley & Aldrich, p. 28)”."
"A 1916 City of New Haven Health Report prepared by Yale University stated that the Anopheles mosquito, which bred in fresh water marshes and streams, was “a constant menace to health, since these mosquitoes may be carriers of the parasite malaria…” It was reported that marshes located along the Mill River in Hamden were causing “a gross mosquito nuisance” and that “the fresh water areas were breeding enough mosquitoes to create a very considerable malaria problem”."
Constructed Wetlands
'Artificial' wetlands are being increasingly constructed to control and treat stormwater and wastewater. They can be similar to natural wetlands at various stages of their development, and can provide permanent habitat for vertebrate reservoirs and mosquito vectors of disease similar in scope and scale to natural wetlands of equivalent size. This issue can be of greater concern in otherwise dry areas where such opportunities have not existed previously, appear only seasonally, or have been eliminated with development.
Compared with natural wetlands, constructed wetlands offer various opportunities to manage the mosquito populations they produce. Overall mosquito management is best achieved with a composite approach, integrating various complementary methods. The wetlands can be designed to make them less favourable for mosquito colonisation, the water and vegetation components can be manipulated to regulate mosquito development, and chemical and biological agents can be used to reduce otherwise uncontrollable populations.
Although mosquito management principles are often incompatible with objectives and operations of constructed wetlands, the health issues are not insignificant. Engineers and other professionals associated with wetland construction should be aware of the various requirements and opportunities for mosquito management within the framework of their objectives for water control and treatment.
2020 Focus 5 (Health and Nutrition Emerging and Reemerging Issues in Developing Countries), Brief 4 of
11, February 2001
MALARIA
Andrea Egan
As many as 2 billion people--40 percent of the world's population--live in areas of the world where malaria is endemic. The disease, which is mainly rural, is found between the tropics of Capricorn and Cancer. Although malaria is a major health problem in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Pacific, Africa faces the brunt of the disease (see table).
THE DEVASTATING IMPACT OF MALARIA
Each year, 300 to 500 million people develop malaria and 1.5 to 2.7 million die--a rate of 200 to 300 deaths worldwide each hour. Ninety percent of this mortality is in Africa, among children under age five. Pregnant women also are severely affected, as are their fetuses and infants. The health and economic burdens of malaria are wide reaching:
Economic Development.
Malaria creates a huge economic burden, because of hospital admissions, national malaria control programs and protection from mosquitoes, the cost to individuals of antimalarial drugs, treatment, and lost wages, and other expenses. Many malaria sufferers cannot afford or have no access to medical treatment. Children lose time from school and suffer throughout life from effects on cognitive development and education levels attained. Malaria also impedes economic development by limiting foreign investment, tourism, transport systems, internal movement of labor, and commerce. Attracting educated people to malarious regions is difficult, limiting the viability of areas with development potential and rich natural resources, such as the frontiers of the Amazon and the mines of South America and Africa. Because malaria strikes during the rainy harvest season, when worker productivity needs to be at its highest, the disease can harm food security and agricultural production
Enviro wackos seldom see beyond their own little world of preconceived notions. The fantasy of the "romance" of the third world and of life before the industrial revolution appeals to morons who have the IQ of a second grader. The real natural world is far most hostile than these idiots would have us believe. I will bet that those who champion this wetlands restoration know nothing of insect-borne disease. Because of that they will not bother to try to plan for some sort of mosquito control - and if we were to even mention - (Horrors!)- DDT - why, they will scream to no end. But those scum don't have to live in the mess they will have created.
Med Parazitol (Mosk). 2001 Jan-Mar;(1):46-7. (abstract)
[Malaria in Iraq] [Article in Russian]
Shamo FJ.
Malaria control campaign started in Iraq in 1957. This made the country largely free of the disease. Since 1991, following the recent war, Iraq has been affected by serious epidemic of P. vivax malaria that started in 3 autonomous governorates and soon involved other parts of the country. There were 49,840 malaria cases in the country in 1995. The national malaria programme personnel did their best to contain and control the epidemic. Active and passive case detection and treatment were introduced. Free of charge drugs are provided at all levels in the endemic area. Vector control includes environmental management, distribution of Gambusia fish, larviciding, indoor residual spraying with pyrithroids. A total of 4134 malaria cases were recorded in the country in 1999."
Do you hunt and/ or fish?
Have hunted and fished considerably in years past.
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