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The draining of the Mesopotamian Marshes occurred in Iraq and to a smaller degree in Iran between the 1950s and 1990s to clear large areas of the marshes in the Tigris-Euphrates river system. Formerly covering an area of around , the main sub-marshes, the Hawizeh, Central, and Hammar Marshes and all three were drained at different times for different reasons. Initial draining of the Central Marshes was intended to reclaim land for agriculture but later all three marshes would become a tool of war and revenge. Many international organizations such as the U.N. Human Rights Commission, the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), the International Wildfowl and Wetlands Research Bureau, and Middle East Watch have described the draining as a political attempt to force the Ma'dan people out of the area through water diversion tactics.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Marsh Arabs )〕 ==History== The marshes had been historically populated by the Marsh Arabs, or Ma'dan, who grew rice and grazed buffalo on the natural vegetation. At times, they had also served as a refuge for escaped slaves and serfs, such as during the Zanj Rebellion. The British colonial administrators were the first to attempt to drain the marshes, motivated by their role as a breeding ground for mosquitoes and lack of apparent economic value, as well as the potential use of the water for irrigation. Prepared in 1951, The Haigh Report outlined a series of sluices, embankments and canals on the lower ends of the Tigris and Euphrates that would drain water for agriculture. These notably included the Main Outfall Drain (MOD), a large canal also referred to as the Third River, and the Nasiriyah Drainage Pump Station; however, neither were completed under British rule: they were later revived by the Ba'athist government.〔Masour Askari (''Iraq's Ecological Disaster ) ''International Review'', February 2003〕 During the 1970s, the expansion of irrigation projects had begun to disrupt the flow of water to the marshes; by the early 1980s, it was evident that these had significantly affected water levels.〔Spencer, M. (''The Marsh Arabs Revisited'' ) ''Saudi Aramco World'', April 1982〕 Part of the Hammar Marsh was also drained in 1985 during efforts to prepare the area for oil exploration.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://earthshots.usgs.gov/Iraq/Iraqtext )〕 By the mid 1980s, the marshes had become a refuge for elements persecuted by the Ba'athist government of Saddam Hussein (Shi'ites in particular), and a low-level insurgency had developed against the drainage and resettlement projects, led by Sheik Abdul Kerim Mahud al-Muhammadawi of the Al bu Muhammad under the ''nom de guerre'' Abu Hatim.〔Juan Cole, ''(Marsh Arab Rebellion )'', Indiana University Bloomington, 2005, p.12〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Draining of the Mesopotamian Marshes」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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