Brookings to Hold Forum on the Iraqi Marshlands: Can They Be Saved? Assessing the Human and Ecological Damage 5/6/2003
From: Brookings Office of Communications, 202-797-6105 or communications@brookings.edu News Advisory: WHAT: -- A Brookings Forum Sponsored by the British Embassy and the Brookings-SAIS Project on Internal Displacement --The Iraqi Marshlands: Can They Be Saved? Assessing the Human and Ecological Damage WHEN: Wednesday, May 7, 2:30 - 4:30 p.m. WHERE: Falk Auditorium The Brookings Institution 1775 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington D.C. WELCOME: STROBE TALBOTT President, The Brookings Institution MODERATOR: THE BARONESS NICHOLSON OF WINTERBOURNE Member, European Parliament SPECIAL GUEST: ANDREW NATSIOS Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development PANELISTS: PETER CLARK Chief Executive Officer, Amar International Charitable Foundation; Co-editor, The Iraqi Marshlands: A Human and Environmental Study (2002) PETER GALBRAITH Professor, National War College; Former U.S. Ambassador to Croatia; Former Iraq Expert, Senate Foreign Relations Committee MOHAMMED JAMA Regional Coordinator, World Health Organization, Cairo THOMAS NAFF Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Pennsylvania VICTOR TANNER Consultant on Humanitarian Issues; Faculty Member, Johns Hopkins SAIS; Co-author, "The Internally Displaced People of Iraq" (Brookings report, 2002) One of the legacies of Saddam Hussein's regime is the near destruction of the Iraqi marshlands along the lower Tigris and Euphrates rivers, home to the 5000-year "Marsh Arab" civilization and site of vast oil deposits. Baghdad coupled massive engineering projects to drain water from the marshes with the shelling and burning of villages, the poisoning of fishing grounds, and the assassination and abduction of local leaders. Untold numbers of "Marsh Arabs" perished, and close to 200,000 were forcibly displaced. The environment suffered severe damage. A panel of experts will discuss the human and ecological impact of this onslaught and address several questions: Can all or part of the marshes be restored? Why is it important to do so for health, hydrological, and environmental reasons? What are the prospects for the return of the displaced and for setting up a compensation scheme? Should criminal responsibility be established? What will the impact of oil exploration be on the future of the Marshlands? RSVP: Please contact the Brookings Office of Communications by calling 202/797-6105, emailing to communications@brookings.edu, or visiting us online at http://www.brookings.edu/comm/events/20030507marsh.htm. |