In southern Iraq, a system of floating reed structures is clinging on to the site of one of the world’s greatest environmental disasters. The Mesopotamian Marshes have been continuously inhabited for over six thousand years and were once the largest wetland ecosystem in Western Eurasia. However, the second half of the 20^th century saw them almost entirely drained for agriculture, oil and military purposes. What was a population of 500,000 Marsh Arabs (Ma’dan) was reduced to just 20,000. This draining by the Iraqi government and British engineers decimated the ecosystem causing the loss of 52 native fish species, wild boar, red fox, buffalo and water birds, as well as salt-tolerant vegetation and plankton-rich waters and their associated nutrient cycles.

…