In 1991, Saddam Hussein condemned the region by building dykes to drive out the Shiite rebels who had retreated here, leading to an exodus of the local population. After the fall of the Iraqi dictator, inhabitants destroyed the barriers and released the water. But the surface coverage afforded by this water has now dwindled drastically: in 1990, it covered up to 13,000 km², but today, that figure has fallen to just 1,600 km². Reasons for this include the mismanagement of resources by the Iraqi central government and the construction of several dams upstream in Turkey (the GAP Project), which have significantly diminished the rivers of Mesopotamia.
Only a concerted solution implemented by the countries bordering the Tigris and the Euphrates can prevent a major ecological disaster: the disappearance of a unique biosphere and the evaporation of an ancestral culture based on fishing and buffalo farming. If a solution is not found, the rapid draining of southern Iraq could spark another conflict. From Turkey’s dams to the waters of the Shatt-el-Arab river in southern Iraq, photographer Mathias Depardon has followed the course of the Tigris, impoverished by major construction works, wars and an endemic drought. His photographic road movie depicts a slow, agonising decline.
CHEMIN DES LIBELLULES
The Garden of Eden exists and is in danger. Located in Iraq, in the marshlands of ancient Mesopotamia, it truly embodies the vast richness of the cradle of the ancient Sumerian and Assyrian civilisations. Nestled at the confluence of the Tigris and the Euphrates, western Eurasia’s largest wetland ecosystem, which was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016, is now on the verge of drying out.
In 1991, Saddam Hussein condemned the region by building dykes to drive out the Shiite rebels who had retreated here, leading to an exodus of the local population. After the fall of the Iraqi dictator, inhabitants destroyed the barriers and released the water. But the surface coverage afforded by this water has now dwindled drastically: in 1990, it covered up to 13,000 km², but today, that figure has fallen to just 1,600 km². Reasons for this include the mismanagement of resources by the Iraqi central government and the construction of several dams upstream in Turkey (the GAP Project), which have significantly diminished the rivers of Mesopotamia.
Only a concerted solution implemented by the countries bordering the Tigris and the Euphrates can prevent a major ecological disaster: the disappearance of a unique biosphere and the evaporation of an ancestral culture based on fishing and buffalo farming. If a solution is not found, the rapid draining of southern Iraq could spark another conflict. From Turkey’s dams to the waters of the Shatt-el-Arab river in southern Iraq, photographer Mathias Depardon has followed the course of the Tigris, impoverished by major construction works, wars and an endemic drought. His photographic road movie depicts a slow, agonising decline.
CHEMIN DES LIBELLULES