NI Goals

From the Director


Nature Iraq strives to achieve the following goals:

Improve the capacity of Iraq’s institutions to protect its environment, including local and national governmental and non-governmental bodies, along with universities, colleges, and scientific institutes.

Develop a scientific database of environmental conditions and trends within Iraq through environmental monitoring and research programs focusing on water resources, ecology, and biodiversity.

Encourage environmental awareness and stewardship of Iraq's environment by promoting environmental clubs and associations, developing environmental education programs in Iraq, and maintaining global awareness of Iraq's environment.

Promote the sustainable use of Iraq’s environment and resources, respecting and balancing the traditional use of the environment by indigenous inhabitants, the preservation of wildlife and biodiversity, and the economic needs of both local inhabitants and the nation. 


From the Director
Azzam Alwash

Looking back at the past year, I am proud of the work done by our small organization.  We have finished a state of the art model for the management of the marshes and published it (See article New Eden Master Plan Now Available to the Public, this page), we conducted our monthly monitoring trips to the marshes without fail and we continue to update our database as we analyze trends. We also continue to do our bird surveys and have just completed our first survey effort in Kurdistan, Northern Iraq. We also published the first bird book for Iraq in over 20 years, we are completing the detailed design of the New Eden Village, installing remote monitoring stations, began expanding our work in Kurdistan, and on and on…

We now have over 14 professors and 60 graduate students engaged in work on the marshes, not to count the employees of the ministries that fortify our field teams.  We also lost people, some who migrated out for security reasons and some who were innocent victims to the violence of Baghdad.  I still can not get over the loss of Raid, a promising young engineer, whose life was cut short by the violence of Iraq.

The science work is continuing this year and soon we will begin collaborative work with the newly-established American University in Iraq - Sulaimaniyeh, which will be building a state-of-the-art environmental research facility called the Twin Rivers Institute.  It will be equiped with the latest laboratory equipment and will expand the scientific work into Kurdistan-Iraq using the lessons learned from our work in the marshes. We also want to establish a strategic relationship with the Ministry of the Environment as we work together to clean up the mess left by 25 years of war and destruction.

But we also will concentrate on trying to bring to life the results and the scientific studies, recommendations, and designs that we have completed.  We will push to have the Master Plan adopted and implemented by the regulating authorities, a difficult task especially considering the security issues and the evolving nature of areas of control under the new Iraqi federal constitution.

In January, a conference was held in Basrah bringing together the marshes committees that were formed last year with the help of UNDP, representatives of local NGO’s, representatives of the concerned ministries, scientists, and a lot of guests.  The idea for the gathering was conceived during a meeting sponsored by CIDA and Nature Iraq in September 07 in Amman, in which the issues of governance were discussed.  The gathering was focused on how to coordinate between the three governorates and the Federal government as well as to how to take into consideration the needs of the locals as the controlling authorities plan their strategies for the development and restoration of the marshes.  The gathering decided on starting a founding committee with membership that includes executive and legislative branches (local and central government levels) as well as representatives from local NGO’s.  The committee mandate will be confirmed in the next few months by the local governorate councils in Maysan, Thi Qar and Basrah.

To me, that is a positive step in the way forward as the local authorities and people take the mantel of managing and protecting the marshes for the long term, so that our grandchildren will have the opportunity to enjoy this most beautiful of gods’ creations.