1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
Live TV
Latest audioLatest videos
In focus
Russia's war in UkraineIsrael-Hamas warIndia elections
Business

Iraq: The Cradle of Civilisation

January 14, 2013

The West sees Iraq as a country in chaos, devastated by war. But there’s another side to it. It’s home to vast wetlands - believed to be the original Garden of Eden - drained and turned into desert by Saddam Hussein. Efforts to restore them began in 2003.

https://p.dw.com/p/17JKH

But the wetlands are now once again threatened, this time by a major Turkish dam project on the upper reaches of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. Locals fear for their livelihoods and environmental activists are concerned that a unique ecosystem will be irreversibly destroyed.