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 The search for Slender-billed Curlew
(12/15/2009)
Four members of the Cley Bird Club in North Norfolk, UK are offering a total of $1,000 for any photograph of a live Slender-billed Curlew taken in the Middle East. Because of the identification challenges posed by the species any photograph will have to be verified by the SBC Identification Verification Panel, which comprises wader experts with past experience of the species. A properly time-stamped picture is a minimum requirement. A full survey and search for this species is planned for next winter. [More]
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MESOPOTAMIAN MARSHLANDS ONCE AGAIN FACE DESSICATION
(12/2/2009)
By Suzi Alwash
The Mesopotamian Marshlands, a rare watery landscape in the midst of one of the world’s largest desert regions, represent a globally-significant ecosystem. Its shallow lagoons shelter vast populations of endemic and migratory birds and its reedy mudflats sustain an abundant and diverse aquatic wildlife including numerous endangered species. The wetlands nurtured the ancient Sumerian civilization, whose elements remain reflected in its modern Marsh Arab culture. [More]
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Border Smuggling causes Environmental Pollution
(12/1/2009)
In winter, Nature Iraq, an Iraqi environmental organization, conducted a water quality survey in an area on the Little Zab River near the Kurdistan, Iraq town of Mawat, an area characterized by high mountains and dramatic gorges. Locals call this area Du Choman and here the Little Zab River forms the natural border separating Iran from Iraqi Kurdistan. During this time, Nature Iraq's survey team noticed many plastic cans floating in the river or caught on the rocks and a slight odor of benzene in the air. We understood this to be the result of fuel smuggling and thought it an isolated incident. [More]
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Hunting Houbaras over Iraqi Soil
(8/17/2009)
Contact: A.F.Omar, omarbiology78@yahoo.com, info@natureiraq.org, +964 53 329 2007
Date: 17 August 2009 - NI-PR0809-01
In the winter of 2009, a group of falconers from the Gulf entered Iraq from the Iraqi –Saudi border near Nugratt Al Salman in Al Muthana (Samawa) province heading for Al Muntafq Desert in Thi Qar Province and Al Nekheab Desert in Anbar. Guided by local Bedouin, their objective was the hunting of Houbaras in their wintering areas of Iraq, which are considered one of the most important wintering grounds in the Middle East. [More]
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Iraqi Marshlands desperate for water
(6/14/2009)
Nearly completely destroyed by the Saddam regime, the marshlands had staged an amazing comeback after 2003 when local people and ministry employees opened gates and embankments to let the water return to what were once the third largest wetlands in the world. Thick reed vegetation sprang up almost instantly, thousands of bird and other fauna flocked back and the people of the marshes began to return to the area.
The world celebrated the return of the marshes, and marsh Arabs returned to resume their traditional life styles. Due to drought conditions and management choices upstream in Turkey, Syria, and Iran, they are now at risk of drying out completely in many places. [More]
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Nature Iraq announces Action Plan to save the critically endangered Sociable Lapwing
(5/17/2009)
Contact: Mudhafar A. Salim, mudhafar.salim@natureiraq.org, info@natureiraq.org
Date: 17 May 09 - NI-PR170509-001
On the 29th of Mar to the 1st of April, Nature Iraq participated in a global workshop on the critically endangered Sociable Lapwing (Vanellus gregarious) in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The sociable Lapwing is one of the victims of unsustainable exploitation of the environment by humans. This species has had a serious drop in its global population bringing this bird to the blink of extinction. [More]
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Wild Boar Not a Threat to Human Health in Iraq
(5/5/2009)
Recent coverage of the A/H1NI virus known commonly as the Swine Flu has led to proposals to kill wildboar in Iraq. Nature Iraq, an Iraqi conservation organization, urges against such action. Such an eradication policy is not economically feasible or justified by the current health threat as there is absolutely no evidence that the wild boar in Iraq are a health hazard to humans. In addition, any actions to use poisons to kill these animals, as has been suggested, would likely cause harm to many non-target, benign species as well as causing a potential health threat to humans. [More]
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Flora of Iraq kick off metting
(3/31/2009)
The Twin Rivers Institute for scientific research (TRI), a division of the American University of Iraq- Sulaimani(AUI-S) www.auis.org in collaboration and funding from Nature Iraq (NI)www.natureiraq.org under the framework of the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea (IMELS) supported New Eden project, hosted this week an important meeting in Sulaimani- Iraqi Kurdistan, to discuss the options Iraq has to finalize and update the long needed Flora of Iraq. [More]
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Flora of Iraq Meeting to be held in March
(3/24/2009)
There will be a meeting in Sulaimani, Kurdistan Iraq on 22-23 March, 2009 to discuss the status of the Flora of Iraq. This meeting will bring together of some of the top Iraqi botanists and their international counterparts, representatives from the Iraqi Ministries of Environment and Agriculture, Kew Botanical Garden, Twin Rivers Institute (TRI) of the American University in Iraq-Sulaimani, Italian Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea, Nature Iraq and other international experts. The Flora was a project of the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture and Kew Gardens in the UK and was one of the best botanical series in the Middle East and one of the oldest floras published in the region. The first volumes were published in 1966 and the last one released was published in 1985. It was supposed to be in nine volumes, but unfortunately, volumes 5, 6, and 7 were never completed due to the situations in Iraq during the eighties and after. Current botanical research within Iraq would be greatly augmented by the completion of the Flora. Nature Iraq, which has been conducting such research since 2005, has been hindered in this work by a lack of current taxonomical references. [More]
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Nature Iraq participation in the Middle Eastern Biodiversity Conference that was held in Jordan, Aqaba.
(10/25/2008)
By Mudhafar A. Salim,
Nature Iraq
Nature Iraq team participated in the Middle Eastern Biodiversity Conference that was held in Amman, Aqaba at 20‐23, Oct 2008. The participation of the 14 staff of NI varied among participating with presentation (PowerPoint) that summarized each of their work over the KBAs project or other projects, or arranging and assisting in NI’s photo exhibition that showed shots of various areas over the Lower Mesopotamian wetlands.
[More]
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